ing had before with him a brother of our saint,
called Celin, a priest of great piety, who administered the divine word,
and the sacraments, to him and his family. St. Cedd pitched upon a place
amidst craggy and remote mountains, which seemed fitter to be a retreat
for robbers, or a lurking place for wild beasts, than a habitation for
men. Here he resolved first to spend forty days in fasting and prayer,
to consecrate the place to God. For this purpose he retired thither in
the beginning of Lent. He ate only in the evening, except on Sundays,
and his meal consisted of an egg, and a little milk mingled with water,
with a small portion of bread, according to the custom of Lindisfarne,
derived from that of St. Columba, by which it appears that, for want of
legumes so early in the year, milk and eggs were allowed in that
northern climate, which the canons forbade in Lent. Ten days before the
end of Lent, the bishop was called to the king for certain pressing
affairs, so that he was obliged to commission his priest, Cynibil, who
was his brother, to complete it. This monastery being founded in 658,
was called Lestingay. St. Cedd placed in it monks, with a superior from
Lindisfarne; but continued to superintend the same, and afterwards made
several visits thither from London. Our saint excommunicated a certain
nobleman among the East-Saxons, for an incestuous marriage; forbidding
any Christian to enter his house, or eat with him. Notwithstanding this
prohibition, the king went to a banquet at his house. Upon his return,
the holy bishop met him, whom, as soon as the king saw, he began to
tremble, and lighting from his horse, prostrated himself at his feet,
begging pardon for his offence. The bishop touched him with the rod
which he held in his hand, and said, "O king, because thou wouldst not
refrain from the house of that wicked excommunicated person, thou
thyself shalt die in that very house." Accordingly, some time after, the
king was basely murdered, in 661. by this nobleman and another, {105}
both his own kinsmen, who alleged no other reason for their crime, than
that he was too easy in forgiving his enemies. This king was succeeded
by Suidhelm, the son of Sexbald, whom St. Cedd regenerated to Christ by
baptism. In 664, St. Cedd was present at the conference, or synod, of
Streneshalch, in which he forsook the Scottish custom, and agreed to
receive the canonical observance of the time of Easter. Soon after, a
great pestilence