Prayer with St Cuthbert – Podcasts

Icon of St Cuthbert praying

St Cuthbert is the Anglo-Saxon saint of northern England who lived in the 7th Century. He is renowned for his love of God, people and creation, especially animals. He appears to have been born into a relatively aristocratic Anglo-Saxon family (they had servants), somewhere in the north east between the Tyne and the Forth, possibly in what is now East Lothian or the Scottish Borders. His boyhood was spent playing with other children, among whom he seems to have stood out as competitive, energetic, but also kind and thoughtful. At around the age of eight he was placed into foster-care with a woman whom he came to love dearly, and called ‘mother’.

As a teenager he had a horse and spear, and was a warrior in the service of his overlord or king. His travels took him to the Tyne and beyond, south of the Wear. When not in military service he shepherded in the Lammermuir Hills near the River Lauder, a tributary of the Tweed. It was on one such occasion when he was on watch at night that he saw a light arising in the distance to the east that greatly moved him, realising it must have been the spirit of a holy man being taken up to heaven. Later he learned that St Aidan, bishop of Lindisfarne, had died at that very hour. Although he had been practising the daily offices and following the weekly rhythm of prayer for some time, he resolved to fully take up the monastic life. So he presented himself at the doors of the monastery at Melrose, gave away his horse and spear, and began life as an enthusiastic novice.

As a monk, he served at Melrose, Ripon and Lindisfarne, eventually ascending to the pinnacle of asceticism, being granted permission to become a hermit on the Island of Inner Farne. His ministry extended far beyond the confines of the monastery, and he wandered across the north of England from Lindisfarne and Jarrow to Carlisle and the Lakes, both as monk, and later as bishop, before returning to his life of solitude on his beloved Farne where he spent his last days. He was born in 634AD and died in 687AD at the age of 53.

Most of what we know about him comes from the Venerable Bede’s prose ‘Life of Cuthbert’, written in around 721AD, Bede having written an earlier version in verse form in 716AD, which itself built on an even earlier anonymous ‘Life’ written in around 700AD. We don’t know if Bede ever met Cuthbert; he was about 15 when Cuthbert died, and Cuthbert, as his bishop, would have visited his monastery in Jarrow, which he had entered as a young boy. We do know he knew many monks who had lived with Cuthbert, and his stories are drawn from their recollections of him. Both Cuthbert and Bede are buried in Durham Cathedral, one at either end.

On this page you will find links to a series of 15-20 minute podcasts of morning prayer to start the day with readings from the psalms, St Luke’s Gospel, a chapter from Bede’s Life of Cuthbert, and some prayers. There are 46 chapters in Bede’s story of his life and so there are 46 morning prayers in the series. Because there are 46 days in Lent, they have been designed to form a series to be followed through Lent, but they can be used at any time of year. The pace is deliberately slow, to encourage contemplation, reflection, and supplication. If you are looking for something quick and amusing, you won’t find it here…

Each episode has an image from the 12thC Bede’s ‘Life of St Cuthbert’ (Yates Thompson MS 26) relating to the relevant chapter. These images testify to the enduring importance of Cuthbert’s place in the medieval church in Britain.

There is much we can learn from our (pre-Norman) Christian ancestors on this island – they had an immense respect for creation (not fear, as some claim). They saw themselves as part of the whole, but with a special responsibility to care for creation. This shines through in Cuthbert’s life. For example, when Cuthbert was hungry, he shared his food with the animals around him; when he was cold they warmed him; and when they were a nuisance he reprimanded them. In fact, the way in which animals and nature responded to the saints was one of the main ways of telling that that this was a true follower of Christ and blessed by God. But the saints also understood that the animals were co-inheritors of Christ’s work on the Cross. We see the same idea on the carved faces (iconography) of the Anglo-Saxon stone crosses of Bewcastle and Ruthwell on what is called ‘inhabited vinescroll’, where the beasts and birds share in the fruit of the vine (which, of course, is both Christ and the Church).

Follow Cuthbert’s story here, and allow it’s slow pace to sink into your spirit…

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