The early Christian Church in these islands was served by some extremely able and devout men, Saint Columba and St Aidan, St Chad and St Cedd, to name just a few. St Cuthbert of Melrose, Lindisfarne and Durham is up there with them all, admired in his lifetime and venerated after his death.

He was born round about 634 into a well to do Christian Anglo Saxon family in Northumbria and, as was customary with the sons of the wealthy, he was fostered and grew up training for a life as a warrior. Part of his duties would include guarding the family livestock and from this activity, the story of Cuthbert’s calling to the priesthood comes. He was out on a hillside in Northumbria when he had a vision in the night sky of a light descending to earth and then returning to heaven with, as he perceived it, a human soul. This was the night that St Aidan had died on Lindisfarne. Cuthbert went to the abbey of Melrose where he became a monk.

He moved with the Abbot Eata to set up a monastery at Ripon and in 661 he became Prior of Melrose and his earliest missionary journeys began. The Synod of Whitby brought some dissension with the church concerning rites and practices and although a monk of the Celtic tradition, Cuthbert adopted Roman customs becoming the prior at Aidan’s abbey of Lindisfarne where he was able to bring the monks around to his point of view. From time to time he retired to the Farne Islands to live the life of a hermit and in 676 he relinquished his position as prior. However, by 685 his fame as a man of holiness had spread and the King of Northumbria chose him to be bishop of Hexham. Before long he had exchanged this see with his old mentor Eata and was back at his beloved Lindisfarne. He devoted his life to preaching, teaching and travelling around his diocese and his reputation as a healer and a prophet grew. He died on Inner Farne on 20^th March 687 and was buried at Lindisfarne. Eleven years later a new shrine was prepared for him and it was discovered that his body was incorrupt. Thus began Cuthbert’s the final journeys.

Lindisfarne was destroyed in 875 by the Danes and the monks fleeing the carnage took with them the shrine and relics of Cuthbert around northern England and southern Scotland in search of a resting place befitting their saint. Before they finally found a permanent home they rested at Norham on Tweed, Ripon and Chester le Street finally arriving in Durham in 995 where a Saxon church was built over the shrine. Cuthbert’s relics were translated into the new church in 999. Durham became a monastic see in 1083 and a new Norman Cathedral was built with Cuthbert moving into it in 1104. Once again his body was examined and was still found to be incorrupt. This was not the end of the story. Cuthbert was moved again at the Reformation and again in 1828 but he now rests in peace in Durham Cathedral..

His cult was well established by the late seventh century and a monk of Lindisfarne and the Venerable Bede both produced a Life of the saint. The wanderings of the Lindisfarne monks had kept the cult alive and it flourished in the Middle Ages. Several important manuscripts were associated with Cuthbert including the Lindisfarner Gospels and the Gospel of St John housed at Stonyhurst College. Bede’s life of the Cuthbert was in demand abroad as well as at home. Stories of miracles were collected and manuscripts of his Lives were produced. Durham became the centre of his cult which spread over much of Scotland and England. Many churches are dedicated to him predominately in the north but some are as far afield as East Anglia, Somerset and Cornwall. He is commemorated in place names and geographical features of the Inner Farne where he had spent years in prayer and solitude among the wildlife. As a hermit the birds and seals had been his only companions and It is fitting that all the Farne Islands have become a bird and animals sanctuary under the care of the National Trust still enjoying the protection originally afforded to them by the saint. His feast day is 20^th March.