Life
Very little is known about his life. The author of the Vita Sancti Wilfrithi identifies himself as “Stephen, a priest”. Bede mentions that Wilfrid brought a singing master from Kent, Ædde Stephanus, to Ripon in 669 to teach chant, and he has traditionally been thought to be the same person as the “Stephen” mentioned. However, there is no more solid evidence that the two names describe the same person. If the two were in fact the same, Stephen would have been at least twenty years old when he came north, placing him in his sixties or older at Wilfrid’s death in 709.
Regardless of whether or not Stephen the priest was Wilfrid’s singing master from Kent, he appears to have been a follower of Wilfrid and was able to consult individuals who had known Wilfrid closely as sources for the Life of Wilfrid. He wrote for the monks in Ripon, many of whom had known Wilfrid.
Read more about this topic: Stephen Of Ripon
Famous quotes containing the word life:
“In short, no association or alliance can be happy or stable without me. People can’t long tolerate a ruler, nor can a master his servant, a maid her mistress, a teacher his pupil, a friend his friend nor a wife her husband, a landlord his tenant, a soldier his comrade nor a party-goer his companion, unless they sometimes have illusions about each other, make use of flattery, and have the sense to turn a blind eye and sweeten life for themselves with the honey of folly.”
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“O life as futile, then, as frail!
O for thy voice to soothe and bless!
What hope of answer, or redress?
Behind the veil, behind the veil.”
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