St. Eata October 26

 St. Eata

Feastday: October 26

Death: 686

Eata St. Eata was one of twelve English youths whom St. Aidan educated at Lindisfarne, where Eata became a monk and a priest. At the request of St. Colman, he became the abbot. He was later abbot of Melrose and founded the monastery at Ripon in Yorkshire, which he left rather than abandon Celtic customs. After the Synod of Whitby, Eata, whom Bede describes as a man of peace, adopted Roman customs, and when Theodore of Canterbury divided the see of York into three bishoprics, he chose Eata to be the bishop of Bernicia. Eata served in this office from 678- 681. Theodore later split Bernicia into sees of Lindisfarne and Hexham and appointed Eata to Lindisfarne and Cuthbert to Hexham. The two men traded sees. Eata was the bishop of Hexham for a year before he died of dysentery in 686. He was buried near Wilfrid's church in Hexham.

Eata (died 26 October 686), also known as Eata of Lindisfarne, was Bishop of Hexham from 678 until 681,[1] and of then Bishop of Lindisfarne from before 681 until 685.[2] He then was translated back to Hexham where he served until his death in 685 or 686.[1] He was the first native of Northumbria to occupy the bishopric of Lindisfarne.