St Herbert’s Island, Cumbria
If thou in the dear love of some one FriendThe twentieth of March commemorates the repose of the great wonderworker of England’s holy isle and patron of Northumbria, Cuðberht of Lindisfarne, as well as of his spiritual son and dear soul-friend, the hermit Hereberht of Derwentwater, both of whom – as their later admirer William Wordsworth writes above – were given to die in the same hour on the same day. (For Three Kingdoms fans, you know how close that demonstrates they were!)
Hast been so happy that thou know’st what thoughts
Will sometimes in the happiness of love
Make the heart sink, then wilt thou reverence
This quiet spot; and, Stranger! not unmoved
Wilt thou behold this shapeless heap of stones,
The desolate ruins of St Herbert’s cell.
Here stood his threshold; here was spread the roof
That sheltered him, a self-secluded man,
After long exercise in social cares
And offices humane, intent to adore
The Deity, with undistracted mind,
And meditate on everlasting things,
In utter solitude. – But he had left
A Fellow-labourer, whom the good Man loved
As his own soul. And when, with eye upraised
To heaven he knelt before the crucifix,
While o’er the lake the cataract of Lodore
Pealed to his orisons, and when he paced
Along the beach of this small isle and thought
Of his companion, he would pray that both
(Now that their earthly duties were fulfilled)
Might die in the same moment. Nor in vain
So prayed he;—as our chronicles report,
Though here the Hermit numbered his last day
Far from St. Cuthbert, his belovèd Friend,
Those holy Men both died in the same hour.
- William Wordsworth
‘For the spot where the hermitage stood on St Herbert’s Island, Derwent-Water’ (1800)
Ecgfrið King of Northumbria – brother of the venerable Abbess Ælfflæd of Whitby and son of Oswiu King – despite having a frightful foreign policy of attacking his inoffensive Goidelic neighbours, did at least one good thing during his reign. To wit, he appointed the holy hermit Cuðberht as Bishop of Lindisfarne. Unfortunately, Ecgfrið promptly ignored Bishop Cuðberht’s wise rede to him not to attack the Irish, and was hewn to pieces with his whole army at Nechtansmere. Although Ecgfrið’s reign as Northumbria’s king was short and ignominious, that of his bishop was neither. As the Venerable Bede relates in his History of the English Church and People (though he also wrote an entire Life of Cuðberht some years before):
In the year of his death, Ecgfrið King appointed as Bishop of Lindisfarne the holy and venerable Cuðberht, who for many years had lived a solitary life in great austerity of mind and body on a tiny island known as Farne, which lies off the coast about nine miles from the church. From his earliest boyhood he had always longed to enter the religious life, and was clothed and professed as a monk when a youth. He first entered the monastery of Melrose on the banks of the River Tweed, then ruled by Abbot Eata the gentlest and simplest of men, who later became Bishop of the church of Hagulstad or Lindisfarne, as already noted: the prior of Melrose was Boisil, a priest of great virtues and prophetic spirit. Cuðberht humbly submitted himself to the direction of Boisil, who gave him instruction in the Scriptures, and showed him an example of holy life.Saint Cuðberht was given seriously to prayer and to fasting, which he observed with great rigour. He supported himself as a hermit on the isle of Farne with both prayer and hard work, by which with the help of his brother-monks at Lindisfarne he cleared the island of evil influences, built his humble dwelling, dug a well, and began to farm. The prayers of Saint Cuðberht caused a fresh spring to flow out of the dry ground. The hermitage flourished under his care, and he lived there for several years before being asked by Ecgfrið – many times by missive, and once in person alongside the Bishop Trumwine – to become a bishop. Again, it was a case of nolo efiscofari: the king, the bishop and the assembled monks all begged him with tears to assent to become a bishop, and with great heaviness of heart and tears of his own, he was prevailed upon to leave his hermitage. Of his service as bishop, Bede says:
When Boisil departed to our Lord, Cuðberht was made prior in his place, and trained many men in the monastic life with masterly authority and by his personal example. He did not restrict his teaching and influence to the monastery, but worked to rouse the ordinary folk far and near to exchange their foolish customs for a love of heavenly joys. For many profaned the Faith that they professed by a wicked life, and at a time of plague had even abandoned the Christian sacraments and had recourse to the false remedies of idolatry, as though they could expect to halt a plague ordained of God by spells, amulets and other devilish secret arts.
Following Boisil’s example, in order to correct such errors he often used to leave the monastery, sometimes on horseback but more frequently on foot, and visit the neighbouring towns, where he preached the way of truth to those who had gone astray. In those days, whenever a clerk or priest visited a town, English folk always used to gather at his call to hear the Word, eager to hear his message, and even more eager to carry out whatever they had heard and understood. But Cuðberht was so skilful a speaker, and had such a light in his angelic face, and such a love for proclaiming his message, that none presumed to hide their inmost secrets, but openly confessed all their wrong-doing; for they felt it impossible to conceal their guilt from him, and at his direction they made proper atonement for the sins that they confessed.
He used to visit and preach mainly in the villages that lay far distant among high and inaccessible mountains which others feared to visit, and whose barbarity and squalour daunted other teachers. Cuðberht, however, gladly undertook this pious task, and taught with such patience and skill that when he left the monastery, it would sometimes be a week, sometimes two or three, and occasionally an entire month before he returned home, remaining in the mountains to guide the peasants heavenward by his teachings and virtuous example.
When this venerable servant of our Lord had spent many years in the monastery of Melrose and become renowned for his acts of virtue, the most reverend Abbot Eata transferred him to Lindisfarne to instruct the brethren there in observance of regular discipline, both in his official capacity and by his personal example. For the most reverend Father Eata was then Abbot of Lindisfarne as well. And in ancient times, the bishop and his clergy used to reside at Lindisfarne with the abbot and his monks, the latter being regarded as part of the bishop’s household. For Aidan, first Bishop of Lindisfarne, himself a monk, brought monks with him and established the regular life there. The blessed Father Augustine is known to have done the same earlier in Kent, which is shown in the letter addressed to him by the most reverend Pope Gregory, which I included earlier:
Since you, my brother, are subject to monastic rule and may not live apart from your clergy of the English Church, which by God’s help has lately been brought to the Faith, you are to follow the way of life practised by our forefathers of the primitive Church, who did not regard any property as personal, but shared all things in common.
As is most valuable in a teacher, he first practised whatever he taught others to do. Above all else, he was afire with heavenly love, unassumingly patient, devoted to unceasing prayer, and kindly to all who came to him for comfort. He regarded the labour of helping the weaker brethren with advice as equivalent to prayer, remembering that he who said, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God’, also said, ‘Love thy neighbour.’ His self-discipline and fasting were exceptional, and through the grace of contrition, he was always intent on the things of heaven. Lastly, whenever he offered the sacrifice of the Saving Victim to God, he offered his prayers to God in a low voice, and with tears welling up from the depths of his heart.The narrative of Saint Bede also recounts his friendship and last meeting with the hermit Saint Hereberht, also celebrated today and commemorated in the poem by Wordsworth. Saint Cuðberht only spent two years as Bishop of Lindisfarne; after this, he retired again to his island hermitage. However, he was given to know the hour of his death by divine grace and by the insight he had acquired by his humility, and he spoke of it to others only in veiled terms. The only person he told directly of it was his fellow-hermit and ‘priest of praiseworthy life’ Hereberht, who was then living on an island in the River Derwent in Cumbria, which today goes by his name. When Hereberht heard it from Saint Cuðberht, he was deeply distressed, because Hereberht was Cuðberht’s spiritual son and friend, and relied on him often for spiritual advice and reassurance. In God’s name, Hereberht begged Cuðberht not to leave this life before him – at which Cuðberht prostrated himself prayerfully and then said to Hereberht: ‘Rise, my brother, and do not weep. Be glad, for God in His mercy has heard our prayer.’ Sure enough, the two of them did repose on the same day – the twentieth of March, 687.
When the brethren went to the isle of Farne to uncover Cuðberht’s bones, they expected to find a body in the advanced stages of decay. However, when they found him at last, his body was still intact and incorrupt, his limbs still flexible, and although he was dead he looked merely as though he was sleeping. The brethren bore him back to Lindisfarne, where Bishop Éadberht upon beholding his garments kissed them, and commanded the brethren to dress Cuðberht in new garments and have him buried within the precinct of the monastery. Éadberht himself soon departed this life and was buried next to Cuðberht; the tomb where the two of them were lain became the site of many miraculous healings and deliverances. Holy fathers Cuðberht and Hereberht, venerable monastics and humble hermits, entreat with Christ God that our souls may be saved!
While still in your youth, you laid aside all worldly cares,
And took up the sweet yoke of Christ,
And you were shown forth in truth to be nobly radiant
In the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, God established you as a rule of faith and shepherd of His radiant flock,
Godly-minded Cuðberht, converser with angels and intercessor for men.
Saint Cuðberht of Lindisfarne
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