Prologue to John the Priest #

¹ To his lord, most beloved in the Lord of lords [Deuteronomy 10:17; Psalm 136:3; 1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 17:14; Revelation 19:16], John the priest, Bede, servant of Christ, sends greeting. It cannot be said, my lord most beloved in Christ, how greatly I am affected by your charity, and how much, were it possible, I would always delight in your presence; and also how, even amid the constraints of the long journey which you desire to undertake, I am pierced by the constant spur of remembrance of your holy sweetness. Therefore, either as a memorial of my devotion, or as a relief for your pilgrimage, I have offered you the deeds of the blessed bishop Cuthbert, which I lately set forth in verse. For without any doubt I trust that the companionship of so great a man brings much happiness. For his gracious sweetness consoles the sorrowful, his fervent compunction of heart rouses the sluggish, and his firm intercession defends those in danger. You should know, however, that I was by no means able to set out all his deeds; for day by day new things are done through his relics, and old things are newly reported by those who were able to know them. One of these is what I experienced in myself, as I have already told you, through the healing of my tongue while I was singing his miracles. But if life is my companion, and if the will from above, by showing favour, assents to my intention, I hope in another work to restore to memory some of those things which I had passed over. I beg you, when, with God’s protection, you have reached the thresholds of the blessed apostles, remember to intercede for me.

Chapter 1: Preface #

¹ The Lord granted many lights to shine brightly in their own ages
So that he might illumine the gloomy shadows of human night
With divine flame from the height of heaven.
And although Christ himself, born of God from light,
Is the highest Light, God [John 1:4–9; John 8:12; 1 John 1:5], he also rightly granted that the saints, as lamps,
Should shine in the Church [Matthew 5:14–16; Philippians 2:15], in whom, with fire as teacher,
Love presses upon their minds, ardour burns hot in their words,
He who scattered many-branched lamps through the varied world,
So that the new light of faith, poured out by its torch beneath the whole sky,
Might fill all lands with starry virtues.

² Rome, marvelling at the twin radiance of Peter and Paul,
Rejoices, destined ever to live by apostolic trophies.
But John sows light for Asia with words from his mouth,
And pours forth the mysteries which he had drawn from the Lord’s breast [John 13:23–25].
Bartholomew flies in triumph through the eastern kingdoms,
And, renowned, subdues the untamed Indians with the weapons of his tongue.
You too, Mark, calming the rages of the Nile,
Water dry fields from evangelical clouds.
Africa shines bright with Cyprian’s words and merits,
Who, by his shed blood, urged men to despise delights.
Poitiers, much illumined by Hilary its teacher,
Now dispels the shadows of years with true light.
That John Chrysostom illumines Constantinople
With the golden splendour of his shining speech.
Nor is the lamp now content with the bosom of the world:
It is spread, shining, across the seas, and Britain too, sharing in this,
In our times has brought forth a venerable lightning-flash,
By which Cuthbert, golden in life among the stars,
Taught the English people now to climb the heights by his own steps.
The honour of virtue, now from the first threshold of life,
And heavenly glory accompany him with manifest signs.
Although I cannot recount all his deeds, nevertheless I would rather
Touch in verse, commemorating them, the final traces of his works,
By which the inner foundations of his sacred mind may be laid open.
Help me, I beg, highest Spirit, author of gifts [1 Corinthians 12:4–11; James 1:17]:
For without you, your grace does not know how to speak worthily.
And you who are accustomed to give new utterances with flame-breathing tongues [Acts 2:3–4],
Grant gifts to my tongue as it sings your gifts of speech:

Chapter 2: How Cuthbert, the boy of God, was admonished of his foretold episcopate by an infant #

¹ From his earliest heavenly beginning, the kindly life of one dear to God
Shines forth; Christ, the true bearer of the high gift, calls his servant
To joys by a special gift,
And teaches him to despise the gold-wandering pomps of the fierce world,
And to set his heart firmly in heaven; whom, finally, with sweet
Instruction he guides through the first seasons of life,
So that one day, when advanced, he may bring him to the lofty stars.
By chance, while his slender age was playing on the wandering grass,
His kindly nature was present together in idle contests,
And in light wrestling his youth won the palms.
But the Lord corrected his childish thoughts by a worthy teacher;
For a little infant from the tender flock warned him
Not to prefer trusting in uncertain strength,
Nor to consume swift times in brief pleasure,
But to make his mind steadfast in the love of the Lord.

² But the boy laughed at the sacred warnings of the infant, unwilling,
At eight years old, to have a three-year-old as his despised teacher.
He groans, and bathes his face with bitter grief.
His grief is dissolved into tears, and all in turn
Hasten to wipe away the uncertain weeping of one child;
Yet their snatched consolations could not restore him.
Cuthbert embraces him and soothes him with kindly kisses,
Begging him to dry his cheeks and put aside his grief.
And from his sorrowful heart he receives these just complaints:
Why, dear one, do you give yourself to empty things in light play,
You whom God has consecrated with lofty heavenly honour,
Setting you over peoples, to whom you may open the halls of heaven?
Will it be right for a freeborn man to compete in the course with slaves,
Or shall a bishop be likened to the deeds of the common crowd?
Leave, then, such frivolities, so discordant with your deeds,
And, devoted to God, join your breast to sacred things.

³ He spoke these things, and the Spirit, kindly companion for all his life,
Established an aged understanding in the boy’s heart.
Nor is it strange that infants should reveal the mysteries of Christ,
And that the sacred breath should fill the inward parts of sucklings,
For he makes an ass resound with human speech [Numbers 22:28–30].

Chapter 3: How, when his knee hurt, he was made lame, and was healed by an angel’s treatment #

¹ Meanwhile, as a little boy, through the crisis of a sudden illness,
He is afflicted, and guides his feeble steps with a staff.
And when, on a certain day, beneath the open sky,
The gentle boy had placed his weary limbs alone in pain, look, suddenly
There came a horseman, venerable in snowy clothing, and also
Like in grace to his steed, and he greets the reclining boy,
Asking him to render him service. To him he replies thus:
I myself would now gladly stand ready for your service,
Were not my step constrained by a cruel shackle.
For see, my knee is swollen, which no care of physicians
For a long time now has been able to soften with poultices.
The guest dismounts from his horse, and carefully strokes the sick knee,
Speaking thus: let fine flour of bright meal with milk
Be cooked together in a boiling pot…
And anoint that swelling with this warm, so that it may be healed.
Saying this, he mounted the horse on which he had come,
Returning home by that path. The cure followed the instruction,
And the holy boy knew that the healer had come from the high throne
Of the heavenly Judge, who by his gift restored
The closed sight of Tobit from the gall of a fish [Tobit 6:8–9; Tobit 11:11–13].

Chapter 4: How, by changing the winds through prayer, he called back to shore the rafts that had slipped into the Ocean #

¹ Hence, strengthened in his sacred heart with greater power,
He learned to knock with prayers upon the high-throned Thunderer.
There is a famous place above the mouth of the river Tyne,
Already then flourishing with an excellent band of monks:
While they were carrying timber over the back of the fierce stream,
They were suddenly struck by the force of river and wind.
There were five rafts, all of which, in the rapid whirlpool,
Slid headlong into the hollow waters of the Ocean.
And now, drawn far away from sight, as though a winged
Diver-bird were swimming on the waves, the boat appears through the blue.
The brotherly company comes out, and with bent knee
They take up heaven, praying for life and peace.
But this victory is kept for the chosen boy,
Who then by chance was standing at the barrier of the other bank,
With a countless crowd and a great company of mockers,
For the sad fates of the righteous are joys to the wicked.
Let us leave harmful joys, brothers, he said;
And let us grieve with those whom sorrowful blows weary;
Or rather let us pray to the Lord, who created winds and waves,
That he may deign to grant a way of safety.
But the rustic crowd opposes his righteous counsels;
He, with knee bent, soon pressed the fields with his face:
The winds are changed, and, the rafts being cast onto the shore,
The joyful crowd blushed, seeing the divine power,
And glorified God, who confirms the vows of his own.

Chapter 5: How, when he was placed among shepherds, he saw the soul of Saint Aidan the bishop being carried to heaven by angels #

¹ Meanwhile, while he was feeding tender lambs on the joyful hills,
Look, keeping watch in nightly hymns, he sees
Fiery hosts gleaming with starry companies,
And through the joys of a shining procession bearing the holy soul
To heaven; and at once he speaks to his companions, whom sleep had pressed down:
Alas! wretched men, we are weighed down in our hearts by sluggish sleep,
And do not deserve to see the heavenly deeds of those who keep watch.
Look, in a little time of wakefulness I have perceived
Such mighty works of God: the double gates of heaven are opened,
By which the blessed spirit is brought into the heavenly court,
Exulting, accompanied by angels, who with flames from the stars
Such mighty works of God: the double gates of heaven are opened,
By which the blessed spirit is brought into the heavenly court,
Exulting, accompanied by angels, who through the stars with flames

² Passes on, and now rejoices to see the high-throned King.
This, I think, was a bishop, or the chief of a consecrated people,
Shining on the height, whom the fiery heaven receives
With such great choirs of companions, and carries to the lights of light.
Learn, shepherds, with watchful protection over your folds,
To beware the snares of night and the dark lions,
So that the sacred songs of angelic praise may lie open to you [Luke 2:8–14],
And in Bethlehem’s citadel you may see God the mighty one [Luke 2:15–20].
Recalling these things, he kindled trembling praises in his companion’s heart,
A wondrous proof the matter. That Aidan
At that time departed, praying joyfully, to the courts of the Lord.

Chapter 6: How the same Aidan, foretelling a storm to sailors, gave oil by which it would be calmed #

¹ The venerable deeds of this priest throughout the world,
And his teaching, shine bright, to be recounted with mindful telling.
Yet it is enough to touch briefly on one example.
A certain priest, ordered to climb the blue waters of the wave-sounding sea,
Approaches as a suppliant the utterances of the seer,
Asking that he and his own be protected by the prayers of the kindly man.
The high bishop said to him: You seek the deep sea;
The North Wind will rise against you with an adverse blast,
But remember quickly to calm the roar of the wind and the sounding storms
With the chrism which I shall have given you.
Then, taking the oil of very rich olive from him, the sailors
Climb the seas, and with the wings of the sail spread out
The safe ship was furrowing the midst of the deep.
When suddenly a heavy storm presses on; the sea rages on every side,
Delaying the begun course of the snatched-away keel.
At last, when the medicine of the rich drop was cast in,
The wave was tamed, calming its fierce swellings,
And opened a joyful way. Thus one virtue
Shines forth with a twin ray: he who before
Had frightened the sorrowful with his words, relieves the sorrowing with ready comfort;
And he who with prophetic mind foretells future things,
Himself restrains the troubled elements by his commands.

Chapter 7: How Cuthbert, while travelling, found food with his horse as guide #

¹ Again Cuthbert, filled with a heart chaste towards God,
Entering upon a journey, is shut in by the rainy east wind;
Everywhere the flying storm-cloud runs through the cold stars,
And, stiff with cold, he turns aside beneath the roof an old shelter,
Which the keeper of cattle alone had built amid the trackless places,
And he ties to the wall the horse on which he himself had come.
And while he waits for the Lord to settle the wet blasts,
As the kindly man consecrates the hour with divine praises,
He suddenly sees his horse tearing away with its own bite
The roof the hut, and from the falling bundle there falls hay,
Mixed with feasts from the highest gift for the holy young man:
Such as you once deserved when the grass was dried up,
Fiery prophet, who climb to the heavenly breezes [1 Kings 17:6; 2 Kings 2:11].
Therefore the holy man, now fed with heavenly food
Of warm bread and meat, gives thanks, and, the storms having ceased,
Joyfully takes the clear road, with Christ accompanying him.

Chapter 8: How, receiving an angel as guest, while he sought to serve him earthly bread, he deserved to be rewarded by him with heavenly bread #

¹ Hence, seeking greater things, he is joined to the monks of Ripon,
Kindly in body, mind, habit, and deeds; and soon
He is appointed servant to guests, and gladly,
Submitted to proper service, from the walls of the high hall
He deserved, rejoicing, to see and feed a citizen of heaven.
Here, in the guise of a guest, in the middle season of winter,
He came, and, received according to the humble custom of the seer,
He has his sacred feet washed, and the kindly man, bending down,
Warms and soothes his cold steps with the pleasant bathing of his hands;
And, leaning upon him, begs that he would deign to stay,
So that, wearied, his limbs might be renewed by joyful food,
Lest cold and hunger and snowy blasts in December
Should redouble, freezing on the long road of his journey,
Since he had come chilled by the morning breezes.
And, adjuring him by the shining kingdoms of the highest Thunderer,
At last he halts him and drives away his hunger;
He goes away, wishing to bring him warm bread,
Because only fragments of yesterday’s meal remained.
Returning, he seeks his guest, but he saw no signs
Of the traveller’s feet anywhere in the snowy field.
Seeking the inner rooms, filled with a rosy fragrance,
He found these things, wonderful to tell! and at the same time sees
Three loaves there, shining with bright flour,
While Cuthbert speaks such words with trembling heart:

² I see indeed that a guest had come down from the heavenly hall,
And, lightly winged, has returned himself to his kindred stars,
Coming to feed, not to be fed, and bringing dishes
Such as do not spring from the seed of our harvest.
Lilies are not so white, nor does the bright rose so smell,
And our honeys are despised beside their manna-flowing taste.
Therefore my oven, from its baked interior, does not produce these things,
But your fruit, O Paradise, brings forth the sacred gifts.
Nor is it strange that, rich as he is, he rejected our food,
Who enjoys the everlasting bread of life for ever [John 6:35; John 6:51].
For the man, devoted to God in mind and joyful in speech,
Accustomed to recall, amid praises of the Lord, the sanctifying deeds of the Fathers,
Often also brings in his own deeds,
Those triumphs which he achieved with only heaven as witness.

Chapter 9: How the animals of the sea, in which he had prayed all night, offered him service when he returned, and how the brother who saw these things, growing faint from fear, was restored by his prayer #

¹ Meanwhile the young man goes out by night to his accustomed hymns,
And a certain man, following him by a slow path,
Tried to learn the course of his uncertain steps.
They come to the sea: Cuthbert, plunged into the waters
Up to his neck, spends the night in song amid the marble sea;
He comes out of the deep, and, fixing his knees on the shore,
As a suppliant he stretches both hands to the stars.
Then look, two animals come from the depth of the sea,
And lie down on the golden sand before the seer’s feet:
Then, warming his cold feet with their fur and breath,
They wipe the sea-coldness from the holy body:
Then, with suppliant prayer, they ask that they may be blessed.
He, yielding to their prayers, with word and right hand bestows
Thanks upon his servants, and sends them back to their native waves,
And at morning time returns himself to his dwellings.

² When his companion saw these things, struck with fear in his heart,
Hidden in a curved cave, he drew breath as though half-dead.
But when the returning day drove away the shadows of night,
The sick man comes as a suppliant to the seer, and, falling at his knees,
Asks him to commend himself to the Lord with abundant prayer,
Because he had suddenly fallen into mournful night with heavy weight.
For from our watches, he said, you were secretly observing
My journey as a test; but now the error will be forgiven
To you as you ask, if you keep silent about what you have seen until
I depart from the world. And he follows the example of the highest Master,
Who, when he had sent light anew into the blind man,
Commanded him to conceal the author of his restored salvation [Mark 8:22–26].
Then by prayer he drives away the illness, and releases the fault.
And day by day the highest grace of the Thunderer
Is present as witness to his growing merits: miracles reveal his mind;
And now prophetic power from the starry height
Irradiates his shining heart with bright-breathing splendour.

Chapter 10: How, when sailors were shut in by a storm, he foretold a calm sea for a fixed day, and by praying obtained food #

¹ Meanwhile he is carried by boat to the shores of the Picts,
But the closed seas, in harsh December, delay his return.
And when hunger and cold, and the dangers of the raging sea,
Clouds with thunder, with hail, and the flashing heavens,
Were shaking the terrified sailors on a foreign shore,

² The kindly day had come on which Christ, born in the body,
The glory of the heavens, shone forth with signs upon the earth.
He, as he was gentle, speaks thus from his kindly heart:

³ Why, I ask, does such great sloth possess our minds,
That we should not break such fierce bonds by any effort?
You see how the land grows white with a sea-built rampart,
The air pours down waters, ice covers the sea, night covers the sky;
Our hearts waste away with hunger, and human helps are lacking.
Therefore it remains to knock upon God with upturned prayers,
Who once opened the thresholds of the sea to the Hebrews [Exodus 14:21–22],
Gave cloud to guide them home, bread from heaven, and drink from the rock [Exodus 13:21–22; Exodus 16:4; Exodus 17:6],
And, with flame as guide, drove apart the dreadful shadows of night [Exodus 13:21–22].
This present day, by the gift of whose favour,
The Magi, bringing fourfold treasures, deserved
To see and adore him as mortal man, King, and God [Matthew 2:11];
On which the Lord himself, by his baptism, washes the world,
Opening the heavens, long closed, to believing ages [Matthew 3:16–17];
On which sweet wines glow from the spring’s water,
And the waters, through the Lord’s cups, grow red from remaining there [John 2:1–11]:
So too, I believe, our prosperous fortunes will return with God as guide,
If trust, asking him, makes firm the heart.
When these things had been said, setting his companions on the shore of the sea,
Where he had already been accustomed, as a suppliant, to pass watchful nights,
He sees, as it were cut off, three pieces of a fish’s entrails,
And, with knees set down, venerates and adores the Lord,
Heaping up praises for the venerable gift of faith.
So many feasts as days, prophet, the Creator has supplied, he says;
When these have passed, calming the seas,
He will lead us back by a navigable path to our native land.
Then at their hearths they roast the food, and giving thanks,
For three days they refresh their limbs with the meal provided from heaven,
Which new gifts bear witness by their honeyed taste.
And now on the fourth day, when the joyful south winds cease,
Across the gentle waters they reach the health-bringing harbour.

Chapter 11: How, while travelling, he foretold that an eagle, acting as a servant, would provide food for the journey, and how he received it #

¹ Thereafter, having attained the rank and office of priest,
He was striving to renew the people with the stream of life.
By chance he said to a companion on the road, though himself foreknowing the future:
Tell me, companion, where does your mind intend that we should take refreshment?
I too, he said, have been pondering this within an anxious heart;
We have brought no provisions in our packs, and there is no welcoming house,
Hungry and weary, we shall not be able to complete the journey.
The elder replied: if you learn to trust in the Lord,
He provides food, he who commanded the ravens to feed the prophet [1 Kings 17:4–6].
Do you now see that eagle cutting through the wandering winds?
The Almighty is able to satisfy us through that servant as well.
And while they continue the journey they had begun, they came to a river,
And they see the bird, which had flown high beneath the ruddy sky,
Settling upon a bank of stone. Then the holy man said:
Do you see, he said, our servant above the waters?
Run, I beg, and bring back the gifts which the Lord has sent.
But he brought a fish; he cuts it in half, and with one part for the servant
He drives away hunger, and with the other part they strengthen their hearts.
And as he advances along his journey, by his commands and life-giving waters,
He opens the way of salvation to peoples called to the kingdoms of heaven.

Chapter 12: How, while preaching to the people, he both foresaw that a phantom fire of the devil would suddenly come, and extinguished it when it came #

¹ At no other time, while opening heavenly things to earthly people,
Did he so beautifully expose the impious mockeries of the serpent. [Genesis 3:1–15]
For suddenly he mingles such words with his sacred sayings:

² As often as the mysteries of the kingdom are opened to you, [Matthew 13:11]
It is fitting to bring an attentive heart and kindly understanding,
Lest the wandering breath of the pest-bearing serpent harm you,
Who, perverse, striving to turn aside sacred beginnings,
Rejoices that the faithful are troubled even by a small cloud,
So that, as a deceitful enemy and worthless little servant,
He may draw us away from speech with and sight of the heavenly King.

³ Amid these warnings, rising from no fuel,
A devouring fire without strength seizes the neighbouring houses;
And where the flames fly, the wind helps, and the crash goes to the stars,
The people, deceived by the trembling phantom, leap up
In haste, with water to aid the fire-breathing roofs.
But the deceit, not knowing how to yield to poured-out waters,
Perishes by its own lightness, and the display returns to its native shadows,
And the empty trick is hidden in wandering caves.
Confounded, they returned home; and, begging pardon,
Bent low, they entreat the seer, and in their frailty rejoice
To recognise the proud deceits; and the weapons of the tyrant Spirit
Sacred foreknowing power extinguished.

Chapter 13: How, by prayer, he extinguished the flames of a certain house that was burning #

¹ Moreover, when true fires, crackling with flames,
Once were tearing through the dry rooftops of a house,
He lay down in prayer, and, turning back the winds and hearth-fires,
By his voice he drives away dangers which young men’s hands could not.
Nor is it strange that the frail furnace yielded to the seer,
Who had been accustomed to strike back the fiery darts from Satan’s flame-bearing quivers
With the heavenly shield of Christ. [Ephesians 6:16]

Chapter 14: How he cast a demon out of a certain man’s wife before he had yet arrived #

¹ A man comes to the superior, and as a trembling suppliant repeats his prayers
With his voice. His dear wife lies at the threshold of death;
Already her limbs grow stiff as feeling flees;
Only trembling life still burns in her panting breast.
Send, I beg, someone now to carry Christ’s mysteries,
Before her spirit flees and leaves her pale limbs.
And while the seer was already preparing the journey of the man whom he would send there,
For at that time he was provost of the Lindisfarne cell,
By a hidden divine power he learns
That it is not the common kind of death, but the savagery
Of a black demon, miserably pressing her with dreadful pains.
He offered himself instead; they set out on the road, and look, suddenly
The guide is dissolved in tears, and with sorrowful heart,
As he comes, he anxiously shudders lest, if the seer should see
The woman he had long loved and cherished with mad frenzy
Oppressed in heart, some suspicion of her former life
Might arise, and an improper mark might wound her old reputation.
For she had been accustomed to stand diligently by the seer in service,
And to offer thirsty ears to him as he taught.
He relieves his gloomy cares with kindly consolation.
Why do you groan, and, melted by the hidden fire of a silent furnace,
Wash yourself now with sad water, the sign of your heart?
Do you think that, when I approach the house of my dear companion,
She can be held in the raging coils of the serpent?
The enemy, who has often been accustomed to be overcome in many battles,
Will now too be defeated by the victorious sword of faith.
Rather, the woman herself, coming to meet us,
Will receive these reins, already of sound mind.
The words are fulfilled: they came to the house, the savage serpent fled,
The woman runs to meet them safe and well, and, stretching out her right hand
To the reins, asks the seer to deign to dismount
And enter the dwelling of his servant, revealing the new gifts of salvation,
How, at his coming, the fleeing water-serpent had yielded.

Chapter 15: How, meditating on the anchoritic life, he lived among the monks of Lindisfarne #

¹ Unless, through the frail praise of those who marvelled at such things,
He should be bereft of heavenly and celestial fame, he preferred
To survey the hidden places of solitude for God, by whose witness he could
Be fortified, free from the breeze of human praise,
And, meanwhile, first at the command of his bishop, by his deeds
To open to the brothers a path of virtue by his example.
He becomes companion to the monks whom Lindisfarne,
That clear island of the grey sea, washes round with flowing waves,
And there in a short time, shining brightly through many signs,
He raises up countless sick people, their ailments driven away,
And drives off the dark weapons of the enemy by the shining trophy of the cross.
Though absent in face from these things, yet present in heart,
He crushes them, and entrusts Christ’s house away from the foul guest.
Why then should I try to describe his life on earth?
How sweet he was in speech, how grave in deeds, and how
He sharpened his mind, kindled with tears, towards heaven,
Since outward beauty is the sign of a pure heart!

Chapter 16: What kind of dwelling he made for himself on the island of Farne, after driving out the demons #

¹ At last, as an elder, he seeks Farne, and, having gained
The dwelling he desired, he vigorously drives out the dark natives from their homeland.
For that island, once bristling with ghostly blasts,
Kept human fellowship away with unseen threats.
Soon the Lord’s servant approaches it; terrified by the cross, the fierce
Whirlwind flees through the void like a portion of wandering smoke.
Holding those peaceful realms after the tyranny had perished,
The holy man built a heavenly city with an earthly rampart,
And set humble dwellings beneath high walls.
From these he could look only upon the star-bearing summit,
And, secluded, gaze upon the King from on high.
And so that in all things the divine power of the kindly man
Might be made plain, he strengthened the walls with missile-stones,
Which scarcely six strong men could carry on their necks,
Yet he alone, carrying them away and placing them on the walls,
Was able to do it, the right hand of the highest Thunderer accompanying him.

Chapter 17: How by prayers he brought water from dry ground, he who also once by drinking turned waters into wine #

¹ This place had been without a spring, but the saint drew forth
Pleasant water by prayers, with an unwonted sweetness.
This, born in the midst of holy Cuthbert’s dwelling,
Still offers to all who drink a sweet draught.
Nor is it strange that the Lord’s servant could deserve this,
For once, when he drove away thirst with a leaping wave,
He was able to turn the waters into pure nectar. [John 2:1–11]

Chapter 18: How he drove birds away from the crop which he had sown with his own hand #

¹ And desiring to win his food with his own hands,
He tries to cut the untilled ground with iron,
And as sower to entrust the year’s hope to the tamed clods.
And while a great crop was rising from a little seed,
The time of harvest comes, but by chance swift birds
Try to plunder the old man’s yellowing ears of corn;
To the savage robbers he gently begins such words:

² Why, I ask, do youuch with unlawful boldness a crop
Which was not planted in the furrows by your labour?
Does your poverty surpass mine, so that by right
You send the curved sickle into this field?
But if perhaps God commands you to press on with these thefts,
I do not forbid it; but if otherwise, withdraw within your own bounds.

³ He had spoken, and soon the feathered crowd withdrew, nor thereafter
Did it dare to harm the rights of the Lord’s soldier,
Whom rather, as though by the sweet bond of a treaty of peace,
It loved in return as a friend, one-hearted with its own kind.
For he himself treated it like a shepherd his tender sheep.

Chapter 19: How the ravens purged, by prayers and a gift, the wrong which they had done to the man of God #

¹ The ravens broke the agreement under a black charge,
And broke into the house, and from the torn roof
Rejoiced to carry straws into the nest of their own offspring.
The seer warns them to cease; and, when his counsels were rejected,
Why, he says, do you tear apart the brothers’ lodging? Go away,
And, exiles from this land, remain so for ever.
He had spoken, and they go away sadly; and after three days had passed,
One comes to the seer, and, rolling at his feet,
With wings spread out in sorrow, begs pardon and return.
When peace had been made, he returns, and revisits his companion.
At last they both come gladly, and bring with them
A worthy gift for their vow, swine’s fat, with whose grease
The holy man could soften his footwear, and thereafter
There they build their nests with harmless preparation.

² Why, fierce pride, do you burn with a swollen neck?
Look at the way of the raven, and lay aside your blind fury,
Which purges its fault by prayers, tears, and a gift.
Nor let it shame you to take a pattern of life from the heart
Of birds, since Wisdom warns: Look at the paths
Which the ant treads, and learn its wise understanding. [Proverbs 6:6]

Chapter 20: How even the sea served his needs #

¹ Why should I tell that the waters of the sea served the righteous man,
And that the elements gave service to those who
Submit themselves with devoted mind to commands from above?
For, when he was about to build there for his own use a suitable hut,
Whose foundations he wished to support on the side facing the sea, he asked
The brothers to bring timber suited to the work.
They returned having forgotten, but the next tide of the sea
Brought it; and, wonderful to tell, right at the very threshold
Where it had been in his heart to lay the foundations
Of the roof, it placed it; and the sea rebukes human forgetfulness,
And with its wave strikes the sailors with shame.

Chapter 21: How, giving saving admonitions to the many who came to him, he exposed the frail snares of the ancient enemy #

¹ Fame summons many to seek the holy sayings of the seer,
And to offer thirsty ears to heavenly sounds,
So that he might relieve them, weary from the varied ruin of the heart.
But that gentle man, renewing the sorrowful with sacred consolation,
Recounts to all the highest joys of heaven and the fleeting pleasures
Of the passing world, and how the malicious one sets various traps,
By which the mind, stripped of the Lord’s love,
May slip miserably; but the weapons of faith
Break through the empty deceits without any danger.

² How often, he says, from a high rock do the wicked ones
Cast me headlong! How often do they roll stones driven
Against my breast! But I am harmed by no blow of the enemy,
Believe me, nor has any stumbling hurt even the soles of my feet,
Nor has even the smallest terror touched my heart.
And do not wonder at these as though they were the highest peaks of my life,
Because I, treading underfoot the proud allurements of deceitful pleasure,
Desire to be present to the Lord in solitude.
Stricter is the life of the monk, which, always subject to commands,
Serves devotedly under the rule of obedience,
And vigils, hunger, prayers, and labour of the hands,
They gladly restrain, bowed to the wish of the one who rules.
Many of these I have known through the heights of life,
And to go before me through the rays of prophetic wisdom,
Of whom Boisil is the glory of the company of Melrose,
Whom I remember once laying open to me my whole life,
Which remained for me in the order of the age to come.
And only the sentence of one word remains,
Which I would wish never to happen; may God, judge of the world, grant it.

³ These things the holy elder used to say, because, foreknowing,
He had foretold with lofty-speaking mouth that he himself would be bishop.

Chapter 22: His prophecy concerning the life of King Ecgfrith and his own episcopate #

¹ And when all rejoiced to see the holy seer,
And by his prayer to calm the waves of the heart,
Look, among others, royal in deeds of lofty signs,
There came a royal virgin, who, as the king’s bride, forever
Brings forth chaste motherly choirs, O Paradise, beneath the joys
Of your kingdom; and she begs the seer
To deign to strengthen his servant with heavenly admonitions.
He agrees, and, having crossed the gulf of the sea by boat,
Goes forward, and, while he addresses her with friendly words,
Anxious with womanly cares, she suddenly asks thus:

² Now it is clear that you, through the bright splendour of shining merit,
Stretch foreknowing eyes towards the ages to come.
Tell me therefore, I adjure you by the realms of the highest Thunderer,
For what age is Ecgfrith to rule the kingdom?
To her the prophet opens true things in uncertain speech.

³ You call a man’s reign long-lasting, though even if it were stretched out
For a hundred years, it would be closed in a brief hour,
And would be counted as worth less than the pleasure of a single year,
When black death is poured through the failing limbs.

⁴ She groans, and, weeping at the sad foretellings with tears,
Whom, I ask, she says, will he leave to govern the sceptres of the kingdom,
Since he lacks brother and son? To her the seer says such things:
Do you see how this sea spreads its wandering realms far and wide?
Perhaps even among these the Lord keeps for himself one of this people,
A chosen ruler to guide the reins of empire,
And to be bound to you, Ecgfrith, by a brother’s love.

⁵ Still the suppliant virgin dares to press the prophet:
O, the hearts of men are divided by various cares!
One part of mankind rejoices in the high point of worldly pomp.
Another, desiring treasures which pleasure lays waste,
Never lays aside endless poverty.
Though you despise the offered honour of the world,
And prefer to be hidden away in humble caves,
Yet you are to obtain the honour of highest bishop,
Than which our age bears nothing more sacred by merit.
I, he replied, now confess that I am not worthy
To undertake such heights; but the right hand of the Lord
Is escaped by no hiding-places of heaven, earth, or sea [Psalm 139:7–10].
But if he should command me to bear such heavy weights of rank,
I believe that he will release me shortly, and perhaps when the course
Of two years has passed I shall be absolved, and again to my beloved
Solitudes I shall be joyfully restored. But you too, Ælfflæd,
Remember to keep our conversation silent forever,
Until I am released from the bonds and prison of the flesh.

⁶ Nor are they mere words: the sayings of the truth-speaker are fulfilled in order.
Compelled by the commands, prayers, and tears of the Church,
And he himself, the seer, his cheeks drenched with bitter grief,
Is drawn out from his sweet hiding-place, and for the ruling of peoples
Is set in charge, lest the covered lamp lie hidden under a bushel,
But rather spread the high-haired radiance of the Lord into his house [Matthew 5:15; Mark 4:21; Luke 11:33];
He governed the Church as bishop for two years,
And hastened, rejoicing, to return himself to his former retreats.

⁷ And so that satisfaction might be made in every point to the seer’s words,
The sun completed a great year in its accustomed months,
When Ecgfrith fell by the hostile sword of the Picts,
And his half-brother succeeded to the honour of the kingdom,
Who, while dwelling as an inhabitant in the lands of the Irish,
Breathed heavenly wisdom in so great a heart.
For he had left the borders of his homeland its sweet fields,
That, as an exile, he might diligently learn the mysteries of the Lord.
Now his venerable pledge, in Tyrian purple,
By paternal right, handles the duly given reins of the sceptre.
And, like a new Josiah, mature in faith and mind more than
In years, he rules our renowned world [2 Kings 22:1–2; 2 Chronicles 34:1–3].

Chapter 23: How in the episcopate he did not abandon the monastic life #

¹ Therefore, having gained the heights of the chief priesthood,
Cuthbert shines in mind and hand, and is radiant in speech,
And he shepherds the flocks entrusted to him with prayers and admonitions.
Rich to the poor, poor to himself, gentle to the bitter,
A monk among crowds; for he does not care to change either his usual clothing
Or the dry dishes of his slender fare.
He adds to the miracles of his mind by titles of virtues,
Which one may touch in passing with a lyric plectrum,
Lest the longer verse produce weariness for the tired.

Chapter 24: How he healed the wife of an earl through his priest with blessed water #

¹ The kindly teacher, ministering heavenly gifts everywhere,
Carried his steps through the lands of an earl, whose sick wife,
Having suffered disease and drawing near to death, was grieving him.
He gave to her the kindly gifts of health-bringing water from the seer,
With the priest serving as minister, and removed the wasting sickness:
And the woman, restored to health, offered him these acts of service.

Chapter 25: How he cured a girl, anointed with chrism, of pain in her head and side #

¹ At another time, touched by pain in her side,
A virgin was oppressed, and, weary with heaviness of the head,
Sick for a long time, she groaned: the bishop, when she was touched
With sacred chrism, renews her through the revived gifts of salvation.

Chapter 26: A sick man is healed by bread blessed by the man of God #

¹ A man, himself the father of a household, oppressed by bitter illness,
Summons bands of friends to his final fate.
Many come together; and by chance one of them there brought out
The bread which the hand of the kindly teacher had once, at his request,
Consecrated and given to him as a holy gift.
They dip it in water to be drunk; the sick man receives it,
And soon, beneath the healing draught, the sickness withdrew,
And revived health entered his loosened limbs.

Chapter 27: On the road, by prayer he recalled to life a young man brought to him who was about to die #

¹ For while the watchful shepherd surveys the sheepfolds entrusted to him,
Look, in the middle of the road they carry on a bed
The torpid limbs of a young man, scarcely drawing harsh breaths,
And they beg him to help the wretched man. He at once sends everyone
Out, and with prayers swiftly raises the languishing limbs
And adds him as a companion to his friends, while they marvel.

Chapter 28: In a time of mortality he restored to his mother, alive and well, a boy who was dying #

¹ At the time when a dreadful plague was laying waste the Britons,
The holy man everywhere scatters heavenly gifts of salvation.
He sees a grieving mother carrying her dying son:
Moved with compassion for the funeral of the half-dead child and for the grieving woman,
He himself gives kisses to the boy, and addresses the bitter mother:
Leave fear and tears behind; this boy will be healed,
And your whole house will be free from this lot of death.
Health for both the boy and the house followed his words.

Chapter 29: That all his deeds cannot be numbered #

¹ Why should I try to say what I could not sufficiently declare
In any verse? How often, powerful now by a word,
He raised up limbs consumed by the wasting of diseases and invalid limbs,
And how many fires of fever the sacred water repressed;
How poverty, from the springing flood, made waters
Pass into the joyful taste of wine! [John 2:1–11]
How often the horror of spirits fled through trackless ways,
Confessing that it was accustomed, by Cuthbert’s threats, to leave
Human hearts, and to be driven beneath the fire-breathing shadows of hell,
And even in his absence to be punished by black torments!
Why should I strive to grasp by number the virtues of the holy man,
Whom such grace of prophetic honour shone upon,
And who now flies through the pure ether of heaven with clear sight?

Chapter 30: He sees in spirit, while absent, the death of Ecgfrith and of his soldier, which he had foretold would happen #

¹ Meanwhile, while Ecgfrith was pressing the kingdoms of the Picts in war,
Wakeful in mind, he clearly foresaw that the fierce rages
Were yielding now to a wretched end; and his face
Bathed in tears, he repeatedly pours out frequent sighs,
Now gazing trembling at the fields, now at heaven.
Perhaps, he says, our soldier, when the struggle is finished,
Receives the end appointed by the Lord as judge.
They ask him to tell more plainly this outcome of the battle,
But he thus conceals the known dangers in uncertain speech.

² See, little children, how a new amazement troubles the air,
For the hidden secrets of the Lord lie concealed, nor can anyone
Sufficiently grasp the footsteps of the high-throned King.
Not many days passed, when dreadful rumour sang
Of the wicked death of people and prince, lamenting that it had been accomplished
At that very hour of which the seer had spoken,
Seeing it while absent, which he had believed before would come,
When the virgin, asking, enquired about the ruler’s span of life.

Chapter 31: How the man of God foretold his death to Hereberht the anchorite, and obtained from the Lord by prayers that he should accompany him #

¹ Then Hereberht came, who was bound by especial love
To the seer, and, taught by his admonitions, through the high trackless places
Was living a life of solitude;
But desiring to be strengthened, as usual, by the sacred man’s words.
And while in turn they water their devoted hearts
With the starry feasts of the word, Cuthbert adds these things:

² Now, beloved brother, it is fitting to lead this day
With feasts of food and speech, because the Father of all things
Has joined us, always bound in heart, face to face, and has granted us
To see one another before we are dissolved by the law of death.
And therefore now the road to heaven must be sought by the mouth;
Now the gate of life must be knocked at with the whole soul.
While it is permitted to kindle one another’s hearts
With heavenly flames. For the hastening time of death presses upon me.

³ When he heard the words of the venerable prophet,
He falls down, begs, grieves, weeps, and begins:
Do not leave me, I beg, and remember your dear companion,
Lest, when you enter the golden thresholds of the shining kingdom,
I alone should be held enclosed beneath the prison of the flesh.
More fittingly will you gladly approach the high kingdoms of heaven
Accompanied by your servant; therefore, as a suppliant, beg the Thunderer,
That we, who are equally pressed on earth in the shadow of death [Psalm 23:4; Luke 1:79],
May pass together to the shores of eternal light.
The seer bent himself to prayers, and entreats his groaning companion
To dry his cheeks and lay aside his weeping,
For he had obtained the hearing of his prayer, by the Lord’s mercy.
Why delay? Both, beneath the balance of a single day,
Depart from the world, and are carried to the Lord’s hall.
But Hereberht, burning his limbs in a long furnace,
At last sent forth his fire-refined breath above the heavens,
So that, I believe, made purer by those flames,
He might equal his companion; and, climbing the stars with joined step,
They enjoy their joined reward for ever.

Chapter 32: He saw the soul of a certain man, who had died by falling from a tree, being carried to heaven #

¹ He had sat down at table, but, fed with the feasts of Olympus,
The seer is suddenly separated from human foods;
Fear shakes his bones, and his trembling right hand
Leaves the knife, and his heart is shaken with thunderstruck dread.
Ælfflæd, who by chance was seated beside him, enquires
What perhaps might be the fresh cause of such great trembling.
An angelic company, he replied, had come from heaven,
And, with a chosen soldier from your camps,
Was returning to the golden stars with sweet-sounding triumphs.
She asks the name. Tomorrow, he said, when I have offered
The sacred mysteries for myself at the altar, both the name and the manner
By which he seeks the stars will be disclosed in order by your words.
So, sending a messenger in haste through all her people,
At last in the morning she learns, and to the seer, intent
On consecrating vows and prayers at the altars, she recounts
That a certain man, while climbing the heights of a leafy wood,
So that he might cut down from a tree fodder for the cattle,
Had fallen and, his limbs released, had laid down his soul,
And had been taken from human affairs at that very time
At which the holy man saw him snatched up to the heavenly breezes.

Chapter 33: After 2 years of episcopate he sought again the solitary life #

¹ After he had governed the Church for 2 years, diligent
By right of the bishop’s office, and watered the living meadows
Of the flowing word, he stood firm in leaving the burden
Of so great an honour; and, shut away in the sands of the desert,
He preferred to be struck by Satan’s gloomy weapons
Than to grasp at the empty favour of the ignorant crowd.
For the flattering praise of dependants begets sloth,
And blessed perfection is crowned by continual struggles,
Especially when, warned by the Spirit’s prophetic words,
He rejoiced that the time of death was near for him,
And desired, in solitude, to renew his kindly mind
Before he died, wearied by the wave-tossed cares of the world.

Chapter 34: Falling ill on that island, he ordered that his body be laid there, also speaking of his glory after death #

¹ His beloved island soon received him back within its sacred walls,
And his holy limbs are gradually touched by great pain;
And as, day by day, the pressing heat grew within his bones,
He goes out from his sweet camp, and the companion company,
Which rejoiced gladly to serve its weary father,
He sought often to strengthen with gentle-speaking counsels:

² Learn, my sons, to break the bonds of the frail world,
And now to store up eternal treasures in the soul. [Matthew 6:19–20]
Passing honour and contempt hang by a doubtful
Thread, by which holy hearts learn, through righteous merits,
By no means to seek praise in fleeting time,
Where no one is able either to know the hidden places of a closed heart,
Or to repay worthy things for deeds discovered;
But, gazing with pure sight upon the gate of the kingdom,
Which the renowned King of the heavenly court will give to the worthy,
They prefer to store their lights in olive-bearing vessels. [Matthew 25:1–13]
Look, you have already marvelled that I breathed in my soul
Towards the starry riches with upturned heart, but the hidden enclosures
Of the breast lie open to the Lord alone, and, when the weight of the flesh is broken,
I believe they will now begin to be laid open by certain signs.
But, I beg, because death is pressing and knocking at the threshold,
Let my limbs remain for burial within these walls:
For I hope that, though I be consumed by winds or freezing waves,
I shall rise in an instant to meet Christ when he comes. [1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17]

Chapter 35: He says that at the end he overcame more grievous struggles #

¹ While the elder was repeating such things in the ears of his companions,
He instructs them to return for a time. They cross the blue waters by boat,
Bringing with them the companies of the brothers.
After five days, shut in by seething waves,
Had delayed them, at last they return, and with suppliant weeping
Obtain that it may now be permitted to bury with them the limbs
Of their dear father. To them the seer adds these things:
He who desires as victor to climb the high-throned kingdom
Must shamefully avoid yielding in an unfinished war,
And, still more, being overcome in the struggle of the final contest.
When crowns have almost been received, he is defrauded by the enemy.
Striving with long labour to empty the faithful,
He now shakes them with greater force in the last times;
Indeed, from the first flower of my youth, the wicked one
Harassed me with frequent snares, and this fifth day
Battle surpasses all the tricks of time past.
But easily, with Christ as leader, I drove back the weapons of the unspeakable one,
Although no small nourishment of food or drink was given,
And though I did not move these limbs from the wasted place.
You also, I beg, keep forever the lofty laws
Which the heavenly rule of the Fathers has provided for you,
And which I myself had been able to set forth in humble words,
While I watered the crops which the highest elders had sown.
And though the whirlwind rise up with swift storms,
Bear all things with faith; the hall of the kingdom is sought by force. [Matthew 11:12]
And, founded upon the rock, do not yield to heavy storms: [Matthew 7:24–25]
Despise the fury of torrents and the savage north winds,
And now let the final sentence of the Father remain in your heart.
It is better for you to leave the borders of this homeland
Than in fear to turn your mind from that path
Which holy Scripture has depicted on divine pages.
Nor, because this place buries the ashes of many,
Who sought the golden stars in a flaming course,
Let favour or the wandering glory of empty praise tempt you.
For they rejoice above the stars in crowns won by their merits.
It is fitting for us to run the race on our own feet
In no other way, and to grasp the prize with our own hands. [1 Corinthians 9:24]
Nor does a man stand venerable by merit because of places,
But a place stands kindly and venerable because of men.
And now, I ask, place me within the walls of my city,
For the time is at hand when I must pay the debt of the flesh,

Chapter 36: How he healed his servant from a flux of the belly #

¹ Thunderstruck by such things, they weep and ask, groaning,
That he not bury his wounded limbs in hidden retreats,
But, holding the very boundaries of death and life,
Relieve his flame in the presence of brotherly consolation;
Or at least receive beneath his sacred roof a servant,
Who might diligently tend his frail limbs with service.

² Moved by these things, while he turns his kindly eyes over them all,
He sees a brother, weighed down by a long affliction,
Whose wasting limbs were withering from his emptied bowels:
Let this man, if you wish, he says, come under my roof,
And, weary as I am under this affliction, offer me consolations of love.
As he accompanies the seer and soon approaches the sacred threshold,
Unexpected health runs to meet the sick man and embraces him,
The sickness of his belly driven away, and, worthy of salvation,
Diseases did not dare to enter beneath the lofty roof.
Without delay he goes out well, who had entered sick, and there
Cuthbert fittingly sends in a priest, so that with him as witness
He may seek the stars, with whom as witness he had governed his life.

Chapter 37: Having received the viaticum, amid words of prayer he gave up his spirit #

¹ And now all things were growing numb under sleep-bringing night,
While, with watchful vigils, Farne pressed back the darkness,
And wherever prayers resound in melodies, the island roars with psalms;
And the seer himself, tasting beforehand the joys of his palm,
Exulting beneath heavenly praises, spreads out his shadows.
But when the bright morning-star, blazing with golden hair,
Brought the dawn, look, the holy bishop, seated at the altar,
Tastes the cups of life, and with Christ’s blood
Fortifies the upward road, and lifts his face to the stars
And his kindly hands rejoicing, and his soul, intent
On praises from above, he placed among the rejoicing stars.

Chapter 38: How, according to the prophecy of the psalm which they had sung as he was dying, the Lindisfarne monks were attacked, but protected with the Lord’s help #

¹ The priest, going out, reveals the holy death of the seer
To his grieving companions, who then by chance were singing this hymn
In plaintive praise: Kindly God, rejecting us,
You destroy us in anger, and, having mercy, save us from the enemy;
You shake the lands, powerful one, and trouble them, and heal the terrified;
And you give your people deeply sorrowful wine to drink; but with you as leader
Wars of the enemy fall, and you crush harmful weapons,
So that the chosen may possess free light for ever. [Psalm 60:1–5]
Then, by the sign of flame, they make known to the Lindisfarne monks
That, at the hour which the watchman had kept all night from the look-out,
The seer had entered the heavenly breezes.
And they too, then by chance in the order of nightly praise,
A wondrous thing, in the melody of that same psalm
Were singing that sorrowful blows follow the Lord’s kindly gifts.
Nor do the foretellings long delay unsuspected, for soon,
When the holy limbs of the seer are honourably entrusted to the tomb,
Laid beneath the marble on the right side of the altar,
The North Wind presses on, trusting in its snowy weapons,
And from this side and that shakes the Lindisfarne buildings
With such hateful blasts that noble offspring of the fathers
Tottered in the weary thread of its affairs.
It would now choose to yield its place rather than undergo
The furthest dangers; nor does wrath remain long, but kind
Eadberht restores peace when the storm has been stilled,
And calls back the scattered sheep beneath the sacred fold:
And as the psalm had foreknowingly resounded in lyric order,
He restores the bishoply honour and the honour of the people.

Chapter 39: How his body after eleven years was found without corruption #

¹ And the holy heir of the conspicuous Father, set upon his throne,
After he had passed beyond the course of the eleventh year,
Was pleased that the ashes of the blessed tomb
Should be lifted out before them and placed lightly in the lap by art.
But as the psalm sings, because precious is the death of the holy
Before God, and because he takes the cup who fears
To drink salvation, protected by the name of the high King. [Psalm 116:13–15]
And again, as the mystic lyre resounds in highest song,
Nor will you, O High One, give your holy one to see corruption,
To whom you open the golden heights of light-flowing life. [Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:27]
Divine miracles shine in human limbs,
And the power which gleams in the high court of the Lord
Is granted, by a shared gift, to faithful servants.
The undefiled limbs are brought forth from the sacred tomb,
As ignorant of harm as they are free from dreadful decay.
Nor is the body hard and rigid, or weighed down by harsh death,
But, as though taking gentle sleep in the breast,
The body now seems flexible in its whole frame.
No lesser grace of the excellent garment shone forth,
Incorrupt, which alone had covered the saint’s limbs.
They decide to divide this; half receives the holy limbs,
Half is preserved as witness of a memorable sign.

Chapter 40: How, placing the body of Bishop Eadberht in the tomb of the man of God, they set his sarcophagus above it #

¹ After Eadberht had extolled the miracles of these events
With worthy praises, as I once commemorated in verse,
Recounting the excellent deeds of that bishop,
He is consumed by fevers, and, sending forth his gentle breath
To the stars, he ascends to his fatherland, while his body remains in its place.
But above him is set the splendour of the lofty shrine,
An immortal glory, holding the relics of the kindly martyr,
Which shines forth, renowned, with wondrous heavenly signs.
The stains of diseases flee, and the impious fury
Of the dark demon; and, as he used to stand by living before,
Showing the radiance of signs, so now also everywhere
His wondrous power is spread through his dead limbs.

Chapter 41: A demon-possessed boy is healed by water into which was put soil on which the washing of his body had been poured #

¹ A certain man, whose son the blind wrath
Of a demon, miserably grinding him in fury,
Had forced to pour out savage cries
And to consume his own limbs with bites,
Carried the boy’s limbs among the sacred tombs of the saints, asking aid,
But the saints did not wish to grant the healing sought,
So that Cuthbert’s higher power might shine forth more loftily.
Then a certain boy, shuddering at the child’s weeping and wailing,
Faithfully runs to the aid of his beloved Father;
He knew the kindly place which had once washed the dead sacred limbs
Of his patron, where the water had been returned to the earth.
From there he snatches great healing from a little patch of ground,
Mixes it with water, and consecrates it with kindly words:
He gives the boy a drink; soon the bitter shriek ceases,
And without delay full health returns. He reverently praises the heavenly
Gifts, and with joyful step everywhere proclaims to all Cuthbert’s venerable gift.

Chapter 42: A sick man is healed by praying at his tomb #

¹ Another man, consumed by the disease-bearing fire of a furnace,
Is scarcely brought by his weakened servants to the holy tomb
Of the high martyr; setting down his knee, he begs
That the kindly voice of so great a patron may rescue him from those bonds.
He rises, and, strengthened by the gift of heavenly grace,
Sets free steps upon healed feet,
And day by day now receives the gifts of his former health.

Chapter 43: A certain man healed his failing eyes by applying his cloth #

¹ Moreover, even the coverings that shared the kindly body
Overflow, by a shared gift, with healing power.
For while pain and wandering darkness pressed
A certain man’s eyes, receiving the cloth of the holy seer,
He touches both eyes with it, and the grace of the venerable garment
Soon opens again the path restored to health.

Chapter 44: A paralytic is healed by his shoes #

¹ But another man, whose limbs, loosened by a heavy weight,
Lay abandoned by their own functions, and for whom
Ineffective medicine had increased long-lasting pains,
At last placed around his sick feet the shoes
Which had clothed the holy soles of the kindly Martyr.
Soon sweet sleep began to soften the first darknesses.
For the servant had put on the sacred gifts of high healing:
And with his sinews strengthened by inward power,
He moves with alternating step amid joyful dreams,
As fish play on the shore of the deserted sea.
Awakening, he raises his revived limbs with a staff,
And begins, standing, to pay the morning praises,
And, his limbs strengthened with their former vigour,
He praises the divine help, and, healthy, offers fitting thanks
To the starry Thunderer for the gift.

Chapter 45: That the sick are cured by the covering of his wall #

¹ Nor is the holy roof emptied of heavenly gift,
Where the holy man, seeking the stars, left his bloodless body.
But now too it shares everywhere its accustomed healing,
And let the Davidic offspring marvel at the lofty roofs
Of its temple, since they rival the heaven with sparkling gems,
And gleam adorned with golden figures.
But I marvel more beneath the humble dwelling of the seer
At the skin with which the holy man covered the frail corner,
Lest rain or the piercing burning cold of the North Wind
Should rush in everywhere, and weary hearts burning
With chaste prayers; nor does my judgement deceive me.
For this work which Solomon had made with yellow gold,
The Chaldean flame covered, alas, with ruins of stones.
But the sacred curtains which Cuthbert’s right hand hung up,
The gifts of Felgeld, divided through the open world,
Pour out more widely the medicines of an inborn gift;
And iron grows brighter than Libyan gold,
And sheep-skin surpasses gleaming gems.
This third man now guards the camp of the leaders,
A blessed heir soon to follow the Father to the high kingdoms.

Chapter 46: How greatly Æthelwold, successor of the man of God, strove to hide his virtues #

¹ For among these, in their midst, no less active than his kindly companions,
Æthelwold, you providently ruled the sacred strongholds;
They say that he rarely wished to disclose
His own virtues to anyone, or with what opposing weapons, victorious,
He had shattered the bloody darts of the grim serpent. [Ephesians 6:16]
Hence that saying, memorable for long among the blessed, remains,
Once incautiously slipped from his holy lips.
By chance, while the holy man was watering a faithful ear
With heavenly admonitions, he received these words from his companion’s heart:
What, I ask, is the reason that so often from your mouth,
Frequent silences break through and vary your flowing speech,
And forgetfulness sets bounds in the middle of your words?
To him the holy hero gave answer thus in a few words:
This, sweet beloved, it is fitting for you to hold forever
In a fixed and mindful heart: unless each one of the sheep
Should diligently strive to turn his ears wholly from conversations,
He cannot utter words among the heavenly companies,
Nor open his ears to the joyful harmonies of heaven.

² He had spoken, and, struck in heart by trembling fear,
He is seized with sobbing, and, fervent, beats his chaste breast
With his fists, and at last, groaning and drenched with tears,
After sorrowful silences breaks out into this voice:
I beg you as a suppliant, by the sceptres of the highest Thunderer,
That you hide these words from all, until
I return my dying limbs to the earth and walk in the path of the fathers.
Thus, although the holy man preferred to hide his highest things
In chambers, they are revealed with yesterday as witness.

³ But holy Cuthbert, often recalling the kindly deeds of those before him,
Used also to add in a few words how Christ, amid heavenly praise,
Had been the companion of his own struggle.
And so the same Spirit, now by one gift,
Illumined two men through his gifts, and by a divided path
Of high heaven brought them onward to one kingdom.

Chapter 47: How Felgeld the anchorite was there cleansed from a swelling of the face #

¹ Come then: Felgeld himself first receives abundant proofs
Of the health-giving strength of the kindly gift.
His face, long before touched by an ugly swelling,
Was disfigured; but while he was hidden alone in the rigid cave,
A broader flame rises from the inborn source,
And burning lividness sprinkles his cheeks with spots.
While he was fixing new roofs for the old dwelling,
Sure hope of health taught him joyfully to share
That curtain torn from the weary wall.
And when the first strip is dipped in the kindly waters,
So that a path may lie open for the horn-bearing iron,
A playful drop, springing from the sacred flood,
Sprinkled the eyes of the holy man, and his reddened face.
He, quickly seeking to wipe away the water with his right hand,
Marvels, astonished, that the plague has gone, and that the doors
Now open, under a healthy brow, to restored healing.
And lest anyone should perhaps think that I speak falsely,
With God as witness I shall say that a faithful priest
Disclosed these things, to whose faithful ear the seer had spoken.
See, he says, you know that once a bitter disease
Pressed my face, but now the grace of Christ,
Through Cuthbert’s merits, has soothed the sorrowful scourges.
Put out your hand, and by touching me prove that I speak the truth.
For, closed as it had been, the eye could not be seen with sharp sight,
And, with the disease fleeing, it had restored its former health.
The holy man perceived that it was present from heaven in those times.

Prayer of Blessed Bede the Priest #

¹ These gifts, Christ, giver of all good things,
We have offered to you from the highest gift of your own gift,
And, pouring out great joys in humble words,
We have touched upon the lofty contests of your saints:
Hoping, through them as intercessors, that you,
Who justly crown the worthy in the starry height,
May gently release even the debts owed by us, unworthy as we are.
The final rewards in the dwellings of that court are enough,
Where the sight of you, Christ, will bless all,
Life abiding for the chaste, and light and salvation for ever.