He was elected bishop of Hexham in 684, and with much difficulty was persuaded to undertake the duties. He soon exchanged Hexham for Lindisfarne.

As bishop, Cuthbert was diligent in preaching, protected the poor from their oppressors, lived on very little, and fed and clothed the poor.

Towards the end of 686 he gave up his bishopric and returned to his beloved Fame Island, where he died in March 687.

ST. CUTHBERT
1.Her Cuthbert was forbid layks and plays
As S. Bede i' hys story says.
2.Her the angel did hym eale
And made hys grievous sore to hele.
3.Her saw he Aydan's sawl up go
to hevyn bliss wth angels two.
4.Her to hym and hys palfray
God send hem fude in hys jornay.
5.Her on Melross for to converse
With hy Bosle and laws reherse.
6.The angel he did as gest refreshe
With met and drynk and hys fete weshe
7.Her Basel told hy yt he must de
And after yt bysshop should be
8.Her to hys breder and pepyl eke
He preched godys word myld and mek
9.Her stude he naked in ye see
till all David psalms sayd had he.
10.He was gydyd by ye egle fre
And fed wth ye delfyne as ye see
11.Fresh water god sent owt of ye ston
to hym in Farn and befor was noon
12.Consecrate byshop yai made hy her
off Lyndisfarne both far and nere.
13.Her by prayers fendys out Farne glad
and wth angel hads hys hous made
14.To thys child god grace (here gave) he
Thro hys prayers as ye may se.
15.Byshop two yerys when he had beyn
In Farne he died both holy and clene
16.The crowys yt did his hous unthek
This for full low fell at hys fete
17.xi yere after yt beryd was he
Yai fand hym hole as red may ye.

St. Anthony, one of the primitive hermits, and the founder of monasticism, was born at Coma, in Upper Egypt, in A.D. 251. Before he was twenty years old he lost his parents, and inherited great riches from them, but within a year he sold all that he had and gave the money to the poor. He then retired into solitude near Coma, passing his time in manual labour, prayer, and study. Later, he went farther into the wilderness, and lived in a cave. Satan is said to have tempted him by sending spirits to him, disguised as beautiful women. Finding this ineffectual, it is related that the Evil One made a violent attack on him, and beat him so severely that he left him for dead. At the age of ninety he heard of another hermit (St. Paul the Hermit), and made a journey to visit him. St. Paul died soon after this meeting, and St. Anthony, aided by two lions, buried him. In his 105th year he told some of his disciples that he was going to die; then, accompanied by a few monks, he retired deeper into the wilderness, where he died, having first obtained a promise that they would keep the place of his burial secret.

(In the time of Innocent IV. all hermits who lived under no recognised discipline were incorporated and reduced under the rule of St. Augustine.)

THE LEGEND OF ST. ANTHONY
1.Of Anton story who lyste to here
In Egypt was he bornt as doyth aper.
2.Her is he babtyd, Anton they hym call
Gret landes and renttes to hym doeth fawl.
3.As scoler to the kyrk here is he gayn
To here the sermontt and aftyr itt he's tayn.
4.Here geyffith he to the kyrk boith land and rent
To leve in povert is hys intent.
5.Here in Agello to oon oulde man he wentt
To lerne perfeccion is hys intent.
6.Here makyth he breder as men of relig',
And techyth them vertu to leve in perfecco.
7.Here to the wyldernes as armet geon he
And thus temptyth hym covytice with oon gold dyshie.
8.The sprytt of fornycacon to hy her doth apper
And thus he chastith his body with thorne and brer.
9.The devill thus hat hy wounded wt lance and staf
And levyth hy for deyd lyying at his cayf
10.Here Crist haith hym helyd the devill he doth away
And comfortyd his confessor deyd as he lay
11.Here comands he yis bests and ffast away tha flie
Ye bor hy obbays and wth hy bydeds he.
12.Here makyth he a well and water hath uptayne
And comforted hys breder thyrst was nere slayn.
13.Here commandith he best to make hy a cayf
And thus he berys Paulyn and lay hy in graf
14.Thus walkèd he over the flode water doth hy no der
Theodor hy se and dare nou cu hy nere
15.Here departith Anton, to hevyn his saul is gone
Betwixt his two breder in wilder's the alone.
16.Here in wilderns they bery hym that no man shud him knaw
For soo he comanded syne hom first tha draw.
17.Thus levyth he i wildern's xxii yere and more
Without any company bot the wylde boore.

St. Augustine, the first great saint of the Order, and patron of the canons of the cathedral. He was born at Tagaste, in Numidia, A.D. 354. His father, Patricius, was a Pagan, while his mother, Monica, was a Christian. Patricius, perceiving the ability of his son, "spared nothing to breed him up a scholar." When quite young he had a severe illness, and expressed a wish to be baptized, but on his recovery the wish vanished. Later, his morals grew corrupt, and he lived a profligate life until he became a convert of the Manicheans at the age of nineteen. After teaching grammar at Tagaste, and rhetoric at Carthage, he proceeded to Rome, against the wish of Monica. He next became professor of rhetoric at Milan. Ambrose was then archbishop, and through listening to his preaching, St. Augustine abandoned the Manichean doctrines, and was baptized at Easter the following year, A.D. 387. Monica, who had prayed unceasingly for his conversion, now visited him at Milan, and was greatly rejoiced at the answer to her prayers. His mother started to return to Africa with her son, but died at Ostia. At a villa outside Hippo, St. Augustine passed three years in the company of eleven pious men. "They had all things in common as in the early Church; and fasting and prayer, Scripture-reading and almsgiving, formed their regular occupations. Their mode of life was not formally monastic according to any special rule, but the experience of this time of seclusion was, no doubt, the basis of that monastic system which St. Augustine afterwards sketched, and which derived from him its name." He then entered the priesthood, A.D. 390, and five years afterward was made coadjutor in the bishopric of Hippo, and eventually became bishop. The rest of his life he devoted to defending the Christian religion, both by preaching and by writing. He died in Hippo, A.D. 430, while the Vandals were besieging it. St. Augustine is called "the greatest of the Fathers." His great work "De Civitate Dei," "the highest expression of his thought," engaged him for seventeen years. In his well-known "Confessions" is given an account of his spiritual progress, and of his state before he was converted.