Chad, St ( St Ceadda) (d. 673). One of four Northumbrian brothers who were ‘famous priests’, Chad studied in Ireland and was a disciple of Aidan. In 664 he succeeded his brother Cedd as abbot of Lastingham and was nominated to the see of Northumbria (his seat to be at York), by King Oswiu, retaliating to his son Alchfrith's nomination of Wilfrid. Informed by Archbishop Theodore that his consecration (c.665), by Wine and two British bishops, was irregular, he resigned the see. He became (fifth) bishop of the Mercians, the Middle Angles, and the people of Lindsey in 670, his seat at Lichfield. As bishop he emulated Aidan, but his scope may have been limited by the earlier work of an active British church. Chad founded a monastery, possibly at Barrow-on-Humber, on land from Wulfhere of Mercia. One of his monks, Trumbert, taught Bede. The 8th-cent. Gospels of St Chad were probably associated with his shrine.

A. E. Redgate

Chad, St (d. 672), first bishop of Mercia and Lindsey at Lichfield, for whom there was an early and popular cult; it was said by Bede that if the faithful put dust from his shrine into water, the drink was medicinal for people and animals. His feast day is 2 March.