Two Medieval English Saints

Cuthbert and Alban

FAIRACRES PUBLICATIONS 217
In his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, the Venerable Bede (673–735) recorded not simply the biographies of the early saints of Britain, but the stories and myths about them, deliberately passed down from those who knew them, describing the impact they had on those close to them. Bede gave a very full account of Alban, despite the chronological distance separating them, but his sources for information about St Cuthbert were those who had known the saint personally, giving Bede’s account considerable authority. His texts are first-rate hagiographies, providing us with compelling prose images of the enduring power of genuine, selfless holiness in the early church. From Bede and other sources, Sister Benedicta is able to paint a picture of the spirituality of these two saints who are so crucial to understanding early Christianity in Britain.
Sister Benedicta Ward slg (1933–2022) was a member of the Anglican religious community of the Sisters of the Love of God. She wrote and translated a number of books on early monasticism and aspects of the Middle Ages. Her translations of the Prayers and Meditations and Proslogion of St Anselm has been continuously in print since it was first published in 1973. She was Reader in the History of Christian Spirituality at the University of Oxford and a Supernumerary Fellow of Harris Manchester College.