 Bede records that he was a Greek-speaking Berber from North Africa, who was abbot of a monastery near Naples ("non longe a Neapoli").The name of the monastery varies with different textual traditions between "monasterium Niridanum" and "Hiridanum".Neither is identifiable as a place near Naples, which has led many scholars to think that "Nisidanum", or "of Nisida" was meant.