Cuthbert

(d. 687)

   Saint and Bishop.

   Inspired bv a vision of St aidan, Cuthbert entered a monastery at Melrose in 651. Later he moved to Ripon for a while, but in 661 he returned and was elected Prior. Then in 664 he became Prior of Lindisfarne. There, against considerable opposition, he introduced certain Roman customs and he tightened discipline. During the twelve years he was at Lindisfarne he made several missionary journeys round Northumbria. Then in 676, he retired to a more solitary life on one of the Farne Islands. He refused the See of Hexham in 684, but in 685 he was consecrated Bishop of Lindisfarne. Cuthbert is remembered as the prominent figure of the Celtic Church of the late seventh century. His tomb is in Durham Cathedral.

   C.F. Battiscombe (ed.), The Relics of St Cuthbert (1956);

   H. Colgrave, St Cuthbert (1947).