n beings was a weariness and the solitude of the
desert a delight. He was born in Scotland about the middle of the
seventh century, of humble origin, and passed his early years as a
shepherd near Melrose. He adopted an austere life, found a friend in the
abbot of Melrose, and ultimately sickened of an epidemic, his recovery
being despaired of. In answer, however, to the prayers of the monks, he
was restored to health as by a miracle, and became the prior of Melrose.
Afterwards he was for twelve years prior of Lindisfarne, an island off
the Northumbrian coast, but the craving for solitude was too strong to
be resisted, and he became a hermit. He went to Farne, a lonely rocky
island in the neighboring sea, and, living in a hut, spent his life in
prayer and fasting, but having time, according to the legend, to work
abundant miracles. A spring issued from the rock to give him water, the
sea laid fagots at his feet, and the birds ministered to his wants. At
first other monks had free access to him, but gradually he secluded
himself in the hut, speaking to them through the window, and ultimately
closed even that against them except in cases of emergency. Such
sanctity naturally acquired wide fame, and after long urging he
consented to become a bishop, at first at Hexham, afterwards at
Lindisfarne, thus returning to familiar scenes and an island home. But
his life was ebbing, and after two years' service he longed again for
his hermit's hut on the rock of Farne. He resigned the bishopric, and,
returning to his hut, in a few weeks died. His brethren buried him
beside his altar, where he rested eleven years; then exhuming the body,
it was found thoroughly preserved, and was buried again in a new coffin
at Lindisfarne. Almost two hundred years passed, when the Danes made an
incursion, and to escape them the monks took the body, with other
precious relics, and left Lindisfarne. During four years they wandered
about with their sacred charge, and ultimately settled near
Chester-le-Street, where the body of St. Cuthbert rested for over a
century; but another Danish invasion in 995 sent the saint's bones once
more on their travels, and they were taken to Ripon. The danger past,
the monks started on their return, transporting the coffin on a
carriage. They had arrived at the Wear, when suddenly the carriage
stopped and was found to be immovable. This event no doubt had a
meaning, and the monks prayed and fasted for three days to learn wh