XXVII. How Cuthbert, a man of God, was made bishop;
and how he lived and taught whilst still in the monastic life. [685 A.D.]
CHAP. XXVII.
How Cuthbert, a man of God, was made bishop; and how he lived and taught whilst
still in the monastic life. [685 A.D.]
IN the same year in which King Egfrid departed this life,he, as has been said,
caused the holy and venerable Cuthbertto be ordained bishop of the church of
Lindisfarne. He had for many years led a solitary life, in great continence of
body and mind, in a very small island, called Fame, in the ocean about nine
miles distant from that same church. From his earliest childhoodhe had always
been inflamed with the desire of a religious life; and he adopted the name and
habit of a monk when he was quite a young man: he first entered the monastery of
Mailros,which is on the bank of the river Tweed, and was then governed by the
Abbot Eata,a man of great gentleness and simplicity, who was afterwards made
bishop of the church of Hagustald or Lindisfarne, as has been said above. The
provost of the monastery at that time was Boisil,a priest of great virtue and of
a prophetic spirit. Cuthbert, humbly submitting himself to this man's direction,
from him received both a knowledge of the Scriptures, and an example of good
works.
After he had departed to the Lord, Cuthbert became provost of that monastery,
where he instructed many in the rule of monastic life, both by the authority of
a master, and the example of his own behaviour. Nor did he bestow his teaching
and his example in the monastic life on his monastery alone, but laboured far
and wide to convert the people dwelling round about from the life of foolish
custom, to the love of heavenly joys; for many profaned the faith which they
held by their wicked actions; and some also, in the time of a pestilence,
neglecting the mysteries of the faith which they had received, had recourse to
the false remedies of idolatry, as if they could have put a stop to the plague
sent from God, by incantations, amulets, or any other secrets of the Devil's
art. In order to correct the error of both sorts, he often went forth from the
monastery, sometimes on horseback, but oftener on foot, and went to the
neighbouring townships, where he preached the way of truth to such as had gone
astray; which Boisil also in his time had been wont to do. It was then the
custom of the English people, that when a clerk or priest came to a township,
they all, at his summons, flocked together to hear the Word; willingly heard
what was said, and still more willingly practised those things that they could
hear and understand. And such was Cuthbert's skill in speaking, so keen his
desire to persuade men of what he taught, such a light shone in his angelic
face, that no man present dared to conceal from him the secrets of his heart,
but all openly revealed in confession what they had done, thinking doubtless
that their guilt could in nowise be hidden from him; and having confessed their
sins, they wiped them out by fruits worthy of repentance, as he bade them. He
was wont chiefly to resort to those places and preach in those villages which
were situated afar off amid steep and wild mountains, so that others dreaded to
go thither, and whereof the poverty and barbarity rendered them inaccessible to
other teachers. But he, devoting himself entirely to that pious labour, so
industriously ministered to them with his wise teaching, that when he went forth
from the monastery, he would often stay a whole week, sometimes two or three, or
even sometimes a full month, before he returned home, continuing among the hill
folk to call that simple people by his preaching and good works to the things of
Heaven.
This venerable servant of the Lord, having thus spent many years in the
monastery of Mailros, and there become conspicuous by great tokens of virtue,
his most reverend abbot, Eata, removed him to the isle of Lindisfarne, that he
might there also, by his authority as provost and by the example of his own
practice, instruct the brethren in the observance of regular discipline; for the
same reverend father then governed that place also as abbot. From ancient times,
the bishop was wont to reside there with his clergy, and the abbot with his
monks, who were likewise under the paternal care of the bishop; because Aidan,
who was the first bishop of the place, being himself a monk, brought monks
thither, and settled the monastic institution there; as the blessed Father
Augustine is known to have done before in Kent, when the most reverend Pope
Gregory wrote to him, as has been said above, to this effect: "But in that you,
my brother, having been instructed in monastic rules, must not live apart from
your clergy in the Church of the English, which has been lately, by the will of
God, converted to the faith, you must establish the manner of conversation of
our fathers in the primitive Church, among whom, none said that aught of the
things which they possessed was his own; but they had all things common."
