Cuthbert and the Expert Witness
A hungry monk thought he had got away with the tastiest of crimes, but St Cuthbert kept his promise to his beloved birds.
1150
King Henry II 1154-1189
A hungry monk thought he had got away with the tastiest of crimes, but St Cuthbert kept his promise to his beloved birds.
1150
King Henry II 1154-1189
This post is number 20 in the series Miracles of St Cuthbert
St Cuthbert the Wonderworker of Lindisfarne (?634-687) is one the the most famous of all English saints. He lived in solitude on Inner Farne off the coast of Northumberland, surrounded by the birds he loved, and promised to take care of them even after he was gone.
SAINT Cuthbert loved all the birds of Inner Farne, and feared for them after he was gone. So he bequeathed to them a legacy, which is called ‘St Cuthbert’s Peace’. The birds were bound to live in peace with one another, but they were also promised that no other man or beast would harm them and go unpunished.
Many years later, a monk named Aelric lived in the same cell on Inner Farne.* One day when Aelric was away on the mainland Leving, the monk who was looking after his cell, grew peckish, so he killed and ate one of the eider ducks that nested nearby.
To avoid detection, Leving scattered the skin, bones and feathers on the sea as widely as possible. But his precautions were in vain. When Aelric returned he found bone, skin and feathers all neatly rolled up into a ball, and deposited accusingly on the step of St Cuthbert’s old chapel by the indignant tide.*
Next in series: Cuthbert and the Iron Grip
This was in about 1150. Aelric’s nephew Bernard was sacristan at Durham Priory, now Durham Cathedral, which was Aelric’s monastery too.
See also Cuthbert and the Weary Hawk.
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
What promise did Cuthbert make to his birds?
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Aelric went to the mainland. Leving remained on the island. There was no one else.