Egbert

Saint Egbert (Ecgberht of Ripon) was an English monk of Northumbria who died in the year 729 on the island of Iona, at the age of ninety. He studied at Lindisfarne and then in Ireland, at the monastery of Rath Melsigi. In 664, when the plague killed many of his companions, he too fell ill and vowed that if he recovered he would live all his life as a pilgrim for Christ, far from his homeland, in prayer and fasting.

He was ordained priest and prepared missions to Frisia: he sent Wihtberht, and later arranged the mission of Wigbert, Willibrord and others; he himself was held back from going by a vision. He was present at the synod of Birr in 697. From 716 he lived on Iona and urged the monks to adopt the Roman date of Easter; he reposed on the very day when Iona first kept Easter by that date, 24 April 729. He is thought to have been a bishop. His relics were venerated at Ripon. Western calendars commemorate him on 24 April, and in Orthodox calendars he appears on 23 December (new style; 5 January in the old style). He is a saint of the undivided Church.