Passages of history, wonder and spiritual counsel, drawn from the Bible and from the lives of the saints and martyrs, with a special attention to those of the British isles.
Cuthbert, struck down by plague, was vexed to find that his brethren had been
praying for him all the previous night.
32
Bergen’s Blessings
ByCharles Isaac Elton
In the days of Henry II, relations with our cross-Channel neighbours
were fractious, but we were fast friends with the people of Norway.
33
Lord Great Novgorod
ByLucy Cazalet
The city of Great Novgorod in Russia was a mediaeval pioneer
of a decidedly rumbustious kind of parliamentary democracy.
34
Cuthbert’s Christmas
Paraphrased from an account byReginald of Durham
One Christmas Eve back in the twelfth century, a monk keeping midnight vigil in
Lindisfarne priory watched spellbound as two great doors opened all by themselves.
35
Educating Martin
Paraphrased from an account byReginald of Durham
When Sir Rodbert became Brother Martin, he found the change
so difficult that he began to wonder if even the saints were against him.
36
The Sacrifice of Isaac
FromThe Authorized Version
Abraham invites his son Isaac to accompany him to a nearby
mountain to offer sacrifice, and the boy is naturally curious to know what gift his father
proposes to offer.
