Up to His Neck

Cuthbert (c. 634–687) was Bishop of Lindisfarne and the most venerated saint of medieval northern England. He preferred otters to bishops.

The monastery, in his estimation, had walls in the wrong place. On Inner Farne he built a cell with walls so high he could see only the sky, and treated the coast beyond as the rest of the cloister. The eider ducks nesting on his rocks were a flock in his pastoral care; he issued protections for them, and Northumbrians still call the birds "cuddy ducks" thirteen centuries later. Ravens who ripped thatch from the guest-house were summoned, scolded in the name of Jesus, and banished from the island. One returned three days later, wings flat in a pitiable manner; both then brought a lump of hog's lard by way of apology. Cuthbert accepted it and used it to grease his visitors' boots.

Then the sea itself.

At Coldingham he would walk out at night into the North Sea until the water reached his neck, and sing psalms until dawn. A monk once followed him in secret and watched two otters climb out of the surf, lie down at his feet, breathe on them, and dry them with their fur. Cuthbert blessed them. They went back into the sea.

The monk was made to swear he would tell no one until Cuthbert was safely dead.