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The Consecration of Bishop Cuthbert
The consecration of St Cuthbert, in a twelfth-century fresco in the Church of St Laurence, Pittington.
A twelfth-century fresco in the Church of St Laurence in Pittington, near Durham, showing the consecration of St Cuthbert (lower left) as Bishop of Lindisfarne. After his death in 687, Cuthbert was laid to rest in the monastery on Lindisfarne, but Viking raids drove the monks out. His body was carried around the north for generations before finding a permanent home at Durham in the eleventh century. There he remained until the Reformation. For what happened next, see Cvthbertvs.
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A twelfth-century fresco in the Church of St Laurence in Pittington, near Durham, showing the consecration of St Cuthbert (lower left) as Bishop of Lindisfarne. After his death in 687, Cuthbert was laid to rest in the monastery on Lindisfarne, but Viking raids drove the monks out. His body was carried around the north for generations before finding a permanent home at Durham in the eleventh century. There he remained until the Reformation. For what happened next, see Cvthbertvs.
Introduction
Sometime after 676, Cuthbert left his monastery on Lindisfarne and retired to the nearby island of Inner Farne, with thousands of seabirds for company. His quiet retirement was to be short-lived, however, as he discovered following a rare trip down the coast to Coquet Island to counsel Elfled, the King’s sister, about the royal succession.
NOT long after, in a full synod,* Archbishop Theodore of blessed memory presiding in the presence of God’s chosen servant, the holy King Ecgfrith, Cuthbert was unanimously elected to the bishopric of the see of Lindisfarne.*
But, although they sent many messengers and letters to him, he could not by any means be drawn from his habitation, until the king himself sailed to the island* attended by the most holy Bishop Trumwine,* and by as many other religious and influential men as he could: they all went down on their knees before him, and adjured him by the Lord, with tears and entreaties, until they drew him away from his retirement with tears in his eyes, and took him to the synod.
When arrived there, although much resisting, he was overcome by the unanimous wish of all, and compelled to submit to undertake the duties of the bishopric; yet the consecration did not take place immediately, but at the termination of the winter which was then beginning.*
Translated by J. A. Giles (emended)
The Synod met in Twyford, which is commonly believed to be Alnmouth, a few miles south of Lindisfarne. As Bede says, King Ecgfrith of Northumbria was there but the synod was chaired by Archbishop Theodore, a Greek from Tarsus – St Paul’s birthplace. At this time, Rome was still part of the Roman (‘Byzantine’) Empire, and from 678 to 752 no fewer than eleven of the thirteen popes were Greeks, from places such as the Greek colony on Sicily, Thrace, Syria and Asia Minor. Constantinople had been the capital of the Roman Empire since 330. See How Benedict Biscop brought Byzantium to Britain.
More precisely, Cuthbert was elected Bishop of Hexham, but when it became clear he would not move from the Farne Islands, his mentor Bishop Eata of Lindisfarne was translated to the much more prestigious and busy Hexham, and Cuthbert reluctantly allowed himself to be consecrated Bishop of Lindisfarne in Eata’s place.
Inner Farne is one of the Farne Islands just off the Northumberland coast near Bamburgh. See photos at Geograph ® Britain and Ireland.
Bishop of Abercorn in what is now Scotland, then a town in Northumbria’s territory among the Picts. He was the only bishop to hold the short-lived See.
Cuthbert was consecrated on March 26th, 685, at York, the capital of Northumbria. He founded a monastery at nearby Crayke as a quiet place to stay whenever he had no choice but to visit the capital. See Crayke Abbey
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.
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 Consecration. Island. King.
2 Bless. Messenger. Not.
3 Holy. Termination. Their.
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.)
Subject and Object Find in Think and Speak
Use each word below in two sentences, first as the subject of a verb, and then as the object of a verb. It doesn’t have to be the same verb: some verbs can’t be paired with an object (e.g. arrive, happen), so watch out for these.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1. Place. 2. Sail. 3. Draw. 4. King. 5. Letter. 6. Island. 7. Wish. 8. Beginning. 9. Knee.
Variations: 1.use your noun in the plural (e.g. cat → cats), if possible. 2.give one of your sentences a future aspect (e.g. will, going to). 3.write sentences using negatives such as not, neither, nobody and never.
Opposites Find in Think and Speak
Suggest words or phrases that seem opposite in meaning to each of the words below. We have suggested some possible answers; see if you can find any others.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
Variations: 1.instead of opposites, suggest words of similar meaning (synonyms). 2.use a word and its opposite in the same sentence. 3.suggest any 5 opposites formed by adding im-.
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.
fns (5+1)
fans. faunas. fens. fines. fins.
fauns.
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Cuthbert, struck down by plague, was vexed to find that his brethren had been praying for him all the previous night.
Picture: © David Dixon, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted March 19 2021
Picture: Photo by Sarah Gardiner, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted March 13 2015
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