Sparrows and St Cuthbert

Last week it was World Sparrow Day and also St Cuthbert’s Day. For a man well used to having only birds for company on his lonely island just off Lindisfarne it’s perhaps appropriate that he shares his day with the sparrow.

Before he was called back to his Lindisfarne home and his long postmortem journeying he communed with larger birds. Terns. Cormorants. Gulls. Eider ducks, still known as Cuddy Ducks in his honour. He sought the company of the birds but isolation from the world of men, preferring to pray and live simply, a withdrawal from the world. Not an altogether successful withdrawal by all accounts, as his islet was regularly visited by the monks and others, which leads me to wonder whether they were drawn by the man or by the lifestyle he had chosen. Did they see something special in the very act of withdrawal?

Either way, the life he chose had a huge impact, both at the time and afterwards. Choosing contemplation and prayer did not mean he became irrelevant. In his lifetime he was instrumental in easing the transition from Celtic to Roman Christianity, and was persuaded to return to Lindisfarne as Bishop, returning to isolation on Farne Island as death approached. And after his death a cult sprang up. There were stories of his body remaining uncorrupted. The Lindisfarne gospels were dedicated to him. He was seen as so important that the monks fleeing Viking raids carried his coffin with them for over 100 years before settling in Durham and building the Cathedral there, dedicated to St Cuthbert.

All of this leads me to wonder about the current obsession with the news, now available at any time of day or night, and the feeling this can create that we should be involved in some way. It seems to me to create a sense of responsibility for all that goes wrong in the world and, while there are ways we can influence matters by being active, maybe there is an argument for the quiet seeking after peace, even wisdom. By being an example in the way we live. Maybe that’s harder than getting stuck in. Something I continue to wrestle with.

So, what about the sparrows? Once ubiquitous, numbers have dropped so dramatically that, like many other birds, they are now seen as under threat – which takes us right back to St Cuthbert on his island, caring for the birds.

Cuthbert

the North Sea
a lonely island

wind blown
echoing  

to the calls of birds
slippery with

their droppings 
and in their midst 

a quiet man
destined for 

leadership
sainthood 

seeking isolation
finding community

faced with
competing calls

to prayer
contemplation

leadership
inspiration

but for now
he feeds the birds

                                                                                                             Tony Earnshaw 26/3/25