Aidan was born in Ireland and played a crucial part in the evangelisation of northern England. In Iona in AD 635, he was chosen to replace a brusquer colleague at Lindisfarne, Northumbria, where he was consecrated bishop. Supported by the Northumbrian king Oswald, he made missionary journeys on foot, refusing the king's offer of a horse in case it divided him from the Northumbrian people. He also organised a monastery on Lindisfarne where missionaries were trained. Lindisfarne became known in the Dark Ages as 'The School of Saints'.
Oswald's death was a blow to Aidan, and the murder of his beloved successor, Oswin, doubly so. In fact, Aidan is said to have died of grief at Bamburgh less than a fortnight later. He was buried at Lindisfarne, where a modern monument to the saint now stands.