Introduction
During Viking raids in 793, the monastic community on Lindisfarne hastily exhumed the body of St Cuthbert (?635-687) and fled. After two hundred years of wandering they found a home for him at Durham, and in 1093 the Bishop of Durham re-established the priory on Lindisfarne. In the early days it was staffed by just a couple of Durham monks, but one Christmas, we are told, they received some visitors.
AFTER St Cuthbert was laid to rest on Lindisfarne, his burial place was held in the utmost reverence, and many miraculous signs were done there by him.* One Christmas Eve, two Durham monks who were staying there to render service to St Cuthbert* began to sing the traditional midnight offices.* During a lull, one of them, a lay brother, left the church for a rest, while the other remained in the quire in prayer. Suddenly, he saw a light shimmering about the entrance to the church. The doors, which had been shut, swung slowly inwards upon their hinges and two clean-shaven men entered bearing radiant candles. They were followed by a man of reverend age in bishop’s vestments, who made his way towards the altar. The Confession was said, and Absolution given, and the Mass of the Nativity of the Lord began.* Joyfully they sang ‘A child is born’, in clearest melody; the candlesticks on either side of the altar blazed, and as the Bishop began ‘Glory be to God on high’ there was the sound of song far above, like a massed choir of angels.
* A cenotaph was erected to mark the place where their patron had lain for a century before the Viking raids struck, and where so many miracles had been performed.
* This account is paraphrased from The Little Book of the Wonderful Virtues of Blessed Cuthbert written in 1160-1170 by Reginald (?-?1190), who had joined the Durham community in about 1153. We know that the events described here had happened in living memory, because one of the two monks told Reginald all about that Christmas night on Lindisfarne. It seems likely to have been after 1122, when a monk named Edward was the first recorded resident and when work on the priory began in earnest, and before 1172, when Lindisfarne was home to a full monastic community. The priory was complete by about 1150.
* Reginald stresses again and again that Cuthbert celebrated the service in a highly traditional manner. He said the liturgy “in the most traditional manner of the universal Church”, observing “every appropriate office” according to the missal. Such repeated statements help to show that the monk was not experiencing a confused dream of impressions but a fully waking vision; and evidently, Anglo-Saxon bishop St Cuthbert doing things the old-fashioned way was balm to Reginald’s soul too.
Précis
One Christmas Eve, sometime in the twelfth century, two monks from Durham were over on Lindisfarne, preparing to celebrate midnight mass. One was away taking a break when the other saw a strange light at the church door. Two men entered carrying candles, followed by an elderly bishop who proceeded to sing the service, assisted by an invisible choir. (59 / 60 words)
One Christmas Eve, sometime in the twelfth century, two monks from Durham were over on Lindisfarne, preparing to celebrate midnight mass. One was away taking a break when the other saw a strange light at the church door. Two men entered carrying candles, followed by an elderly bishop who proceeded to sing the service, assisted by an invisible choir.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, although, just, must, not, or, unless, whether.
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