Saint Cuthbert

Saint Cuthbert
Stained glass depicting St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, from Gloucester Cathedral.
Bishop
Born	c. 634 Dunbar, Kingdom of Northumbria (now in Scotland)
Died	20 March 687 Inner Farne, Kingdom of Northumbria (now in England)
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church; Anglican Communion; Eastern Orthodox Church
Major shrine	Durham Cathedral, County Durham
Feast	20 March; 4 September (Church in Wales); 31 August (Episcopal Church (USA))
Attributes	Bishop holding a second crowned head in his hands; sometimes accompanied by seabirds and animals
Patronage	Northumbria

Saint Cuthbert (c. 634 – 20 March 687) was a saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in what might loosely be termed the Kingdom of Northumbria in the North East of England. and the South East of Scotland. After his death he became one of the most important medieval saints of Northern England, with a cult centred on his tomb at Durham Cathedral. Cuthbert is regarded as the patron saint of northern England. His feast days are 20 March and 4 September (translation).

Cuthbert grew up near Melrose Abbey, a daughter-house of Lindisfarne, today in Scotland. He had decided to become a monk after seeing a vision on the night in 651 that St. Aidan, the founder of Lindisfarne, died, but seems to have seen some military service first. He was quickly made guest-master at the new monastery at Ripon, soon after 655, but had to return with Eata to Melrose when Wilfrid was given the monastery instead. About 662 he was made prior at Melrose, and around 665 went as prior to Lindisfarne. In 684 he was made bishop of Lindisfarne but by late 686 resigned and returned to his hermitage as he felt he was about to die, although he was probably only in his early 50s.

Cuthbert was perhaps of a noble family, and born in Dunbar, now in East Lothian, in the mid-630s, some ten years after the conversion of King Edwin to Christianity in 627, which was slowly followed by that of the rest of his people. The politics of the kingdom were violent, and there were later episodes of pagan rule, while spreading understanding of Christianity through the kingdom was a task that lasted throughout Cuthbert's lifetime. Edwin had been baptised by Paulinus of York, an Italian who had come with the Gregorian mission from Rome, but his successor Oswald also invited Irish monks from Iona to found the monastery at Lindisfarne where Cuthbert was to spend much of his life. This was around 635, about the time Cuthbert was born.