Category: St Cuthbert

St Cuthbert in 10

Posted on by Hm Rachel

I was recently asked to produce a “Life in 10” of St Cuthbert for a wedding celebration. The limitations were defined by the seating arrangements! So here is the 10-pointed resume of his story:

1. 635 Cuthbert was born the same year as Aidan founded the monastery on Lindesfarne. He was of a noble family and was sent to a foster mother called Kenwith, in Melrose. She was influential throughout his life and Cuthbert often returned to visit her.

2. 652 Cuthbert had a premonition of Aidan’s death. He was standing at watch at night (he trained in the military life) and saw a light descend from heaven, and return again, carrying up a soul into eternal glory. When the news finally arrived from Lindesfarne, it transpired that Aidan died at the moment Cuthbert saw his vision.

3. 653 Cuthbert entered the monastery at Melrose. This was a daughter house of the Lindesfarne monastery, and also founded by Aidan. The prior there was Boisil, and when Cuthbert arrived to request admittance Boisil declared “Behold the servant of the Lord!”.

4. 653-66 Cuthbert spent at least 13 years at Melrose. His friendship with Boisil was very special. When Boisil foresaw his own death, he invited Cuthbert to spend the last 7 days studying the 7 chapters of the Passion of John’s Gospel. Boisil died on the eighth day.

5. 667-77 Cuthbert was sent to be Prior at Lindesfarne. He was well-respected for his counsel and growing wisdom. His preference was to retire occasionally to a little islet in the sea near the Abbey (now called St Cuthbert’s Isle), so he could spend more time in solitude and silence and prayer.

6. There is a famous story of Cuthbert. He went to the sea to pray, standing in it up to his waist. A monk witnessed Cuthbert leaving the water, followed by two sea otters who licked and warmed and dried his feet. The monk kept the story secret until Cuthbert was dead, but now it is recorded in the work of St Bede.

7. 678 Cuthbert asked to live a more solitary life on the uninhabited Farne islands. He built himself a bothy, a jetty for fishing, and a small vegetable plot. Many of these tasks were considered “super-human”, and St Bede writes that Cuthbert was often helped by the elements – the wind, the sea, the animals around him.

8. 685 The monks and the townsfolk of Northumbria missed Cuthbert, so when the Bishopric of Lindesfarne became vacant, the monks and the King, Ecgrith, were sent in a boat to bring Cuthbert back. Cuthbert was very reluctant, but they didn’t really give him any choice. He endured as bishop for 2 years.

9. 687 Cuthbert realised his end was near, and set sail back to his bothy. He was followed by a small group of monks who were concerned for him. They found him waiting for them at the jetty in some distress, but he refused to leave, so the monks comforted him and left without him. He died on 20 March 687.

10. 793 But that is not the end of his journeys. When the Vikings invaded, the monks dug up his coffin, found his body uncorrupted, and took him with them as they escaped the warring throng. They finally laid his body to rest at Durham. His grave is still there behind the high altar of the Cathedral built in his honour.

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    Canon 603 and St Cuthbert

    Posted on by Hm Rachel

    The life of St Cuthbert is surprisingly well documented for a saint of the seventh century. Four “Lives” were written in the years following his death, when the discovery of his incorrupt body led to an upsurge in fervour for the cult of the saint, who had previously only been known as a local man of virtue, and a “miracle-worker”. The first “Life” written by an anonymous source just 11 years after his death, is short, pithy and full of local (Northumbrian) flavour. The responsibility was then passed to St Bede at the Monastery of Jarrow, to give a more ecclesial version of his life – his roles as prior, hermit and bishop are more fully emphasised, and Bede seasons his writings with frequent references to Holy Scripture. His intention is clearly to present Cuthbert as a model of Christ, and worthy of our attention and imitation.

    Bede eventually wrote three versions of Cuthbert’s life – the first was poetic – arranged as metrical verses, and then a longer prose life which explored more aspects of Cuthbert’s personality (this is the one that is most usually referenced). Bede also included a brief account of Cuthbert’s influence, en-passant, through the reigns of Oswald and Oswy and the Council of Whitby. You will find it in book III of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People.

    The growing cult of St Cuthbert during the Medieval years, resulted in enthusiastic pilgrimage to the priory at Durham where his body was finally laid to rest. It is likely that the illuminated manuscripts which so charmingly illustrate his life, were produced in the scriptorium there.

    The scribe of Durham chose to illustrate a number of the incidents from Bede’s “Life of Cuthbert”. There are 41 extant manuscripts. The book of manuscripts was initially presented (hung around his neck!) to William Fitzherbert, Archbishop of York, when he visited Durham Cathedral to celebrate his cousin, Hugh de Puiset, being installed as Bishop of Durham in 1153.

    The manuscripts were eventually collected together again in the nineteenth century by a Master-collector, Henry Yates Thomson (1838-1928), who later donated them to the British Library, where they can still be viewed. The Life of Cuthbert is the first British Library manuscript from the Yates Thompson collection to be made available on Digitised Manuscripts. You can find out more here: A Menagerie of Miracles: The Illustrated Life of St Cuthbert – Medieval manuscripts blog (typepad.co.uk)

    I am hoping, over the next few months, years even, to explore the spirituality of St Cuthbert, as represented in his life and by the images in the manuscripts, and to explore how we can be guided in our understanding and living of Canon 603 by his teaching and example.