Saint Guthlac de Croyland
Ermite
en Est-Anglie
Fête
le 11 avril
OSB
en
Mercie v. 674 – † Croyland, Lincolnshire, 11 avril 714
Autres
mentions : 12 avril – 30 août – 26 août
Autre
graphie : Guthlac of Crowland
Tout
ce que nous savons de Guthlac provient d’une « Vie » de ce saint,
rédigée au VIIIe siècle, et assurément digne de crédit. Né vers 673, il était
parent de la maison royale de Mercie. Dans sa jeunesse, il prit part aux
guerres de succession, commandant une bande armée, attaquant les villes,
massacrant les ennemis, et se livrant en toute occasion au pillage. Il se
convertit aux environs de sa vingt-quatrième année et entra au monastère double
de Repton, que dirigeait alors l’abbesse Elfrida. Sa vocation le poussait à la
vie érémitique ; ayant reçu permission de l’abbesse, il s’établit, avec
deux compagnons, dans une île des Fens, marécages de l’est de la
Grande-Bretagne, autour de l’estuaire du Wash, lieu futur de l’abbaye de
Crowland ou Croyland, dans les environs de Peterborough. Peu à peu de nombreux
disciples venaient occuper des cellules voisines de la sienne. Bien que sa sœur,
sainte Pègue, vécût en anachorète tout près de lui, à Peakirk (Pega’s Kirk,
« église de Pègue »), il refusa toujours de la voir. Il devait
pourtant, sentant la mort approcher, l’inviter à son enterrement. L’abbesse de
Repton lui envoya son cercueil. Il mourut le 11 avril 714. L’abbaye de
Crowland, fut construite en 716 par Ethelbald, roi de Mercie, sur l’emplacement
de la cellule de saint Guthlac.
Saint
Guthlac de Croyland, ermite
Né en Mercie, vers 673; mort à Crowland, Lincolnshire, Angleterre en 714; originellement fêté le 12 avril; fête de sa translation le 30 août, et on le commémore aussi le 26 août.
Comme jeune homme de sang royal, du clan des Guthlacingas, Guthlac avait été soldat 9 ans durant, combattant pour Ethelred, roi de Mercie. A l'âge de 24 ans, il renonça tant à la violence qu'à la vie du monde et devint moine dans la double-abbaye de Repton, qui était dirigée par une abbesse appelée Elfrida.
Même en ces jeunes anées, sa discipline était extraordinaire. Certains des moines ne l'aimaient pas parce qu'il refusait tout vin et toute boisson enivrante. Mais il passait outre des critiques et finit par gagner le respect de ses frères. Après 2 ans dans le monastère, cela lui sembla un lieu trop agréable. Lors de la fête de saint Barthélémy vers 701, il trouva un endroit reclus, humide, désagréable, sur la rivière Welland, dans les Fens, qu'on ne pouvait atteindre qu'en bateau, et il y vécut en ermite le restant de sa vie, cherchant à imiter les rigeurs des anciens pères du désert.
Ses tentations rivalisèrent les leurs. Des sauvages sortirent de la forêt et le battirent. Même les corbeaux lui volèrent le peu qu'il avait. Mais Guthlac était patient, même avec les créatures sauvages. Petit à petit, les animaux et les oiseaux commençèrent à lui faire confiance, comme à un ami. Un saint homme appelé Wilfrid visita Guthlac un jour, et fut étonné de voir 2 hirondelles se posant sur ses épaules, puis lui sautillant dessus. Guthlac lui dit : "N'as-tu pas appris, frère, que celui qui aura mené une vie conforme à la volonté de Dieu, les bêtes sauvages et les oiseaux lui deviendont intimes, comme pour ceux qui quittent le monde, les Anges se rapprochent?".
Apparement, Guthlac eut aussi une vision de saint Barthélémy, son patron. Il ne restera pas seul dans son refuge : il aura plusieurs disciples, Saints Cissa, Bettelin, Egbert, et Tatwin, qui auront une celllule proche de la sienne. L'évêque Hedda de Dorchester l'ordonnera à la prêtrise durant une visite. Le prince exilé Ethelbald venant souvent le voir pour un conseil, apprendra de Guthlac qu'il porterait un jour la couronne des Merciens.
A l'article de la mort, Guthlac fit quérir sa soeur, sainte Pega, qui était ermitesse dans le même voisinage (Peakirk ou église de Pega). L'abbesse Edburga de Repton lui envoya un linceul et un cerceuil de plomb. Un an après sa mort, le corps de Guthlac fut exhumé et trouvé incorrompu. Bien vite son tombeau, dans lequel sa soeur avait aussi placé son Psautier et son fouet, devint populaire. Lorsqu'ensemble, le roi Wiglaf de Mercie (827-840) et l'archévêque Ceolnoth de Canterbury (qui avait été guérit par Guthlac de la fière paludéenne en 851) devinrent ses fidèles, le culte de Guthlac grandit et se répandit. Un monastère fut fondé sur l'emplacement de l'ermitage de saint Guthlac, qui se développa en la grande abbaye de Crowland, dans laquelle ses reliques furent transférées en 1136. Il y eut une nouvelle translation en 1196.
On peut aller de nos jours en pèlerinage sur le site, qui est très intéressant, mais il ne reste hélas rien de l'époque du saint, car tout fut détruit par les envahisseurs païens qui ravagèrent la région à l'époque. Ceux qui ont fréquenté Cambridge se souviendront que leur université a été fondée sous l'inspiration de l'abbé de Crowland, et comme le rappelle Sabine Baring-Gould, cela fait donc de saint Guthlac le père spirituel de cette université.
La Vita de Guthlac fut rédigée en latin par Félix, un quasi contemporain. D'autres furent composées en Vieil Anglais, en vers comme en prose. Avec saint Cuthbert, Guthlac a été un des saints ermites les plus populaires dans l'Angleterre d'avant la Conquête. (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Farmer, Gill, Husenbeth).
Dans l'art, Saint Guthlac est dépeint avec un fouet en main et un serpet à ses pieds. Parfois on peut le voir
(1) fouetté par saint Barthélémy;
Né en Mercie, vers 673; mort à Crowland, Lincolnshire, Angleterre en 714; originellement fêté le 12 avril; fête de sa translation le 30 août, et on le commémore aussi le 26 août.
Comme jeune homme de sang royal, du clan des Guthlacingas, Guthlac avait été soldat 9 ans durant, combattant pour Ethelred, roi de Mercie. A l'âge de 24 ans, il renonça tant à la violence qu'à la vie du monde et devint moine dans la double-abbaye de Repton, qui était dirigée par une abbesse appelée Elfrida.
Même en ces jeunes anées, sa discipline était extraordinaire. Certains des moines ne l'aimaient pas parce qu'il refusait tout vin et toute boisson enivrante. Mais il passait outre des critiques et finit par gagner le respect de ses frères. Après 2 ans dans le monastère, cela lui sembla un lieu trop agréable. Lors de la fête de saint Barthélémy vers 701, il trouva un endroit reclus, humide, désagréable, sur la rivière Welland, dans les Fens, qu'on ne pouvait atteindre qu'en bateau, et il y vécut en ermite le restant de sa vie, cherchant à imiter les rigeurs des anciens pères du désert.
Ses tentations rivalisèrent les leurs. Des sauvages sortirent de la forêt et le battirent. Même les corbeaux lui volèrent le peu qu'il avait. Mais Guthlac était patient, même avec les créatures sauvages. Petit à petit, les animaux et les oiseaux commençèrent à lui faire confiance, comme à un ami. Un saint homme appelé Wilfrid visita Guthlac un jour, et fut étonné de voir 2 hirondelles se posant sur ses épaules, puis lui sautillant dessus. Guthlac lui dit : "N'as-tu pas appris, frère, que celui qui aura mené une vie conforme à la volonté de Dieu, les bêtes sauvages et les oiseaux lui deviendont intimes, comme pour ceux qui quittent le monde, les Anges se rapprochent?".
Apparement, Guthlac eut aussi une vision de saint Barthélémy, son patron. Il ne restera pas seul dans son refuge : il aura plusieurs disciples, Saints Cissa, Bettelin, Egbert, et Tatwin, qui auront une celllule proche de la sienne. L'évêque Hedda de Dorchester l'ordonnera à la prêtrise durant une visite. Le prince exilé Ethelbald venant souvent le voir pour un conseil, apprendra de Guthlac qu'il porterait un jour la couronne des Merciens.
A l'article de la mort, Guthlac fit quérir sa soeur, sainte Pega, qui était ermitesse dans le même voisinage (Peakirk ou église de Pega). L'abbesse Edburga de Repton lui envoya un linceul et un cerceuil de plomb. Un an après sa mort, le corps de Guthlac fut exhumé et trouvé incorrompu. Bien vite son tombeau, dans lequel sa soeur avait aussi placé son Psautier et son fouet, devint populaire. Lorsqu'ensemble, le roi Wiglaf de Mercie (827-840) et l'archévêque Ceolnoth de Canterbury (qui avait été guérit par Guthlac de la fière paludéenne en 851) devinrent ses fidèles, le culte de Guthlac grandit et se répandit. Un monastère fut fondé sur l'emplacement de l'ermitage de saint Guthlac, qui se développa en la grande abbaye de Crowland, dans laquelle ses reliques furent transférées en 1136. Il y eut une nouvelle translation en 1196.
On peut aller de nos jours en pèlerinage sur le site, qui est très intéressant, mais il ne reste hélas rien de l'époque du saint, car tout fut détruit par les envahisseurs païens qui ravagèrent la région à l'époque. Ceux qui ont fréquenté Cambridge se souviendront que leur université a été fondée sous l'inspiration de l'abbé de Crowland, et comme le rappelle Sabine Baring-Gould, cela fait donc de saint Guthlac le père spirituel de cette université.
La Vita de Guthlac fut rédigée en latin par Félix, un quasi contemporain. D'autres furent composées en Vieil Anglais, en vers comme en prose. Avec saint Cuthbert, Guthlac a été un des saints ermites les plus populaires dans l'Angleterre d'avant la Conquête. (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Farmer, Gill, Husenbeth).
Dans l'art, Saint Guthlac est dépeint avec un fouet en main et un serpet à ses pieds. Parfois on peut le voir
(1) fouetté par saint Barthélémy;
(2) ordonné prêtre par saint Hedda de Winchester;
(3) avec des démons le molestant et des Anges le consolant. (Roeder).
On trouve au British Museum une magnifique Vita du 12ème siècle, illustrée, le Harleian Roll Y.6, que l'on appelle habituellement le Guthlac Roll. C'est une série de 18 ronds, des dessins pour vitrail, basés sur la Vita par Félix et l'Histoire de Crowland par le pseudo-Ingulph.
Crowland a aussi plusieurs sculptures de sa vie datant du 13ème siècle. Le sceau de l'abbé Henry de Crowland, 13ème siècle, montra Guthlac recevant un fouet de saint Barthélémy pour écarter les attaques diaboliques (Farmer). Il est vénéré dans le Lincolnshire (Roeder).
o "The Deserts of Britain"
o 4 endroits de lutte ascétique en Grande-Bretagne et les saints qui y oeuvrèrent : Saint Gwyddfarch, Sainte Melangell, Saint Cadfan, et Saint Guthlac
en anglais : http://www.nireland.com/orthodox/deserts.htm
Alternative Tinyurl: http://tinyurl.com/yq4rn
en français : http://www.amdg.be/sankt/deserts.htm
o Acathiste à notre saint père Guthlac (en anglais):
http://www.orthodoxengland.btinternet.co.uk/akaguth.htm
o "Saint Pega and Saint Guthlac in the South English Legendary"
par Alexandra H. Olsen
http://www.umilta.net/guthlac.html
St. Guthlake, Hermit, and Patron of the Abbey of Croyland
HE 1 was a nobleman, and in his youth served in the armies of Ethelred, king
of Mercia: but the grace of God making daily stronger impressions on his heart,
in the twenty-fourth year of his age he reflected how dangerous a thing it is
to the soul to serve in wars which too often have no other motive than the
passions of men and the vanities of the world, and resolved to consecrate the
remainder of his life totally to the service of the King of kings. He passed
two years in the monastery of Repandun, studying to transcribe the virtues and
mortifications of all the brethren into the copy of his own life. After this
novitiate in the exercises of an ascetic life, with the consent of his superior,
in 699, with two companions, he passed in a fisher’s boat into the isle of
Croyland, on the festival of St. Bartholomew, whom he chose for his patron,
and, by having recourse to his intercession, he obtained of God many singular
favours. Here he suffered violent temptations and assaults, not unlike those
which St. Athanasius relates of St. Antony: he also met with severe interior
trials; but likewise received frequent extraordinary favours and consolations
from God. Hedda, bishop of Dorchester, visiting him, ordained him a priest. The
prince Ethalbald, then an exile, often resorted to him, and the saint foretold
him the crown of the Mercians, to which he was called after the death of King
Coelred, in 719. The saint, foreknowing the time of his death, sent for his
sister Pega, 2 who lived a recluse in another part of the fens four leagues off to the
west. He sickened of a fever, and on the seventh day of his illness, during
which he had said mass every morning, and on that day, by way of Viaticum, he
sweetly slept in our Lord, on the 11th of April, 714, being forty-seven years
old, of which he had passed fifteen in this island. See his life written by
Felix, monk of Jarrow, a contemporary author, from the relation of Bertelin,
the companion of the saint’s retirement, with the notes of Henschenius; 3 Mabillon, Acta Bened. t. 3, p. 263, n. 1. See also his short
English-Saxon life, Bibl. Cotton. Julius, A. X.
Note 2. St. Pega is honoured on the 8th of
January. Her cell, near Peakirk, stood at the extremity of a high ground, which
juts out into the fenny level, where is the chapel of St. Pega’s monastery.
Here passed Carsdike, so called from Carausius. It was projected by Agricola, and
perfected by Severus to carry corn in boats for the army in the North. It was
conducted from Peterborough into the Trent at Torksey, below Burton, whence the
navigation was carried on by natural rivers to York. Carausius repaired it, and
continued it on the borders of the fenny level as far as Cambridge, which he
built and called Granta. This place was the head of the navigation, and
Carausius instituted the great fair when the fleet of boats set out with corn
and other provisions, which is still kept, with many of the ancient Roman
customs, under the name of Stourbridge fair. See Stukeley’s Medallic History of
Carausius, t. 1, p. 172, &c. t. 2, c. 5, p. 129. [back]
Note 3. Ingolphus, the great and learned
abbot of Croyland, who died in 1109, wrote a book on the life and miracles of
St. Guthlake, which is not now extant. His accurate history of the abbey of
Croyland, from the year 664 to 1091, was published by Sir Henry Saville, but
far more complete and correct by Thomas Gale, in 1684. In it he relates, p. 16,
that in the year 851, Ceolnoth, archbishop of Canterbury, by having recourse to
the intercession of St. Guthlake, was miraculously cured of a palsy, after his
recovery had been despaired of. This miracle the archbishop attested in a
council of bishops and noblemen, in the presence of King Bertulf: upon which
occasion, all who were present bound themselves by oath to perform a pilgrimage
to the shrine of the saint at Croyland. After this miracle, great numbers
seized with the same distemper recovered their health, by resorting thither
from all parts of the kingdom to implore the divine succour through the
intercession of his servant. Ethelbald, coming to the crown, had founded there
a monastery. He had caused great stakes and piles of oak to be driven into the
ground in this swampy place, and the quagmire to be filled up with earth
brought from the country called Upland, eight miles distant. This foundation
being laid, he erected a church of stone with a sumptuous monastery. This
building was utterly destroyed by the Danes in 870, of all the monks and
domestics, only one boy escaping to give the world an account of this massacre
and devastation; in which the bodies of Cissa, priest and hermit, St. Egbat,
St. Tatwin, St. Bettelina, St. Etheldrith, and others, were reduced to ashes.
Some few monks still chose their residence there among the ruins, till
Turketil, the pious chancellor to King Edred, in 946, rebuilt the abbey. This
great man was cousin-german to three brothers who were all successively kings,
Athelstan, Edmund, and Edred, being son of Ethelward, younger brother to their
father Edward the Elder. To all these three kings he had been chief minister at
home, and generalissimo in all their wars abroad, and had often vanquished the
Danes and other enemies. When Analaph had rebelled and usurped the kingdom of
Northumberland, with a numerous army of Danes, Norwegians, Scots, Picts, and Cumbrians,
mostly idolaters, and put King Athelstan to flight at Bruntford in
Northumberland; Turketil rescued him out of danger by defeating the enemy with
his Londoners and Mercians, and killing Constantine, king of the Scots. The
Emperor Henry, Hugh, king of France, and Lewis, prince of Aquitain, sent
ambassadors with letters of congratulation for this victory, and rich presents
of spices, jewels, horses, gold vessels, a part of the true cross, and of the
crown of thorns in rich cases, the sword of Constantine the Great, in the hilt
of which was one of the nails with which Christ was crucified, &c. Turketil
was afterward sent by King Athelstan to conduct his four royal sisters to their
nuptials; the two first to Cologne, to the Emperor Henry, where one married his
son Otho, the other one of his princes: the third he accompanied to King Hugh,
whose son she married; and the fourth was given in marriage to Lewis, prince of
Aquitain. The chancellor was enriched by these princes with many precious
relics and other presents; all which he afterward bestowed on the abbey of
Croyland. Having long served his country, and subdued all its enemies, he
earnestly begged of King Edred leave to resign his honours. The king, startled
at the proposal, threw himself at his feet, entreating him not to forsake him.
Turketil, seeing his sovereign at his feet, cast himself on the ground, and
only rose to lift up the king: but adjuring him by the Apostle St. Paul, (to
whom the religious prince bore a singular devotion,) he at length extorted his
consent. Immediately he dispatched a crier to proclaim through all the streets
of London, that whoever had any demands upon Turketil, he should repair to him
on a day, and at a place by him assigned, and he should be paid: and that if
any one thought he had ever been injured by him, upon his complaint, he should
receive full satisfaction for all damages, and three-fold over and above. This
he amply executed: then made over sixty of his manors to the king, and six to
the monastery of Croyland. Being accompanied thither by the king, he there took
the monastic habit, and was made abbot in 948. He restored the house to the
greatest splendour; and, having served God in it twenty-seven years, died of a
fever in 975, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. It was his usual saying,
which he often repeated to his monks: “Preserve well the fire of your charity,
and the fervour of your devotion.” Croyland, pronounced Crouland, signifies a
desert fenny land. The monks, with incredible industry, rendered it fruitful,
joined the island to the continent, and raised several stupendous works about
it. [back]
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume IV: April. The Lives of the
Saints. 1866.
Guthlac of Croyland, OSB
Hermit (AC)
Born in Mercia, c. 673; died at Crowland, Lincolnshire, England, in 714; feast
day formerly on April 12; feast of his translation is August 30 and there is a
commemoration on August 26.
As a young man of royal
blood from the tribe of Guthlacingas, Guthlac had been a soldier for nine
years, fighting for Ethelred, the King of Mercia. At age 24, he renounced both
violence and the life of the world and became a monk in an Benedictine double
abbey at Repton, which was ruled by an abbess named Elfrida.
Even in these early years
his discipline was extraordinary. Some of the monks in fact disliked him
because he refused all wine and cheering drink. But he lived down the criticism
and gained the respect of his brothers. After two years in the monastery it
seemed to him far too agreeable a place. On the feast of Saint Bartholomew
about 701, he found a wet, remote, unloved spot on the River Welland in the
Fens, which could be reached only by boat, and lived there for the rest of his
life as a hermit, seeking to imitate the rigors of the old desert fathers.
His temptations rivalled
theirs. Wild men came out of the forest and beat him. Even the ravens stole his
few possessions. But Guthlac was patient, even with wild creatures. Bit by bit
the animals and birds came to trust him as their friend. A holy man named
Wilfrid once visited Guthlac and was astonished when two swallows landed on his
shoulders and then hopped all over him. Guthlac told him, "Those who
choose to live apart from other humans become the friends of wild animals; and
the angels visit them, too- -for those who are often visited by men and women
are rarely visited by angels."
Apparently, Guthlac was
also had a vision of Saint Bartholomew, his patron. Nor was he entirely alone
in his refuge: He had several disciples, Saints Cissa, Bettelin, Egbert, and
Tatwin, who had cells nearby. Bishop Hedda of Dorchester ordained him to the
priesthood during a visit. The exiled prince Ethelbald, often came to him for
advice, learned from Guthlac that he would wear the crown of the Mercians.
When he was dying, Guthlac
sent for his sister, Saint Pega, who was a hermitess in the same neighborhood
(Peakirk or Pega's church). Abbess Edburga of Repton sent him a shroud and a
leaden coffin. A year after his death, Guthlac's body was exhumed and found to
be incorrupt. Soon his shrine, to which his sister had donated his Psalter and
scourge, began popular. When both King Wiglaf of Mercia (827-840) and
Archbishop Ceolnoth of Canterbury (who was cured by Guthlac of the ague in 851)
became devotees, Guthlac's cultus grew and spread. A monastery was established
on the site of Saint Guthlac's hermitage, which developed into the great abbey
of Crowland, to which his relics were translated in 1136. There was another
translation in 1196.
Guthlac's vita was recorded
in Latin by his near contemporary Felix. Several others were composed in Old
English verse and prose. Together with Saint Cuthbert, Guthlac was one of
England's most popular pre-Conquest hermit saints (Attwater, Benedictines,
Bentley, Farmer, Gill, Husenbeth).
In art, Saint Guthlac is
depicted holding a scourge in his hand and a serpent at his feet. At times he
may be shown (1) receiving the scourge from Saint Bartholomew; (2) being ordained
priest by Saint Hedda of Winchester; or (3) with devils molesting and angels
consoling him (Roeder). A magnificent pictorial record of his life survives in
the late 12th-century Harleian Roll Y.6 at the British Museum, which is usually
called the Guthlac Roll. This is a series of eighteen roundels, cartoons for
stained glass windows, based on Felix's vita and the pseudo-Ingulph's history
of Crowland.
Crowland also has several
13th-century sculptures of his life. Abbot Henry of Crowland's 13th-century seal
depicts Guthlac receiving a scourge from Saint Bartholomew for fending off
diabolical attacks (Farmer). He is venerated in Lincolnshire (Roeder).
St. Guthlac
(c.AD 673-714)
St. Guthlac was the son of Penwald, a minor prince from the Royal
Mercian House of Icling, and his wife, Tette. Born around AD 673, he was a
serious child, not given to boyish pranks. Yet upon reaching manhood at
fifteen, he decided to become a soldier of fortune. He collected a great troop
of armed followers around him and, together, they ravaged the countryside,
burning, raping and pillaging as they went. For nine years, Guthlac carried on
with this thoughtless way of life until, one night, he had a heavenly dream
that instilled him with love and compassion for his fellow man. He made an oath
to dedicate his life to the service of the Lord and, in the morning, bade his
companions farewell. He forsook his accumulated wealth and went off to join the
dual-monastery at Repton in Derbyshire, where he received the tonsure from
Abbess Aelfthrith.
After two years in the monastery, Guthlac began to long for the more
secluded life of a hermit. So, having acquired leave from the monastic elders,
he departed for the great Fens, north of Cambridge. Unlike the well drained
arable land of today, the Fens were then a labyrinth of black wandering
streams, broad lagoons and quagmires with vast beds of reeds, sedge and fern.
The islands amongst this dismal swamp were a great attraction for the recluse.
Guthlac was directed to a particular one of these islands by a local man
named Tatwin. Many people had attempted to inhabit it before, but none had
succeeded, on account of the loneliness of the wilderness and its manifold
horrors. The twenty-six year old Guthlac eagerly rose to such a challenge and
arrived in a little boat at his new home of the "Crow Land" on St.
Bartholomew's Day. He surveyed the area a while before returning to Repton for
supplies and building materials with which he returned with the help of two
servants. St. Guthlac found an ancient tumulus on the island, against which he
built himself a hermitage. He resolved to wear only skins and ate only barley
bread and drank water each day. For a while, he was disturbed on his little
island by a number of the native British inhabitants who dragged him into the
swamp and beat him. In the dark night, Guthlac imagined he was attacked by
horrible monsters. There were other dangers closer to home however. Guthlac's
servant, Beccel, was shaving him one day, when he was seized by a desire to cut
his master's throat and install himself in his cell, that he might instead be
honoured by the locals as a holyman. Luckily, the perceptive Guthlac saw the
temptation within and shamed the offender into confession and repentance.
Guthlac was a tall trim man. He was mild, engaging, tolerate, modest,
patient and humble. These many virtues were recognised by the Fenland wildlife.
All the wild birds came to him and fed from his hands. Ravens, though at first
tormenting him by stealing letters and gloves from his visitors, later, seized
with compunction at his reproofs, brought them back. As Wilfrid, a holy
visitant, was once conversing with him on his island, two passing swallows flew
down onto the saint's shoulders and burst into song. Guthlac believed that,
"With him who has led his life after God's will, the wild beasts and wild
birds are tame."
After fifteen years in the Fens, Guthlac was seized by an alarming
illness while at prayers in his chapel. Beccel ran to his side and tended him;
but the holy man was dying. He hung on for another eight days, giving his
servant detailed instruction for his burial by his sister, Pegge, in a lead
coffin and a sheet given him by Abbess Edburga. He died on 11th April AD 714
and the great Abbey of Croyland grew up around his grave.
St.
Guthlac
Hermit; born about 673;
died at Croyland, England, 11 April, 714. Our authority for the life
of St. Guthlac is the monk Felix
(of what monastery is not known), who in his dedication
of the "Life" to King Æthelbald, Guthlac's
friend, assures him that whatever he has written, he had derived immediately
from old and intimate companions of the saint. Guthlac was born of noble stock, in the land
of the Middle Angles. In his boyhood he showed extraordinary signs
of piety; after eight or nine years spent in warfare, during which he never quite forgot his early
training, he became filled with remorse and determined to enter a monastery. This he did at Repton
(in what is now Derbyshire). Here after two years of great penance
and earnest application to all the duties of the monastic life,
he became fired with enthusiasm to emulate the wonderful penance
of the Fathers of the Desert.
For this purpose he retired with two companions to Croyland, a lonely island in the dismal fen- lands of
modern Lincolnshire. In this solitude he spent fifteen years of the most rigid penance,
fasting daily until sundown and then taking only
coarse bread and water. Like St. Anthony
he was frequently attacked and severely maltreated by the Evil One, and on the other hand was the recipient of
extraordinary graces and powers. The birds
and the fishes became his familiar friends, while the fame of his sanctity brought throngs of pilgrims to his cell. One of them, Bishop
Hedda (or Dorchester
or of Lichfield), raised him to the priesthood and consecrated his humble chapel. Æthelbald, nephew of the terrible Penda,
spent part of his exile with the saint.
Guthlac, after his death,
in a vision to Æthelbald, revealed
to him that he should one day become king. The prophecy
was verified in 716. During Holy Week of 714, Guthlac sickened and announced that he
should die on the seventh day, which he did joyfully.
The anniversary (11 April) has always been kept as his feast.
Many miracles were wrought at his tomb, which soon became a centre of pilgrimage. His old friend, Æthelbald, on becoming king,
proved himself a generous benefactor. Soon a large monastery arose, and through the industry of the monks, the fens of Croyland became one of the richest
spots in England. The later history
of his shrine may be found in Ordericus Vitalis (Historia Ecclesiastica) and in the
"History of Croyland" by the Pseudo-Ingulph. Felix's
Latin "Life" was
turned into Anglo-Saxon prose by
some unknown hand. This version was first published by Goodwin
in 1848. There is also a metrical version attributed to Cynewulf contained in the celebrated Exeter
Book (Codex Exoniensis).
Sources
Acta SS., XI, 37,
contains FELIX'S chronicle and extracts from ORDERICUS and the PSEUDO-INGULPH;
FULMAN, ed. Historia Croylandensis in R. S.; GOODWIN, Anglo-Saxon
Version of the Life of Guthlac (London, 1848); THORPE, Codex Exoniensis
(London, 1842); GOLLANCZ, The Exeter Book (London, 1895); GALE, edition
of INGULPH, though old (1684), is still valuable.
Murphy, John F.X. "St. Guthlac." The Catholic Encyclopedia.
Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 11 Apr. 2015
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07092a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for
New Advent by Bryan R. Johnson.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. June 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of
New York.
Voir aussi : http://www.umilta.net/pega.html