Three Parisian house sparrows (passer domesticus) tucking into a little baguette. Reginald tells us that before he died, St Cuthbert promised the birds of Inner Farne – the tiny island near Lindisfarne in Northumbria to which he retired shortly before his death in 687 — that he would protect them from harm, a promise dubbed St Cuthbert’s Peace. Evidently, it also applied to birds on lands dedicated to the saint, as far afield as Lancashire.
Episode 27 of 29 in the Series
Miracles of St Cuthbert
Introduction
In 1165, a priest came all the way to Durham from Lixtune (possibly Lytham) on the west coast. He told Reginald of Durham a number of remarkable stories about miracles performed by St Cuthbert, patron saint of his church, and the bond with his beloved birds called ‘St Cuthbert’s Peace’.
ONE hazy summer’s day, the priest of St Cuthbert’s church in Lytham despatched his servant to shoo some birds from the kitchen garden.* Passing through the churchyard, the servant noticed a sparrow darting to and fro, and further investigation where the grass was thickest revealed a nest and a little chick. At once, he forgot everything except catching the mother.
The poor bird took refuge in the church porch, but he easily reached her. “Much good has Cuthbert done you”, he chuckled gleefully, walking off with his prize.* Yet the path through the churchyard seemed longer than he remembered. Much longer. He was still stumbling through an apparently never-ending churchyard as dusk fell.
There the priest found him, almost witless. “What’s that in your hand?” he cried. “A bird,” came the dazed reply. “She claimed Cuthbert’s Peace. I don’t know where I am or what I’m doing.” The priest led him inside the church to hear his confession, before sending him home quite well.
Based on ‘De Admirandis Beati Cuthberti Virtutibus’, chapter 72 by Reginald of Durham (?-?1190).
Reginald located the church in ‘Lixtune’, which has often been taken to be Lytham in modern-day Lancashire. He describes it as a village on the west coast, at the far northern point of ‘Chester lands’, either mediaeval Cheshire or the Diocese of Chester. Reginald included the story in a section dedicated to events in Copeland, at the southwest corner of Cumbria.
The servant was defying St Cuthbert’s Peace, the promise made to the birds of the Farne Islands by St Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne, before his death in 687. See posts tagged St Cuthbert’s Peace (4).
Précis
Some imp prompted a parishioner at St Cuthbert’s in mediaeval Lytham to take a mother sparrow from her chick, even though the bird sought sanctuary in the church. The saint, however, doomed the heartless man to wander helplessly in the churchyard for hours on end, until the priest rescued him and heard his confession. (54 / 60 words)
Some imp prompted a parishioner at St Cuthbert’s in mediaeval Lytham to take a mother sparrow from her chick, even though the bird sought sanctuary in the church. The saint, however, doomed the heartless man to wander helplessly in the churchyard for hours on end, until the priest rescued him and heard his confession.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: because, may, must, not, or, ought, since, unless.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Almost. Bird. Garden.
2 Day. Doing. Prize.
3 Know. Quite. Reach.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Adjectives Find in Think and Speak
For each word below, compose sentences to show that it may be used as an adjective. Adjectives provide extra information about a noun, e.g. a black cat, a round table, the early bird etc..
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Passing. 2 Best. 3 Apparent. 4 Thick. 5 Better. 6 Endless. 7 Good. 8 Longer. 9 Forgetful.
Variations: 1.show whether your adjective can also be used as e.g. a noun, verb or adverb. 2.show whether your adjective can be used in comparisons (e.g. good/better/best). 3.show whether your adjective can be used in attributive position (e.g. a dangerous corner) and also in predicate position (this corner is dangerous).
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
prsd (8+1)
parsed. persuade. perused. praised. preside. prised. pursed. pursued.
upraised.
Post Box : Ask Nicholas
Grok : Ask Grok
You are welcome to share your creativity with me, or ask for help with any of the exercises on Clay Lane. Write to me at this address:
See more at Post Box.
If you like what I’m doing here on Clay Lane, from time to time you could buy me a coffee.
Buy Me a Coffee is a crowdfunding website, used by over a million people. It is designed to help content creators like me make a living from their work. ‘Buy Me a Coffee’ prides itself on its security, and there is no need to register.
Related Posts
Picture: © Alexandru Baboş Albabos, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted March 19 2018
A hungry monk thought he had got away with the tastiest of crimes, but St Cuthbert kept his promise to his beloved birds.
Picture: © Peter McDermott, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted February 1 2016