CHAPTER 1: How the holy child Cuthbert was warned by an infantand told that he would be a bishop
CHAPTER 1
How the holy child Cuthbert was warned by an infant
and told that he would be a bishop
THE beginning of our account of the life and miracles of the blessed Cuthbert is consecrated by the words which the prophet Jeremiah uses of the state of perfection of the hermit: ‘It is good for a man to have borne the yoke in his youth; he shall sit in solitude and be silent, because he will raise himself above himself’1; for it was the sweetness of this way of life which led Cuthbert, in his earliest youth, to put his neck to the yoke of monastic discipline. later, when the opportunity arose, he embraced the hermit’s life and lived a long while in silence, pleased to forgo the speech of men for the delights of divine contemplation. To fit him for these tasks the grace of God urged him on, little by little, in the way of truth from his earliest years. Up to his eighth year, the end of infancy and the threshold of boyhood, he had no mind for anything but games and carefree play, so that what was said of Samuel might well be said of him: ‘He did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the lord revealed unto him.’2 This is as a prelude to my praise of his boyhood. Later he came to know the Lord perfectly and opened the ear of his heart to receive His word.
He loved games and pranks, and as was natural at his age, loved to play with other children. He was naturally agile and quick-witted and usually won the game. He would often be still fresh when the rest were tired and would look round in triumph, as though the game were in his hands, and ask who was willing to continue. He used to boast that he had beaten all those of his own age and many who were older at wrestling, jumping, running, and every other exercise. For ‘when he was a child, he understood as a child’, but when a man, ‘he put away childish things’. And Providence chose a very suitable way of checking his childish ardour. Bishop Trumwine of happy memory tells the story as he had it from Cuthbert himself:
One day a great crowd of lads were at their usual games in a field, Cuthbert among them, twisting themselves about in all kinds of contortions in the excitement of the game. Suddenly a child no more than three years old ran up to him and began to upbraid him, with all the solemnity of an old man, for his idleness and indulgence in games, saying he would do better to exercise a steady control over mind and body. When Cuthbert ridiculed the idea, the child threw himself wailing to the ground, the tears pouring down his cheeks. The others rushed to comfort him, asking why he had suddenly burst into tears, but to no avail. When Cuthbert himself tried to cheer him up, he cried out: ‘Why, most holy priest and bishop Cuthbert, do you persist in doing what is so contrary both to your nature and your rank? How ill it befits you to play with children, you whom the Lord has marked out to instil virtue into your elders!’
Cuthbert took this good-naturedly, listened indeed with rapt attention, and soothed the child’s feelings with a friendly show of affection. He forsook his foolish games at once and went home. From then on he showed himself more mature and earnest, as the Spirit, who had spoken to him through the mouth of an infant, spoke to him now in the recesses of his heart.
Let it not cause astonishment that God should check the folly of a child by a child. Did He not, when He thought fit, restrain the foolishness of a prophet by putting human words into the mouth of an ass? One can truly say in His praise, ‘Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise.’