A Lindisfarne Story

March is packed full of saints' days. At the beginning of March we think about the Four Brothers of Lindisfarne.

Their names were Cedd, Cynebil, Celin, and Chad, and they were all educated at St Aidan's monastery on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in Northumbria in the seventh century (that's about thirteen hundred years ago) and all became monks. Lindisfarne was very much a sending out place, and they were sent out throughout the land to establish new churches. Cedd was asked by the king to start a Christian place in part of North Yorkshire.

At this point, as a good Northumbrian, I have to point out that there is a pattern here. Northumberland sends missionaries to Yorkshire. Ever since Lindisfarne, Northumberland has sent missionaires to Yorkshire which Tony reckons is how we migrated from the Tyne Valley to the North York Moors, and then the Pennines. They didn't send us back, we returned of our own accord.

So there's Cedd, with a grant of land and money as a present from the king and an instruction to build an abbey church. No pressure, then. But before bringing in the bulldozers, he set out on a forty day vigil of fasting and prayer on the site so that it would be hallowed before they started to build. After thirty days he was called away urgently and Cynebil completed the vigil for him. In due course the brothers built the church and consecrated it, and Cedd continued as abbot. On his death, his brother Chad took over.

That little church in Lastingham is still there, in a tiny village that looks as if it should be in a fairytale. It was one of our favourite places to visit when we lived in that part of the world. Like all those tiny Saxon houses of worship it has been enlarged and added to, but Chad and Cedd's crypt is still there and still prayed in.

If ever you go to North Yorkshire, I recommend Lastingham. You can visit the church and walk down to the crypt, and you will probably do what most people do when they walk down there - become silent. Take a deep breath, stand still, and wonder what this is. You will probably walk slowly, or not move at all, while you experience the feel of the place. I was last there about two years ago after a long absence, and realised that I'd forgotten how good it felt. It breathes holiness.