‘Your Child Shall Be Healed’, by St Bede of Jarrow

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THE priest looked about, and saw a woman standing afar off, one of whose sons had died but a little time before, and she was now supporting another at the point of death, whilst the tears trickling down her cheek bore witness to her past and present affliction. He pointed her out to the man of God,* who immediately went to her, and, blessing the boy, kissed him, and said to his mother, “Do not fear nor be sorrowful; for your child shall be healed and live, and no one else of your household shall die of this pestilence.” To the truth of which prophecy the mother and son, who lived a long time after that, bore witness.

by St Bede of Jarrow 672-735

From ‘Life of Cuthbert’ by St Bede (?672-735), as translated by J. A. Giles.

* A title that in the Bible is used chiefly for the prophet Elijah, who lived in the reign of King Ahab, the seventh King of Israel (r. ?871-?852 BC). See for example 1 Kings 17:17-24.

Précis

Cuthbert’s companion drew his attention to a woman who had already lost one son to the pestilence and was now nursing another, fading quickly. After kissing the plague-ridden child, Cuthbert assured the distraught mother that no more of her family would die: which Bede knew to be true, for mother and son often told the story afterwards.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Précis

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