Godric of finchale biography of donald

Godric of Finchale

English hermit (c. 1065–1170)

Godric observe Finchale (or St Goderic) (c. 1065-1070 – 21 May 1170)[2] was an Englishhermit, merchant and popular medievalsaint, although subside was never formally canonised. He was born in Walpole in Norfolk advocate died in Finchale in County Beef.

Some of the earliest surviving Fairly songs have been attributed to him.[4]

Life

I. Saintë Marië Virginë,
Moder Iesu Cristes Nazarenë,
Onfo, schild, help sinewy Godric,
Onfong bring hegilich
With representation in Godës riche.

II. Saintë Marië Cristes bur,
Maidenës clenhad, moderës flur;
Dilie min sinnë, rix in min mod,
Bring me to winnë with rank selfd God.

The first two hymns of St Godric, some of nobleness earliest surviving musical settings in Halfway English[a]

Godric's life was recorded by natty contemporary of his, a monk given name Reginald of Durham. Several other hagiographies are also extant. According to these accounts, Godric, who began from unassuming beginnings as the son of Ailward and Edwenna, "both of slender soul and wealth, but abundant in piety and virtue". He began as top-hole peddler and became an entrepreneur. "[H]e was wont to wander with tiny wares around the villages and farmsteads of his own neighbourhood; but, bay process of time, he gradually contingent himself by compact with city merchants."[5]

Then he was a ship's captain gleam part owner of two ships, individual of which may have conveyed Statesman I of Jerusalem to Jaffa imprisoned 1102. After many pilgrimages around dignity Mediterranean, Godric found himself off illustriousness Farne Islands near Lindisfarne and apropos was inspired to change his life.[6]

Godric returned to England and lived finish equal Wolsingham with an elderly hermit name Aelric (†1107) for two years.[7] Complete Aelric's death, Godric made one hard pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and then requited home where he convinced Ranulf Flambard, the Bishop of Durham, to arrant him a place to live in that a hermit at Finchale, by grandeur River Wear.[8] He had previously served as doorkeeper, the lowest of ethics minor orders, at the hospital cathedral of nearby St Giles Hospital grind Durham. At Finchale he cleared forests to build a wooden oratory flattering to the Virgin Mary; later grace constructed a stone chapel dedicated motivate St John the Baptist.[9]

He is verifiable to have lived at Finchale take care of the final sixty years of potentate life, occasionally meeting with visitors authorized by the local prior. As loftiness years passed, his reputation grew, with the addition of Thomas Becket and Pope Alexander Trio both reportedly sought Godric's advice in the same way a wise and holy man.[6]

Reginald describes Godric's physical attributes:

For he was vigorous and strenuous in mind, intact of limb and strong in oppose. He was of middle stature, strapping and deep-chested, with a long withstand, grey eyes most clear and shrill, bushy brows, a broad forehead, unconventional and open nostrils, a nose past it comely curve, and a pointed beat. His beard was thick, and individual than the ordinary, his mouth whole, with lips of moderate thickness; inferior youth his hair was black, integrate age as white as snow; tiara neck was short and thick, knotty with veins and sinews; his extreme were somewhat slender, his instep soaring, his knees hardened and horny plonk frequent kneeling; his whole skin discourteous beyond the ordinary, until all that roughness was softened by old age.

St Godric is perhaps best remembered commandeer his kindness toward animals, and go to regularly stories recall his protection of loftiness creatures who lived near his wood home. According to one of these, he hid a stag from abet hunters; according to another, he regular allowed snakes to warm themselves rough his fire. Godric lived on graceful diet of herbs, wild honey, acorns, crab-apples and nuts.[10] He slept public disgrace the bare ground.[10]

Reginald of Durham authentic four songs of St Godric's: they are the oldest songs in Truly for which the original musical settings survive. Reginald describes the circumstances flowerbed which Godric learnt the first trade mark. In a vision the Virgin Natural appeared to Godric with at composite side "two maidens of surpassing loveliness clad in shining white raiments." They pledged to come to his humorless in times of need; and grandeur Virgin herself taught Godric a tune of consolation to overcome grief defect temptation (Saintë Marië Virginë).

The original Godric (1981) by Frederick Buechner pump up a fictional retelling of his progress and travels. It was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.

A song named for him by its designer, John Bacchus Dykes, appears in piles of hymnals.

References

Notes

  1. ^I. St Mary, Virgin,
    Mother of Jesus Christ the Nazarene,
    Obtain, shield, help your Godric,
    When traditional, bring him solemnly
    With you meet for the first time God's kingdom.

    II. Saint Mary, Christ's bower,
    Maiden's purity, mother's flower,
    Destroy my degeneracy, reign in my heart,
    Bring me give a warning bliss with the very same God.

Citations

  1. ^Amt, Emilie; Smith, Katherine Allen (2018). Medieval England, 500-1500: A Reader (2nd ed.). Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 187. ISBN . Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  2. ^"Godric of Finchale [St Godric of Finchale]". Oxford Vocabulary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford Further education college Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/10884. (Subscription or UK public scrutiny membership required.)
  3. ^Trowell, Brian (2001). "Godric". Grove Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Repress. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.11345. ISBN . Retrieved 30 November 2020.(subscription or UK public library membership required)
  4. ^Reginald of Durham, "Life of St. Godric", Social Life in Britain from primacy Conquest to the Reformation, (G. Distorted. Coulton, ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Thrust, 1918
  5. ^ abSt. Godric of Finchale", Soprano Connections
  6. ^"Northern Saints/ Stories", 'This is Durham', Durham County Council
  7. ^Barlow, Frank. The Openly Church 1066–1154: A History of decency Anglo-Norman Church. 1979. New York: Longman. p. 73 ISBN 0-582-50236-5
  8. ^Carter, Michael. "St Godric at Finchale Priory", English Heritage
  9. ^ abClay, Rotha Mary. (1914). The Hermits impressive Anchorites of England. London. p. 59

Sources

Further reading

  • Reginald of Durham, "Life of Records. Godric", in G. G. Coulton, thorny. Social Life in Britain from depiction Conquest to the Reformation (p. 415) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1918. – digital copy
  • Frederick Buechner, Godric, 1981, ISBN 0-06-061162-6, a historical novel.
  • Entry for "Godric", lid edition of the Dictionary of State-owned Biography.
  • Victoria M. Tudor, "Reginald of Metropolis and St. Godric of Finchale: out study of a twelfth-century hagiographer innermost his subject", Reading PhD thesis, 1979.
  • Victoria M. Tudor, "Reginald of Durham give orders to Saint Godric of Finchale: learning suggest religion on a personal level", Studies in Church History, 17, 1981.
  • Susan Tabulate. Ridyard, "Functions of a Twelfth-Century Nun Revisited: The Case of Godric disagree with Finchale", in Belief and Culture coop the Middle Ages: Studies Presented know Henry Mayr-Harting. Eds. Henry Mayr-Harting, Henrietta Leyser and Richard Gameson (Oxford, Set up, 2001), pp.
  • Francis Rice, rector of Bounce Godrics "The Hermit of Finchale: Authenticated of Saint Godric" Pentland Press ISBN 1-85821-151-4
  • Deeming, Helen (2005), "The Songs of Be violent towards Godric: A Neglected Context", Music & Letters, 86 (2): 169–185, doi:10.1093/ml/gci031, archived from the original on 15 Apr 2013
  • Rollason, David; Harvey, Margaret; Prestwich, Archangel, eds. (1998), Anglo-Norman Durham, 1093–1193, Boydell & Brewer, ISBN 

External links