came tenant of the same place and its spiritual warfare, and, at present more than seventy years old, is awaiting the end of this life, in expectation of the heavenly

one.

When, therefore, God's servant Cuthbert had been translated to the heavenly kingdom, and Ethelwald had commenced his occupation of the same island and monastery, after many years spent in conversation with the monks, he gradually aspired to the rank of anachoritish perfection. The walls of the aforesaid oratory, being composed of planks somewhat carelessly put together, had become loose and tottering by age, and, as the planks separated from one another, an opening was afforded to the weather. The venerable man, whose aim was rather the splendour of the heavenly than of an earthly mansion, having taken hay, or clay, or whatever he could get, had filled up the crevices, that he might not be disturbed from the earnestness of his prayers by the daily violence of the winds and storms. When Ethelwald entered and saw these contrivances, he begged the brethren who came thither to give him a calf's skin, and fastened it with nails in the corner, where himself and his predecessor used to kneel or stand when they prayed, as a protection against the

storm.

Twelve years after, he also ascended to the joys of the heavenly kingdom, and Felgeld became the third inhabitant of the place. It then seemed good to the right reverend Eadfrid, bishop of the church of Lindisfarne, to restore from its foundation the time-worn oratory. This being done, many devout persons begged of Christ's holy servant Felgeld to give them a small portion of the relics of God's servant Cuthbert, or of Ethelwald his successor. He accordingly determined to cut up the above-named calf's skin into pieces, and give a portion to each. But he first experienced its influence in his own person: for his face was much deformed by

vultum deformi rubore simul et tumore perfusum; cujus quidem futuri in eo languoris et prius, cum adhuc communi inter fratres vita degeret, aspicientibus in facie ejus signa patebant. At cum in solitudine remotus minorem corpori cultum, majorem adhiberet continentiam, et quasi diutino carcere inclusus, rarius vel fotu solis, vel aeris uteretur afflatu, excrevit languor in majus, faciemque totam tumenti ardore replevit. Timens ergo, ne forte magnitudine hujusmodi infirmitatis solitariam deserere vitam, et communem necesse esset conversationem repetere, fideli usus est præsumtione, speravitque se illorum ope curandum, quorum se mansionem tenere et vitam gaudebat imitari. Mittens enim præfatæ partem pelliculæ in aquam, ipsa aqua lavit suam faciem, statimque tumor omnis, qui hanc obsederat, et scabies foeda recessit; juxta quod mihi et primo religiosus quidam presbyter hujus monasterii Girvensis indicavit, qui se vultum illius et prius tumentem ac deformem nosse, et postea mundatum per fenestram manu palpasse, referebat; et ipse postmodum Felgeldus retulit, astruens quia res ita, ut presbyter narraverat, esset expleta, et quod ex eo tempore, cum inclusus per multa annorum curricula maneret, ut prius, immunem ab hujusmodi molestia vultum semper haberet; agente gratia Dei omnipotentis, quæ et in præsenti multos et in futuro omnes cordis et corporis nostri languores sanare consuevit, satiansque in bonis. desiderium nostrum, sua nos in perpetuum misericordia et miseratione coronat. AMEN.

a swelling and a red patch. The symptoms of this deformity had become manifest long before to the monks, whilst he was dwelling among them. But now that he was living alone, and bestowed less care on his person, whilst he practised still greater rigidities, and, like a prisoner, rarely enjoyed the sun or air, the malady increased, and his face became one large red swelling. Fearing, therefore, lest he should be obliged to abandon the solitary life and return to the monastery; presuming in his faith, he trusted to heal himself by the aid of those holy men whose house he dwelt in, and whose holy life he sought to imitate. For he steeped a piece of the skin above mentioned in water, and washed his face therewith; whereupon the swelling was immediately healed, and the cicatrice disappeared. This I was told, in the first instance, by a religious priest of the monastery of Jarrow, who said that he well knew Felgeld's face to have been in the deformed and diseased state which I have described, and that he saw it and felt it with his hand through the window after it was cured. Felgeld afterwards told me the same thing, confirming the report of the priest, and asserting that his face was ever afterwards free from the blemish during the many years that he passed in that place. This he ascribed to the agency of the Almighty Grace, which both in this world heals many, and in the world to come will heal all the maladies of our minds and bodies, and, satisfying our desires after good things, crown us for ever with its mercy and compassion. AMEN.

י,

VITA BEATORUM ABBATUM

WIREMUTHENSIUM ET GIRVENSIUM,

BENEDICTI, CEOLFRIDI, EASTERWINI, SIGFRIDI,
ATQUE HUETBERTI.

RELIGIOSUS Christi famulus Biscopus, cognomento Benedictus, aspirante superna gratia, monasterium construxit in honorem beatissimi Apostolorum principis Petri, juxta ostium fluminis Wiri ad aquilonem, juvante se ac terram tribuente venerabili ac piissimo gentis illius rege Egfrido; idemque monasterium annis sedecim, inter innumeros vel itinerum vel infirmitatum labores, eadem, qua construxit, religione, sedulus rexit. Qui, ut beati papæ Gregorii verbis, quibus cognominis ejus abbatis vitam glorificat, utar, fuit vir vitæ venerabilis, gratia Benedictus et nomine, ab ipso pueritiæ suæ tempore cor gerens senile, ætatem quippe moribus transiens, nulli animum voluptati dedit. Nobili quidem stirpe gentis Anglorum progenitus, sed non minori nobilitate mentis ad promerenda semper angelorum consortia suspensus. Denique, cum esset minister Oswii regis, et possessionem terræ suo gradui competentem, illo donante, perciperet, annos natus circiter

THE

LIVES OF THE HOLY ABBOTS

OF

WEREMOUTH AND JARROW,

BENEDICT, CEOLFRID, EASTERWINE, SIGFRID, AND

HUETBERHT.

HE pious servant of Christ, Biscop, called Benedict, with the assistance of the Divine grace, built a monastery in honour of the most holy of the apostles, St. Peter, near the mouth of the river Were, on the north side. The venerable and devout king of that nation, Egfrid, contributed the land; and Biscop, for the space of sixteen years, amid innumerable perils in journeying and in illness, ruled this monastery with the same piety which stirred him up to build it. If I may use the words of the blessed Pope Gregory, in which he glorifies the life of the abbot of the same name, he was a man of a venerable life, blessed (Benedictus) both in grace and in name; having the mind of an adult even from his childhood, surpassing his age by his manners, and with a soul addicted to no false pleasures. He was descended from a noble lineage of the Angles, and by corresponding dignity of mind worthy to be exalted into the company of the angels. Lastly, he was the minister of King Oswy, and by his gift enjoyed an estate suitable to his rank; but at the age of twenty