St. Bede's Cross, Sunderland, disgracefully neglected by Sunderland City...

Frank Dougan has been campaigning for the past ten years for conservation of this wonderful work of Christian art work. It is an absolute outrage and scandal that Sunderland Council and the local MP have done nothing to protect this beautiful wonder of Sunderland Heritage especially as St. Bede was born in Sunderland. St. Bede is a Doctor of the Catholic Church and since the Reformation he and the great Saint of England have been neglected by the government and education system of the entire UK because Protestants do not believe in the vernation of Catholic saints much to the detriment of Christianity in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. As I write this in June 2023 England has become almost a Pagan State with just over 40% of people living here believe in Jesus Christ the creator of our civilization in the Western World. The Bede Memorial Cross is located at the seafront in Cliff Park, Roker. It was built in 1904 by G.W. Millburn and C.C. Hodges, and dedicated to Saint Bede- Venerable Bede and Eadfrith of Lindisfarne. The memorial includes extracts from Bede’s writing. The cross was removed in 1914, in the First World War, and restored to this site in 1921. The memorial is Grade II listed on the National Heritage List for England. I have been supported by letters from His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI and His Holiness, Pope Francis and the late queen HM Elizabeth and His Eminence, Cardinal Nichols. About Bede Born in AD 673, on land that would form part of the monastery estates, Bede was only 7 when he was sent to join the monks at Wearmouth. Although he never left the area, his gift for collecting and connecting information gave him a truly unique view of the world. He corresponded with monks at other monasteries across Britain, and even sent the Bishop of London to research the papal archives in Rome on his behalf. He wrote the seminal 'History of the English Church and People', was the first English person to use the term 'English', two centuries before England would be united, popularised the AD/BC dating system we use today, devised the method we use to calculate when Easter falls and worked out how the moon affects the tides. As well as the above Venerable Bede is the world's earliest witness of pure Gregorian tradition in England. His works "Musica theoretica " and "De arte Metricâ" (Migne, XC) have long neen studied and seen as especially valuable by present-day music and choral scholars engaged in the study of the primitive form of the chant. He was a true Renaissance man, 700 years before the Renaissance! - See more at: Manuscripts from the Scriptoria Wearmouth-Jarrow was one of the most prolific scriptoria of its age, and there are several manuscripts from the period housed at Durham Cathedral. The Codex Amiatinus, the oldest single-volume bible in existence, was produced here between 690 - 716. The original is housed in Florence after Abbot Ceolfrith died during his journey to Rome. For a considerable period of time it was thought that it was an Italian work, because it is written in Roman "uncial" script – however this style was replicated by the monks at Wearmouth who were taught using from works brought back from Rome by Benedict Biscop and Ceolfrith. It's true origin was identified because of the Latin poem (very possibly written by Venerable Bede) dedicating it to Pope Gregory. In July 2015 a half-size replica of the Codex Amiatinus was finally put on display in St. Peter's visitor centre after being created in whole or in part here 1,300 years ago. Recent research demonstrates a link between Wearmouth-Jarrow and the Lindisfarne Gospels – Written and researched by Frank Dougan 16/06/23 https://independent.academia.edu/FrankDougan/Papers