Saint Ethelwald, Priest, Monk, Hermit

March 23 is the Feast of Saint Ethelwald (or Aethelwald or Oethelwald), Priest and Monk of Ripon who took Saint Cuthbert’s place as a hermit on the Island of Farne, where after twelve years of solitude he passed away A.D. 699. The Lindisfarne community buried him in the Church of Saint Peter, next to Saint Cuthbert and Saint Eadbert. When the Monks left the island in 875, his relics were put into Saint Cuthbert’s coffin, and so his bones found their final resting-place in Durham Cathedral.

Little is known about this man, apart from what is recorded in the writings of the Venerable Bede. The most well-known story about Saint Ethilwald, relates how the future Abbot Guthrid visited him on his island with two Lindisfarne Monks and, on his journey home, was saved from shipwreck by the Saint’s prayers.

The earliest recorded inhabitants of the Farne Islands were various Culdees, some connected with Lindisfarne. This followed the old Celtic tradition of island hermitages, found in England, Ireland, and Scotland.

The first visitor recorded by name was Saint Aidan followed by Saint Cuthbert. The latter was called to the Bishopric of Lindisfarne but after two years he returned to the solitude of the Inner Farne and died there in 687, when Saint Ethilwald took up residence instead. Among other acts, Saint Cuthbert introduced special laws in 676 protecting the Eider ducks, and other seabirds nesting on the islands; these are thought to be the earliest bird protection laws anywhere in the world.

See:
http://www.newmanreader.org/works/saints/edelwald.html
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bede/history.v.v.i.html

Hermits and Anchorites of England

Hermits and Anchorites is a project to bring together all the information that survives about the religious solitaries of medieval England.

It draws upon, and will eventually supersede, the work of Rotha Mary Clay, whose Hermits and Anchorites of England was published in 1914.

It contains records of hermits and anchorites of a variety of kinds: documentary, visual, place-name evidence, and traditions both medieval and modern. Users are also invited to supplement the data given here, and to become contributors to the database themselves.

http://hermits.ex.ac.uk/

The Solitary Today

“The Solitary today is not a quasi-monk or nun out of place in the world, but one who seeks solitude in the midst of, and in communion with, the world. Some live in rhythmic solitude, alternating periods of solitude with periods of greater involvement in an active ministry according to the pattern of St. Francis; others seek a more complete withdrawal.”

Elizabeth Obbard – a Carmelite solitary (or hermit) attached to Aylesford Priory in Kent, where she lives a life of prayer, solitude and closeness to the many people who come there as guests and pilgrims. She is the author of numerous books on the Christian mystical tradition: http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&field-author=Elizabeth%20Obbard&page=1&rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AElizabeth%20Obbard

Alexandria and Rome

Bishops from the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria greet Pope Francis.

Saint Nicholas of Flüe, Unusual Hermit

March 21 is, for the Roman Catholic Church, the Feast of Saint Nicholas of Flüe (German: Niklaus von Flüe) (21 March 1417 – 21 March 1487) was a Swiss hermit and ascetic who is the patron saint of Switzerland. He is sometimes invoked as “Brother Klaus.”

He was born in the canton of Unterwalden, the son of wealthy peasants, and made himself distinguished as a soldier in action against the canton of Zurich, which had rebelled against the confederation. At around the age of 30, he married Dorothy Wiss, a farmer’s daughter. They farmed in the municipality of Flüeli in the alpine foothills, above Sachseln on the Lake Sarnen. He also continued in the military to the age of 37, rising to the position of captain, reportedly fighting with a sword in one hand and a rosary in the other. After serving in the military, he became a councillor and judge for his canton in 1459 and served as a judge for nine years. He declined the opportunity to serve as Landamman (governor) of his canton.

After receiving a mystical vision of a lily eaten by a horse which he recognized as indicating that the cares of his worldly life (the draft horse pulling a plough) was swallowing up his spiritual life (the lily, a symbol of purity) he decided to devote himself entirely to the contemplative life. In 1467, he left his wife and his ten children with her consent and set himself up as a Hermit in the Ranft chine in Switzerland, establishing a Chantry for a Priest from his own funds so that he could assist at Mass daily. According to legend, he survived for nineteen years with no food except for the Eucharist. His reputation for wisdom and piety was such that figures from across Europe came to seek advice from him, and he was known to all as “Brother Klaus.”

Despite being illiterate and having limited experience with the world, his is honored among both Protestants and Catholics with the permanent national unity of Switzerland. When he died, he was surrounded by his wife and children.

See http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11062a.htm
http://www.helmut-zenz.de/hzflue.htm
http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j066sdNicholasofFlue3-21.htm
http://www.svdp-richboro.org/niklaus.htm

Saint Cuthbert and Saint Herbert, Hermits and Friends

March 20 is the Feast of Saint Cuthbert and Saint Herbert, Hermits and Friends (in the Celtic sense of “Anam Cara” or “soul friends””).

Saint Cuthbert (c. 634 – 20 March 687) was an Anglo-Saxon monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of Northumbria. After his death he became one of the most important medieval saints of England, with a cult centred at Durham Cathedral. From 676 until his consecration as Bishop in 685 her lived as a Hermit. However, in 686 he returned to his cell on Inner Farne Island (two miles from Bamburgh, Northumberland), which was where he eventually died on 20 March 687 AD, after a painful illness. He was buried at Lindisfarne the same day, and after long journeys escaping the Danes his remains chose, as was thought, to settle at Durham, causing the foundation of the city and Durham Cathedral. According to Bede’s life of the saint, when Cuthbert’s sarcophagus was opened nine years after his death, his body was found to have been perfectly preserved or incorrupt. This apparent miracle led to the steady growth of Cuthbert’s posthumous cultus, to the point where he became the most popular saint of Northern England. Numerous miracles were attributed to his intercession and to intercessory prayer near his remains.

In 1104 Cuthbert’s tomb was opened again and his relics translated to a new shrine behind the altar of the recently completed Cathedral. When the casket was opened, a small book of the gospels, measuring only three-and-a-half by five inches, now known as the Stonyhurst Gospel, was found. It was also discovered that his vestment was made of Byzantine silk with a “Nature Goddess” pattern, indicating the extent of the silk trade at this time. His shrine was destroyed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries, but, unusually, his relics survived and are still interred at the site (although they were also disinterred in the 19th century, when his wooden coffin and various relics were removed).

St. Herbert of Derwentwater is much less known than his friend, Saint Cuthbert. The date of his birth is unknown but he died on 20 March, 687. He was anchorite of the seventh century, who dwelt for many years on the little island still known as St. Herbert’s Isle, in the Lake of Derwentwater. He was for long the friend and disciple of St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne. Little is known about him, save that it was his custom every year to visit St. Cuthbert for the purpose of receiving his direction in spiritual matters. In the year 686, hearing that his friend was visiting Carlisle for the purpose of giving the veil to Queen Eormenburg, he went to see him there, instead of at Lindisfarne as was usual.

After they had spoken together, St. Cuthbert said, “Brother Herbert, remember that whatever you wish to ask or tell me, you must do so before we part, because we shall not see one another again in this world. For I know that the day of my death is approaching, and I shall soon leave this earthly dwelling.” At these words, the other fell at his feet with sighs and tears, saying “In the name of our Lord, I beg you not to leave me! Remember that I am your most devoted friend, and ask God of His mercy to grant that as we have served Him together on earth, so may we pass away to the heavenly vision together.” And St. Cuthbert prayed and then made answer, “Rise, my brother, weep not, but rejoice that the mercy of God has granted our desire.” And so it happened. For Herbert, returning to his hermitage, fell ill of a long sickness, and, purified of his imperfections, passed to God on the very day on which St. Cuthbert died on Holy Island.

It is said that the remains of St. Herbert’s chapel and cell may still be traced at the northern end of the island on which he lived. In 1374 Thomas Appleby, Bishop of Carlisle, granted an indulgence of forty days to all who, in honour of St. Herbert, visited the island in Derwentwater and were present at the Mass of St. Cuthbert to be sung annually by the Vicar of Crosthwaite.

See http://www.keswickcatholicchurch.co.uk/html/st_herbert___his_island.html

Saint Cuthbert’s Feast was by far the more popular of the two and Saint Herbert was largely forgotten although St Herbert’s Island is still named after him.

The Ornamental Hermit

Forthcoming from Oxford University Press, “The Hermit in the Garden. From Imperial Rome to Ornamental Gnome” by Gordon Campbell

• The intriguing tale of the craze for ornamental hermits – the must-have accessory for the grand gardens of Georgian England and beyond
• Tells the story of garden hermits from their distant ancestors in imperial Rome to their humble descendant, the garden gnome
• Reveals the indelible mark hermits made on the gardens and the literature of the eighteenth century – and how they live on in the art, literature, and drama of our own day
• Re-visits many of the surviving hermitage buildings that remain scattered through England, Ireland, and Scotland
• Includes a comprehensive checklist of surviving hermitages in the UK and Ireland for the avid hermitage-hunter

Tracing its distant origins to the villa of the Roman emperor Hadrian in the second century AD, the eccentric phenomenon of the ornamental hermit enjoyed its heyday in the England of the eighteenth century It was at this time that it became highly fashionable for owners of country estates to commission architectural follies for their landscape gardens. These follies often included hermitages, many of which still survive, often in a ruined state.

Landowners peopled their hermitages either with imaginary hermits or with real hermits – in some cases the landowner even became his own hermit. Those who took employment as garden hermits were typically required to refrain from cutting their hair or washing, and some were dressed as druids. Unlike the hermits of the Middle Ages, these were wholly secular hermits, products of the eighteenth century fondness for ‘pleasing melancholy’.

Although the fashion for them had fizzled out by the end of the eighteenth century, they had left their indelible mark on both the literature as well as the gardens of the period. And, as Gordon Campbell shows, they live on in the art, literature, and drama of our own day – as well as in the figure of the modern-day garden gnome.

This engaging and generously illustrated book takes the reader on a journey that is at once illuminating and whimsical, both through the history of the ornamental hermit and also around the sites of many of the surviving hermitages themselves, which remain scattered throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland. And for the real enthusiast, there is even a comprehensive checklist, enabling avid hermitage-hunters to locate their prey.

http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199696994.do#.UUe_sjf7Bcc

Saint Edward, King and Martyr

March 18 is the Feast of Edward the Martyr and King (Old English: Eadweard; c. 962 – 18 March 978) was King of the English from 975 until he was murdered in 978.

During the sixteenth century and English Reformation, King Henry VIII led the dissolution of the monasteries and many holy places were demolished. Edward’s remains were hidden so as to avoid desecration.

In 1931, the relics were recovered by John Wilson-Claridge during an archaeological excavation near Shaftesbury Abbey in England. Wilson-Claridge’s family owned the site and they began years of painstaking negotiations with all of the major churches in order to find a suitable resting place for the remains. He imposed two conditions: that they were recognized as the relics of a saint, and that a shrine would be established for their reception. Eventually, he decided that the relics would go to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. His brother, however, wanted them to be returned to Shaftesbury Abbey. For decades, the relics were kept in a bank vault in Woking, Surrey because of the unresolved dispute about which of two churches should have them.

In time, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia was victorious and placed the relics in a church in Brookwood Cemetery in Woking, with the enshrinement ceremony occurring in September 1984. The St Edward Brotherhood of monks was organized there as well. The church is named St Edward the Martyr Orthodox Church, and it is now under the jurisdiction of a traditionalist Greek Orthodox jurisdiction: http://www.saintedwardbrotherhood.org/

In the Orthodox Church, St Edward is ranked as a Passion-bearer, a type of saint who accepts death out of love for Christ.

Should Hermits Be More Visible?

“Hermits should get stuck in” from “The Guardian”

Hermits can act as a valuable reminder of the spiritual dimension of life – but what’s the point of them if they’re hidden away?

Naseem Khan http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jun/11/hermits-religion Friday 11 June 2010 09.00 BST

It came as something of a surprise to learn that there could be around 200 hermits living in the British Isles. Or so it would seem from the membership of the Fellowship of Solitaries. Karen Markham’s attempts to resist eviction from her isolated cottage lifted the issue of withdrawal and the invisible 200 briefly above the radar, before they all sank back yet again into their desired oblivion. But in that time, it made me wonder about the place of hermits. The role has a quaint and rather fusty quality about it, even though the Fellowship of Solitaries insists that there is nothing odd about it at all. Put simply, what is their point?

If hermits are unknown and invisible, isn’t their purpose eradicated? Or is invisible austerity enough? Maybe practices being carried out faithfully somewhere can have an impact somehow, mysteriously. There is an argument that prayer for instance can have an effect even if a person is not aware of being prayed for. I am usually more than ready to follow Hamlet and agree that there are more things in heaven and earth than philosophy can dream of. But I did have a tremor of disbelief when the Hindu sage I once interviewed claimed the austerities he practised would have the result of preventing world war.

It’s an intriguing debating point – whether anyone can argue the unperceived has an effect. But nevertheless, I find I want my hermits to be obvious: to be firmly located in the heart of society. A hermit performs a social function as well as a religious one and if he or she is not a present point of reference, what’s the wider use? Wealthy landowners in the 18th century had a vague inkling of this when they installed theatrically shaggy hermits in grottoes they had had built specially in wild corners of their estates. These were the celeb hermits of their day, or the equivalent of the mass-produced Buddhas that turn up in furniture shops and garden centres. They provided a fake patina of virtue and spirituality. We need something grittier and more real, dealing with and sharing the struggles and reverses of the average daily life.

I like the contemplatives who live on housing estates and who are regularly there – day in, day out – presenting an alternative. It’s not outré like Simeon Stylites on his pillar (whose celebrity status encouraged a host of imitators to construct their own pillars). It’s ordinary. I can imagine myself mildly and compassionately chastised as I raced past with my bags of unnecessary shopping and my feverish multitasking. I would like to hear that unspoken “Why?” emanating from behind an eloquent closed door.

This is one of the values of the Ramadan fast (that I intend to keep again this year). Here in East London the spiritual dimension of life raises its head quietly and non-flamboyantly. Look out of the window before dawn and you can see pinpricks of light coming on, one after the other, in tower blocks. And you know that someone there is rousing themselves and preparing to put religious principle at the centre of their life that day. It is sobering and it is moving. And it acts as a beacon, in the way I believe a hermit should.

Forgiveness Sunday

Today is Forgiveness Sunday, marking the end of Maslenitsa (Ukrainian: Масниця, Russian: Ма́сленица, Belarusian: Масьленіца, Maślenica, also known as Butter Week, Pancake week, or Cheesefare Week), celebrated during the last week before Great Lent—that is, the seventh week before Eastern Orthodox Pascha (Easter).

During the week of Maslenitsa, meat is already forbidden to Orthodox Christians, making it a myasopostnaya nedelya (Russian: мясопостная неделя, English “meat-empty week” or “meat-fast week”). It is the last week during which milk, cheese and other dairy products are permitted, leading to its other name of “Cheese-fare week” or “Pancake week”. During Lent, meat, fish, dairy products and eggs are forbidden. Furthermore, Lent also excludes parties, secular music, dancing and other distractions from the spiritual life. Thus, Maslenitsa represents the last chance to partake of dairy products and those social activities that are not appropriate during the more prayerful, sober and introspective Lenten season.

The most characteristic food of Maslenitsa is bliny (pancakes). Round and golden, they are made from the rich foods still allowed by the Orthodox tradition: butter, eggs and milk.
See http://www.sras.org/maslenitsa_blin

After Vespers – after hearing the announcement of Lent in the Great Prokeimenon: “Turn not away Thy face from Thy child for I am afflicted! Hear me speedily! Draw near unto my soul and deliver it!”, after making our entrance into Lenten worship, with its special memories, with the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian, with its prostrations – we ask forgiveness from each other, we perform the rite of forgiveness and reconciliation. And as we approach each other with words of reconciliation, the choir intones the Paschal hymns, filling the church with the anticipation of Paschal joy.
See http://franthony.com/2013/03/forgiveness-sunday-by-fr-alexander-schmemann/