Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-01

youth, in his manhood and at the end of his
long and holy life.
Cuthbert was q shepherd boy on those
Scotch hills which lie about Melrose. One
night he saw a vision. He was not the sort
OF boy that commonly sees visions. He was
strong, stirring, the liveliest Of lads, the
leader in all the games and pranks Of the
neighborhood, and especially skillful, the
old chronicler gravely informs us, in the
difficult art of standing on his head. But
his work was to tend sheep. And that gave
him time to think. And there was enough
to think about in the wild days when Cuth-
bert was boy. The battle between pagan.
ism and Christianity was still going on in
Northumbria. Everybody was taking sides
and the issue was uncertain. And one night
Cuthbert saw a great and strange light in
the sky. And that night, away. off on Lin
disfarne, the soul of great saint, Aidan the
Apostle of Northumbria, went to his re-
ward. And when Cuthbert heard that he
was sure that the light that he saw in the
sky was the glow of the passing of that good
mans soul. And he took the vision for
call" Somehow he translated it into q
message, summoning him to be a mission
ary.
The shepherd Boy as Monk.
AND presently, there came the sound of
vigorous knocking at the door Of the Monas-
terry of Melrose, and when they opened it,
there was Cuthbert asking to be made
monk. To be monk was rhe life which in
that day almost all earnest Christian men
who wanted to do religious service, natur-
ally chose. To be a minister, and to be a
monk, meant, then and there, precisely the
same thing.
So the shepherd boy became q monk, and
by and by. in ways which it is no part Of my
e.. d. oh
op. I don't believe that he wore all the
fine clothes which the Luxembourg picture
arrays him in. Anyhow, whatever good
clothes he may have owned. it is not likely
that he wore them on his long tramps over
the wild hills. They would not have an
swered there. Copes are not convenient
garments for climbing. More likely he car
ried an alpenstock rather than q crozier.
But tramp he did, no doubt, as he used to
tramp and teach at Melrose. They used to
build up a place for him with tree trunks
and branches and he would stay week
there, and from all the neighboring villages
people would come to listen and to have the
hands fthe good bishop laid in apostolic
benediction on their heads.
So he worked, as long as he had strength
for work. And then he gave it up and rowed
out to a little wfnd-swept hermit island and
said his prayers and sowed his barley, like
any other plain, good old man, till the angel
of death paid at last his welcome visit.
They say that there were five days of fear
full storm, so that nobody could get over to
the island, and Cuthbert was there alone.
And when the storm abated and they got
across to him they found him nearly dead
with hunger and exposure. They cared for
him as tenderly as they knew how and gave
him all the love and comfort they were able,
and in the arms of his good monks the old
saint breathed his last They wrapped the
body in great sheet Of fine linen, which an
abbess had once given him for a shroud (the
kinds of gifts which saints were won't to ex-
change in those queer days!), and they car
r1ed all that was mortal of Cuthbert after
many wanderings to his resting place in
Durham.
After Five Hundred Years.
AT the beginning of the twelfth century,
after Cuthbert had been dead 500 years and
more, they opened his coffin. That was
great event. Flambard was then Bishop
Ralf Flambard, the worthy minister OF that
bad King William Rufus-"the low-born
Norman priest, the scandal, amusement and
horror of his age"
Flambard was then Bishop; and among
other splendid building that he was doing
in the cathedral. he had made fine shrine
long lain in a tomb in the cloister. Now he
was to have the place of honor. There were
various opinions about the body. Some
thought it was not there at all; nobody had
seen it for 500 years. Some thought that per-
haps the dust of it might be found these.
Others maintained that 1t was there and
uncorrupted. So they opened it to see.
A little company of good men was chosen
from among the monks, and one night they
brought their lanterns into the church and
set about their sacred task. They opened
the strong outer box with crowbars, and
within great hide-bound chest was discoy.
cred. This they opened in it's turn, and
there was another box inside, covered with
coarse linen cloth. This they knew to be
the coffin. They brought the coffin out into
the middle of the choir, that they might
have more room, every man of them pray
ing silently and in great terror lest the saint
should rise up and smite them for irrever-
ence. However. they got the LID of safely,
and found beneath it board with two iron
rings fastened to it and copy OF the Cos
pels lying upon it. They raised the board
and thers ESQ goes the history was Cuth.
pert's body, perfect and entire, lying as if in
sleep.
They hardly dared to look. They fell
upon their knees and wept and recited
penitential psalms, praying that God would
not be angry with them. Then, creeping on
their hands and knees, in the dim light of
the lanterns, they saw that the whole coffin
was filed with relics, with bones of saints,
and precious belongings of the holy Cuth-
bert And so they closed the coffin, opening
it the next day to let an incrdulous abbot
verify their story. And then they had a
great festival and conservation of the shrine,
and they marched about the church in a
great procession. and, stopping at the east
end the bishop preached 3 sermon-a long,
dull one, the old chronicler says, Flambard
probably not being very good ar preaching
in the midst of which the good st. Cuth-
bert, taking pity on the weary congregation,
sent down q sudden stout shower OF rain
which cut the sermon short; and returning
with haste into the church, they placed the
body in the shrine.
A Change Of Sentiment
FINALLY the Reformation came. And with
its coming the glory of st. Cuthbe shrine
departed. The kings commissioners ar
rived at Durham and proceeded at once to
lay hands upon st. Cuthbert's gold and
Jewels, taking a jeweler along to estimate
their value. They then turned their atten-
tion to the sacred body. The coffin was
found to be bound with iron, and the lie weller
had to do some vigorous hammering to get
it open. Once open, the jeweler beheld a
sight which amazed him. There lay the
body of the saint, whole and entire. arrayed
in his gorgeous vestments. But SO free had
he been with ak and hammer that he had
broken one of the saints legs. He called
down to the commissioners from the lofty
platform Of the shrine and told them what
he had seen and done. Whereupon one OF
them said: "Throw the old fellows bones
overr To which the workman answered