Saint Beorhthelm of Ilam
Today in the Orthodox Church we venerate another English saint, a rather obscure hermit, a friend of Saint Gúðlác of Crowland, named Beorhthelm [later Bettelin, Bertolin or Bertram], whose chapel, font and holy well lie in the village of Ilam near Stafford in the Peak District.
Beorhthelm, apparently a well-to-do youngster from Mercia, went courting a bride from the other island. He won the heart of an Irish lass, the daughter of a king, and brought her back with him to his homeland heavy with child. She went into labour as they were travelling in the woods near the village of Wetton, and he left her to search for a midwife. When he returned, he found her body being devoured by wolves. Stricken with grief and remorse, Beorhthelm resolved to put the world behind him and seek after a holy life in Christ. The life of the hermit was the one that most appealed to him, after the manner of Gúðlác and thus also the Desert Fathers. He sought, and was granted, a small piece of land in the hills near Ilam, in the Peak District.
Beorhthelm made his hermitage there and took up the life of a hesychast in a cave on the land that was given to him. One local tradition has it that the Devil tempted him to pray to turn stones into bread, but the stubborn Beorhthelm reversed the Devil’s prayer and prayed instead to turn bread into stones! This prayer seems to have been answered, as some of the loaf-shaped ‘Saint Bertram’s stones’ are still housed at a parish church in Cheshire, and regarded as relics.
In those days, hermits in the Celtic tradition – or rather, in the Ægyptian tradition recently borrowed from thence by Saint Gúðlác – were given deep respect by local people. Many were the ordinary folk who went into the hills around Ilam to seek Beorhthelm’s wisdom, both in everyday matters and in matters of the spirit, and not once did the loving ascetic turn any of them away, but provided all who came to him with consolation. Even so, so many were his visitors that he often withdrew himself into his cave for long periods to be in conversation only with God. He lived to an old age in Ilam, and was commemorated as a saint very soon after his death. Holy Father Beorhthelm, pray to God for us!
Like newborn lambs are we lacking in any defence,
Unable to withstand the onslaughts of the spiritual wolves who seek ever devour us;
But do thou, O righteous Beorhthelm, come unto our aid,
And with the staff of God’s grace which abideth in thee
Drive far from us the savage minions of Satan,
That by thine entreaties we may find safety
And rest in the fold of Christ in paradise.
Holy Cross Church, Ilam
Burial place of Saint Beorhthelm
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