St. Cuthbert

St. Cuthbert was born around 634 in the border country of Northumbria, and died on 20 March 687 on the Inner Farne island off the northeast coast of England. As a young man he entered the monastery of Melrose, and later became prior of Lindisfarne, laboring to reconcile the English and Irish traditions of the Church after the Synod of Whitby. Tireless in preaching, he traveled to remote villages that others neglected, and was widely loved for his warmth and his reputed gifts of healing and prophecy.

Drawn to solitude, he withdrew to live as a hermit on the lonely island of Farne, and was only with reluctance persuaded to accept ordination as bishop of Lindisfarne, which he served briefly before returning to his hermitage to die. So great was his holiness that he became the most beloved saint of northern England. His body, later found incorrupt, was carried by monks fleeing Viking raids and finally enshrined at Durham, where his cult flourished throughout the Middle Ages.