Subj : March 23rd - St. Aethelwold To : All From : rich Date : Thu Mar 22 2018 10:04:34 From: rich March 23rd - St. Aethelwold, Hermit at Farne (also known as Ethelwald or Edelwald or Oidilwald the Hermit) (Died 699) St. Aethelwold was, for some time, a monk at Ripon, "where having received the priestly office," says Bede, "he sanctified it by a life worthy of that degree. After the death of that man of God, Cuthbert, this venerable priest succeeded him in the exercise of a solitary life, in the cell which the saint had inhabited in the Islet of Farne, before he was made bishop." He found Cuthbert's little oratory so rudely put together, that the sea-wind shrieked in through the joints of the planks. Though patched up with clay and stubble, the chapel was so full of draughts that Aethelwold felt obliged to obtained a calf's skin, which he nailed against the wall where he was wont to pray, in order to keep the wind from blowing in his ear. Bede says, "I will relate one miracle of Ethelwold, which was told me by one of the brothers who was concerned and for whose sake it was wrought, Guthfred, the venerable servant and priest of Christ, who afterwards presided in quality of abbot over the church of Lindisfarne, in which he was educated. I came, said he, to the Islet of Farne, with two other brothers, desiring to speak with the most reverent father, Aethelwold, and, when we had been comforted by his discourses, and having asked his blessing, were returning home when, on a sudden, as we were in the sea, the fair weather that was wafting us over changed and so great and furious a storm fell on us that neither sail nor oars availed, and we despaired of life." "Having a good while struggled in vain with the wind and waves, we looked back at last to see if by any means we might return to the island, but found that we were equally beset with the tempest on all sides; but we could perceive Aethelwold at the mouth of his cavern, contemplating our danger. For, hearing the howl of the wind and the roar of the sea, he came forth to see how we fared. And, when he saw our desperate condition, he bent his knees to the Father of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, to pray for our life and safety. As he finished his prayer, the swelling sea immediately abated its violence and the rage of the winds ceased, and a fair gale, springing up, bore us over the smooth waters to the shore. But no sooner had we arrived and drawn our boat out of the water, than the same storm began to rage again and ceased not all that day; to the end that it might plainly appear that this small intermission had been granted from heaven, at the prayer of the man of God, that we might escape." Aethelwold spent 12 years on Farne and died there on 23rd March (or 21st April) AD 699. He was buried on Lindisfarne, in the Priory Church of St. Peter, near the bodies of SS. Cuthbert and Edbert. His bones were afterwards taken up, in the time of the Danish ravages of AD 875, and, after numerous wanderings around northern England, were translated to Durham in AD 995 and more honourably enshrined in 1160. Edited from S. Baring-Gould's "The Lives of the Saints" (1877). See longer version found at: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/saints/edelwald.html Saint Quote: If you want God to hear your prayers, hear the voice of the poor. If you wish God to anticipate your wants, provide those of the needy without waiting for them to ask you. Especially anticipate the needs of those who are ashamed to beg. To make them ask for alms is to make them buy it. --St. Thomas of Villanova Quote: Woe to the person whose reputation is greater than his works. --Abba Silvanas <><><><> How we, each of us, should wash one another's feet If I then being your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another's feet [John xiii. 14] Our Lord wishes that His disciples shall imitate His example. He says therefore, If I, who am the greater, being your master and the Lord, have washed your feet, you also, all the more who are the less, who are disciples, slaves even, ought to wash one another s feet. Whosoever will be the greater among you, let him be your minister . . ... . Even as the Son of Man is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister (Matt. xx. 26-28). We can also say that in this one act Our Lord showed all the works of mercy. He who gives bread to the hungry, washes his feet, as also does the man who harbours the harbourless or he who clothes the naked. --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .