Facts: - venerated in: medieval england - feast day: 1 september - death date: 8th century - major shrine: melrose abbey -lrb- destroyed -rrb- - name: dryhthelm - death place: unknown - birth place: cunninghame ? , kingdom of northumbria Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of dryhthelm .
The answer to this question is:
dryhthelm -lrb- fl .c. 700 -rrb- , also known as drithelm or drythelm , was a monk associated with the monastery of melrose known from the '' historia ecclesiastica gentis anglorum '' of bede .according to the latter , before entering the religious life he lived with his family in '' a district of northumbria which is called '' incuneningum '' '' .'' incuneningum '' is thought by some modern scholars to refer to cunninghame , now part of ayrshire .after a battle with illness , that gradually got worse as the days went by , drythelm temporarily died -lrb- c. 700 -rrb- .he came back to life a few hours later , scaring away everyone but his wife .dryhthelm portioned his wealth out between his wife , sons and the poor , and became a monk at melrose , where he devoted himself to god .drythelm 's vision convinced him it was vital to live a devout life on earth , if he was to be granted immediate entrance into heaven .as a monk he established a reputation for being able to endure bodily torment , reciting psalms standing up in the river tweed even when the river was icy .while temporarily dead , dryhthelm was apparently given a tour of the afterlife by a celestial guide .in the '' vision of dryhthelm '' , the future monk of melrose was shown hell , purgatory , and heaven , along with some of the souls therein , but was denied entry to paradise .purgatory was a place of extreme heat and cold , hell a place where souls burned , heaven a place of intense light , and paradise a place of even greater light .drythelm 's experience in a valley suggests the temporariness of purgatory , for it was an intermediate stage , straddling heaven and hell .as a result , one modern historian has called him '' a remote precursor of dante '' .the mention of purgatory within the text is vital in understanding the eighth-century christian viewpoint on the afterlife .although it is unknown at which point in history purgatory came into existence in the christian religion , '' the idea of purgatory as a staging post in the...