#st cuthbert

[fmstonecarving]

I recently did a wee run of small, quick carvings in slate. They're at a bit of a more accessible price point for my work, I've just added these and a few other carvings to my Shopify page - https://fmstonecarving.myshopify.com/

[museumsandfolk]

[enbycrip]

Sitcom/dramedy idea - loosely, *loosely* based on the Wanderings of St Cuthbert.

Your protagonists are six idiot novices/barely monks sent running out the monastery ahead of a Viking attack by their elderly grumpy yet badass mentor who stays behind to cover their escape with the corpse of their monastery’s saintly founder.

The rest of the series is them wandering northern England with the *remarkably active* saintly lich, who has no one else other than these utterly clueless dickheads with which to right wrongs, fight paganism and Vikings and find himself another foundation.

[maypoleman1]

20th March

St Cuthbert’s Day

Source: Aidan Hart Sacred Icons website

Today is St Cuthbert’s Day. Cuthbert was a seventh century monk and hermit whose reputation became mythical almost immediately and he soon became England’s most popular saint. Allegedly, after having set up base on the Farne Islands he banished the goblins he found there and later became a friend to all animals, blessing an eagle, seals and even two passing sea monsters. Cuthbert’s good will did not however extend to women: he hated them. His misogyny probably originated when a Pictish woman baselessly accused the holy man of being the father of her child. Horrified, Cuthbert prayed for proof of his innocence and the ground promptly opened up and swallowed the woman whole. Her distraught father begged for forgiveness and the chastened female accuser reappeared but Cuthbert vowed never to have anything to do with women again. From then on, his ministry was a strictly men-only affair, even after he became Bishop of Lindisfarne in Northumbria. This continued after his death - churches dedicated to Cuthbert did not allow women to enter. Apparently a woman who tried to get round this stricture by sneaking at night into Durham Cathedral where Cuthbert’s body lay, died after seemingly having cut her own throat. Another woman who strayed too close to the saint’s tomb suffered a fatal stroke.

Lindisfarne became a centre of pilgrimage, and after the priory there was sacked by the Danes in 875, Cuthbert’s fame was such that his bones were transported across the country from town to town by his faithful monks so the folk could seek blessing and Christian inspiration. So powerful was the good fortune associated with his relics, rival Anglo-Saxon kingdoms would sometimes fight over their possession.

[guy60660]

St Cuthbert | Lindisfarne Castle | © Alamy | Financial Times

[arlathhan]

St Cuthbert's Shrine by Lawrence OP Via Flickr: "He then spent the rest of the day until the evening in the expectation of future happiness; to which he added this also, that he spent the night in watchfulness and prayer. When his hour of evening service was come, he received from me the blessed sacrament, and thus strengthened himself for his departure, which he now knew to be at hand, by partaking of the body and blood of Christ; and when he had lifted up his eyes to heaven, and stretched out his hands above him, his soul, intent upon heavenly praises, sped his way to the joys of the heavenly kingdom." – St Bede, on the Life and Miracles of St Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne. St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne died on this day (20 March) in 687, and he is now enshrined in Durham Cathedral.

[tinyshe]

How to be a hermit.

“I occasionally receive enquiries from folk asking for advice or support in pursuing their own vocation to the hermitage, so I put this page together.  The information here is purely of a practical nature, and I write only from my own experience in the UK; it is not exhaustive, and things may be different in your locale and circumstances.  I may add to it from time to time. Please let me know if you have further (practical) information which might be included.

The call to hermitage is often a gradual realisation,  a growing affinity with solitude, a desire to know God in the ordinariness of simply being alive.  It is a call which is falling on increasingly receptive ears.  By nature, it is a very individual call, and each individual will realise it in a different way depending upon personal inspiration and circumstance.  

I hope you will not be put off by the apparent lack of a support structure around the vocation.  It is one of the great joys and freedoms that each one of us interprets the call to hermitage in such  a different ways– it is essentially, perhaps, a call to “solitary living in the conscious presence of God”, though I know of hermits who live in small communities as well, so even the solitude is not a given!

You will find that much of the information on this page boils down to, “you have to work it out for yourself”.   Please don’t be put off by that.  It might take time -  longer than you expect -  and the solutions might appear to be at odds with any romantic ideals you might have been nursing at the outset, but with determination, a good dose of pragmatism, and a sense of adventure, all things are possible.  

By way of encouragement, I discovered (after I had been here 10 years!) that the journey of getting to my hermitage (which took me 15 years) has become a part of the sort of hermit that I am.  So don't feel that the eremitical life only begins once you step over the threshold of your hermitage.  This long search and struggle for stability is the beginning of it.    God is with you.

I hope this page is helpful.  

Canon 603

§1 Besides institutes of consecrated life the Church recognizes the eremitic or anchoritic life by which the Christian faithful devote their life to the praise of God and salvation of the world through a stricter separation from the world, the silence of solitude and assiduous prayer and penance.

§2 A hermit is recognized in the law as one dedicated to God in a consecrated life if he or she publicly professes the three evangelical counsels [i.e. chastity, poverty and obedience], confirmed by a vow or other sacred bond, in the hands of the diocesan bishop and observes his or her own plan of life under his direction.”

State of Life

There are very many different ways of living as a hermit within the Roman Catholic Church.  A hermit can live anonymously, without being “recognised in the law” (of the church), or they can choose to make some sort of commitment, either privately or publicly.  If public, this would usually be into the hands of the local ordinary (bishop).  Again, the type of commitment can vary by arrangement with the ordinary.

A bishop will usually expect you to have devised a “rule of life” for yourself before accepting your vows. (more on that later).

If you are considering  the possibility of becoming a “canonical” hermit by profession of  the Evangelical Counsels you will need to refer to Canon 640ff (“canonical profession” simply means, “profession with reference to the Canons”) which describes the process and requirements (basically a minimum of one year’s guided novitiate, followed by a minimum of 3 years in temporary vows).  Or you might be able to come to some other arrangement with your bishop and still be professed, but not canonically…

There is no “hierarchy” of hermitage – no single type of commitment is more valid or worthy than another.  Neither a canonical hermit nor a professed hermit , nor a privately vowed hermit is a “better” hermit than one who has taken no vows at all.  Most hermits (from the little information which is available) are living simple, anonymous, solitary lives without advertisement.

Rule of Life

This is a guide for daily living.  It should be useful rather than beautiful (though it can be both!).  Some hermits prefer to adapt monastic rules, or a rule from a religious order to which they feel an affinity.  Rules can be of varying length  and detail– I have found the primary usefulness  of mine to be a reference point for decision making; others might look for something which will more definitively structure their day.  From experience I would caution against anything too rigid  -  it is likely you will be chief cook and bottle washer .. and porter .. and gardener.  You will need to have the flexibility to respond easily to circumstance.   I would suggest that drawing up a rule might be one of the occupations towards the end of the novitiate year – when you have more of a feel for how you will live in hermitage.  We each do it so very differently!

(My own Rule of Life can be viewed here  - the first several paragraphs are scriptural and canonical guidance.  The practical bit is just the three lines at the end!)

Hermitage and living expenses

Whichever route you take, vowed or un-vowed, you will usually be expected to be self-supporting.  There is no centralised source of practical nor financial support for hermits, nor any register of empty-hermitages-seeking-occupants, not in the UK anyway.  You will need to find your own living place and some sort of income to pay the bills etc. Many hermits have a working life behind them & so are able to provide their own accommodation. Others are "donated" accommodation in return for caretaker or similar duties, or persuade a convent or monastery or other religious community to loan them an outhouse in return for labour.  You have to be pretty pragmatic, determined, and prepared to explore lots of avenues!  It isn't easy.  

In terms of work, and support from the state:  in civil law you are expected to support yourself in the same way as everyone else.  You can look for, and express a preference for work which enables you to work alone, but there is no special exemption which entitles you to benefits or financial support if you refuse to work at all, just because the work offered isn't hermitage-friendly.  

You may have the skills to earn a living from your hermitage – eg. book-keeping, accountancy, copy-writing, web design etc.  all of which which might be financially viable ways of earning a living from your front room.  Realistically, some of the more menial jobs like cleaning work and ground maintenance are usually plentiful and reasonably suitable as most cleaners/gardeners seem to work in solitude even if they are part of a team.  (I worked as a solitary care assistant to a profoundly disabled woman for 5 years in her own home, which worked out very well).  You may find previous skills can be adjusted to become more hermit-friendly eg. my teaching experience still provides a firm basis for occasional private tutoring.

From experience, the pursuit of the artisanal work traditionally associated with hermits and monastics, does not provide a reliable, nor sufficient source of income – not to an unknown hermit – unless you are at the top of your artisanal game and already earning a living this way.  Many of these types of activities which help support established monastic communities are reliant on the regular footfall of associates and affiliates to the communities, and the publicity which is inherent in their longstanding, their USP, and the loyalty of their local churches.  If it works for you – then great!  But if you are just setting out and hoping to make your living from weaving baskets all day, then I would advise you to have a plan B to fall back on.  Sometimes God’s providence makes itself best known in the guise of a bit of realistic and prudent forethought.

Spiritual support

If you are seriously exploring a vocation to hermitage  then it would be wise to enlist the support of a spiritual director.  The life of the solitary can throw any number of oddities and curve balls at you, and it is as well to have some one you can freely consult and who will be able to advise you. Try and find someone  with a mature and committed prayer life of their own, who will take you, and hermitage, seriously, who is not in awe of the solitary life, and who will not pander to your whims and fancies!

And finally!

This may not have been the sort of information you were hoping for.  Launching into hermitage  is not the same as entering an established religious order - there is none of the security and stability which might be found in other forms of consecrated life.  It is an adventure with God which will require of you every last wit and ingenuity.  I pray and hope for God’s blessing on you.

In prayer, in God.

Rachel (Hermit of the Diocese of Nottingham)”

source

[oldschoolfrp]

“The Quest” -- So you meet in a tavern, “The Green Dragon, a busy inn in a town on the shores of the Lake of Unknown Depths” (Greg Irons, from The Official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Coloring Album, 1979, text by Gary Gygax) The location on the lake places the coloring book within the world of Greyhawk.  One wonders if this inn is related to the more famous Green Dragon in the Free City.  Gygax’s text also says the rough looking fellow with mutton chops behind the map is “Sertern the cleric who, like his deity St. Cuthbert, favors blue for garb and silver for decoration,” though St Cuthbert usually wasn’t associated with those colors in other sources.