CHAPTER 33: How, when the plague was on, he restored a dying boy to his mother
CHAPTER 33
How, when the plague was on, he restored a dying boy to his mother
AT this same time the plague broke out and dealt such havoc that of great villages and estates once crowded with inhabitants only a tiny scattered remnant remained, and sometimes not even that. Our most holy father Cuthbert went round the diocese with unflagging zeal, preaching and bringing much-needed consolation to the few people left. In one village he exhorted everyone he found and said to the priest, ‘Do you suppose there is anyone else left in the place who needs visiting and speaking to, or can I now move on to the next?’
The priest looked all round and pointed out a woman some distance away, who had just before lost one son and was now holding another, dying, in her arms. Her tear-stained face gave ample proof of both past and present ills. Cuthbert went up to her without delay, blessed the boy, and kissed him.
‘Have no fear,’ he said to the mother. ‘Do not grieve. The child will get better and live, and you will lose no more of your family.’
Mother and child both lived long afterwards, thus proving the prophecy true.