Great was the honor paid him by Bishop Hugh Pudsey, who, together with a host of canons, priests and monks, came out from Durham to celebrate mass on the occasion of his entombment. All who had known him gathered in solemn convocation to shed tears at the loss of so venerable and true a friend, but at the same time rejoicing that yet another soul had joined the blessed company of the elect in Heaven.
Of Godric's sanctity there can be no doubt. Although he himself was wont to deprecate them, none can count the deeds of charity that he wrought for the betterment of man nor the austerities he practised for the love of God. Although it has been said of him that like Our Lord he cleansed a leper, he was ever loth to lay claim to the working of any such miracles. In truth, he was a kind of miracle himself. Furthermore, since his death many who have prayed for him to intercede in their behalf in the courts of Heaven have had their petitions expeditiously granted, and there is one of his relies in particular a rude wooden cross bound with hair which was found around his neck when he died which is believed to have been most efficacious in the curing of numerous ills.
I myself, who was privileged to serve him during his latter years (when already his health was beginning to fail) can testify to the purity of his life, the magnanimity of his spirit, and, above all else, to his great humility. When at the instigation of Abbot Ailred of Rievaulx, of blessed memory, I initially undertook to record this history, he made violent objection, reviling himself most passionately and reciting in multitudinous detail the sins of his youth. He aspired thereby to demonstrate his unworthiness of any such biographical endeavor, but his better judgment at last prevailed, and in the end he gave his blessing to this work. Thus I set it forth now in confidence that the world will be greatly edified by the example of this most estimable man.
When old age overtook him and he endured the loss not only of bodily vigor but of all those whom he had once held most dear, he did not cease to praise God.
When he was assailed by doubts and fears and temptations, he was ever strong in Christ.
When death came for him at last, he did not quail before it but suffered it to bear him off as easily as a river bears off a fallen leaf.
Saint Godric, Father, pray for me. Pray for us all.
Amen.
Historical Note
In 1065 or thereabouts, Godric was born of Anglo Saxon parents in Walpole (Norfolk). He became a peddler. Later he bought a half share in a ship and sailed as a merchant between England, Scotland, Denmark and Flanders. He made a pilgrimage to Rome accompanied by his aged mother, Aedwen. His father's name was Aedlward. Godric became for a time steward to a rich countryman. In 1101 he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The Dictionary of National Biography states that “There is no need to doubt his identity with the 'Gudericus, pirata de regno Angliae' with whom Baldwin I of Jerusalem, after his great defeat in the plains of Ramleh, sailed from Arsuf to Jaffa on 29 May 1102.” About 1105 he sold all his goods, left home, and attempted to follow the life of a hermit, inspired perhaps by visits in seafaring days to the isle of Fame, once the home of Saint Cuthbert. He joined the hermit Elric at Wulsingham (Durham) until the latter's death in 1108. In Durham he acted as doorkeeper and bellringer at the church of Saint Giles and went to school with the choirboys at Saint Mary-le Bow. Now over forty, he settled finally at Finchale, on the river Wear near Durham, on land belonging to Bishop Ranulf Flambard. From this day to the end of his life, he never left Finchale except three times and practised severe austerities.
In the first years of his retreat, his relatives came to visit him. His brother, William, was drowned in the Wear. His sister, Burcwen, after she had been a solitary herself at Finchale for a time, left to become a nun at Durham, where she died. His mother seems to have died at Finchale. Reginald, a monk of Durham, was commissioned by Ailred of Rievaulx to visit the old man with a view to writing his life. At first Godric refused to countenance a biography, but he eventually yielded and blessed the completed work when Reginald presented it to him. The passages that Reginald is described as reading to Godric in the next to last chapter of this book are free translations from his medieval Latin, as are also the words of self condemnation that Godric speaks on page 21. Godric is credited with being the earliest known lyrical poet in English, and his work includes a hymn to the Virgin Mary which he is said to have set to music himself and a free rendering of which appears on page 2I. Knowledge of future and distant events was attributed to him, and his love of and power over wild creatures was very remarkable, extending even to snakes, which he treated as domestic pets until they distracted him from his prayers. After a prolonged illness, during which he was nursed by Durham monks and a servant, he died on the 21st Of May, 1170, which is his feast.
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