Bede: The Life and Miracles of St. Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindesfarne (721)

Author

Bede was born in 673, in Northumberland, became a monk and died at Jarrow in 735. His modern feast day is May 25. He was one of the most important intellects, and most prolific writers of his time. Among his other accomplishments was in becoming the only Englishman in Dante's Divine Comedy. His most important work his is History of the English Church and People, but he wrote many others - biblical commentaries and hagiography in particular.

Saint

Bede's Life of St. Cuthbert, given here complete in the translation by J.A. Giles, recounts the life of Cuthbert, famed in his time as a miracle worker. Cuthbert was probably born in Northumberland circa 634. He was educated by Irish monks at Melrose Abbey. At various times in his life, Cuthbert was a monk, a solitary, and - briefly - a bishop. He died on Farne Island in 687. His feast day is March 20. An early anonymous Life of Cuthbert was written about 700, but the discovery of Cuthbert's uncorrupt body gave a new impetus to the cult, and Bede used the earlier Life to write his own verse Life, around 716, and this, longer, prose Life around 721. This includes ten chapters of new material, derived from Herefrith (3, 6, 8-9, 19, 23, 31, 35, 43, and 46). Both the anonymous (in 7 manuscripts) and Bede's life (in 38 manuscripts) survive. Bede's version was used for two famous 12th-century illuminated [Oxford, Univ. Col MS 165, and Brit. Mus. Yates Thompson MS 26]. [Farmer, 16-17].

Relics

The relics of St. Cuthbert have a particularly well documented history. As indicated it was the discover of the incorrupt body which led Bede to write. In 875, after the second Viking raid on Lindesfarne, the body was moved to Northumbria, and rested at several sites until in 995 the casket was moved to Durham, and enshrined there on September 4, 999. There it was visited by William the Conqueror in 1069. Later it was moved to Durham Cathedral. In 1104, when Cuthbert had been dead 418 years, the casket was opened, and the body was found to be still smelling sweet, and uncorrupt. Throughout the middle ages, Durham was the major pilgrimage center of the North of England, and Cuthbert the most famous saint.

The commissioners of Henry VIII were sent to destroy the tomb in 1537. Archbishop Charles of Glasgow, who wrote a History of St. Cuthbert, (London: New York: 1887) reports that:-

[Dr. Lee, Dr. Henly and Mr. Blythman on approaching the Shrine] found many valuable and goodly jewels…After the spoil of his ornaments and jewels they approached near his body, expecting nothing but dust and ashes: but, perceiving the chest he lay in strongly bound with iron, the goldsmith…broke it open, when they found him lying whole uncorrupt with his face bare, and his beard as of a fortnight's growth, and all the vestments about him as he was accustomed to say mass.

The monks were allowed to bury him on the ground under where the shrine had been. This was opened again in 1827, at which time a skeleton, swathed in decayed robes, was found. The designs matched those described in the 1104 accounts, although some argued the real body was elsewhere. [Cruz, 54-55].

The question of how one tackles stories like those of Cuthbert's relics is an important one for historians of sanctity.

In the late 19th century, St. Cuthbert's name became attached to the co-operative retail society of Southeast Scotland, and his name still adorns countless store fronts, being among the most familiar of all early English saints.