The golden days of the early English church from the arrival of Theodore to the death of Bede . stery atLindisfarne, probably as prior, he at length departedwith the good wishes of the Abbot Eata and thebrethren, and sought out what he had long cravedfor, namely, a life of secret solitude. It had been hispractice when at Lindisfarne to withdraw at timesinto a certain place outside, where he was moresecluded. The Irish monks used to call such a retreat** a disart. This absolute withdrawal from the dutiesof his position for purely personal reasons, and de-voting himself meanwhile to the morbid d
The golden days of the early English church from the arrival of Theodore to the death of Bede . stery atLindisfarne, probably as prior, he at length departedwith the good wishes of the Abbot Eata and thebrethren, and sought out what he had long cravedfor, namely, a life of secret solitude. It had been hispractice when at Lindisfarne to withdraw at timesinto a certain place outside, where he was moresecluded. The Irish monks used to call such a retreat** a disart. This absolute withdrawal from the dutiesof his position for purely personal reasons, and de-voting himself meanwhile to the morbid dangers ofsecret introspection, was according to even such a manof sense as Bede a movement from one form of graceto another still greater (virtute in virtutem). Whenat the end he virtually deserted his see and retiredto his cell, his anonymous biographer speaks ofit as ** a forsaking of secular honour. Raine says that on the southern slope of a longridge of hills near the village of Howburn there is ^ Stubbs Dunstan^ p. 50. ^ Mon. Alc.^ p. 20. * Vit. Anon.^ chap. 16. + ^ly OF ziui^e iSL\i?D. [To/. III ,^ facing p. 20. ST. CUTHBERHT BECOMES AN ANCHORITE 21 a cave which has been invariably called CuthberhtsCave, or, in the words of the villagers, Cuddys Cave,which tradition says was inhabited by him.^ The Saint now felt that this temporary andperiodical retirement was not enough, nor could heget the absolute seclusion he needed there. Theplace he chose for his new retreat was one of agroup of small islets on the Northumbrian coastknown as the Fame Islands, situated, says Bede,about a thousand paces to the east of choice fell on the one nearest to the to his going thither no man had been ableto live there with any comfort. According to Bede,this was because the island was infested by he settled there, our historian claims that,armed as he was with heavenly weapons, the wickedenemy himself and all his host were dispersed. Mr. Raine thus
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