In order to make more widely known the height of glory attained after death by God’s servant Cuthbert, whose illustrious life on earth had been marked by so many miracles even before his death, Divine Providence guided the brethren to exhume his bones. After eleven years, they expected to find his flesh reduced to dust and the remains withered, as is usual in dead bodies; and they proposed to place them in a new coffin on the same site but above ground level, so that he might receive the honours due to him. When they informed Bishop Eadbert of their wish, he gave approval and directed that it should be carried out on the anniversary of his burial. This was done; and when they opened the grave, they found the body whole and incorrupt as though still living and the limbs flexible, so that he looked as if he were asleep rather than dead. Furthermore, all the vestments in which he was clothed appeared not only spotless but wonderfully fresh and fair. At this sight the brothers were awestruck, and hastened to inform the bishop of their discovery. At that time he was living alone at some distance from the church in a place surrounded by the sea, where he always used to spend Lent and the forty days before the Nativity of our Lord in fasting, prayer, and penitence. It was here that his venerable predecessor Cuthbert had served God in solitude for a period before he went to Farne Island.
The brothers brought with them some of the garments in which the holy body had been clothed. The bishop received these gifts with gratitude, and as he listened with joy to their account of the miracle, he lovingly kissed the garments as though they were still on the father’s body. ‘Clothe the body in new garments,’ he said, ‘in place of those that you have removed, and place it in the coffin you have prepared. I have certain knowledge that the grave hallowed by so great and heavenly a miracle will not remain empty for long. And blessed is the man to whom our Lord, the Author and Giver of all bliss, shall grant the privilege of resting in it.’ When the bishop had said this and more to the same effect in a trembling voice with tears and deep feeling, the brethren carried out his instructions: having clothed the body in fresh garments, they laid it in a new coffin, which they placed on the pavement of the sanctuary.
Not long afterwards, God’s beloved Bishop Eadbert was attacked by an illness that rapidly grew more serious, and in a short time he departed to our Lord on the sixth of May. Whereupon the brethren laid his body in the tomb of the blessed Father Cuthbert, and above it they placed the coffin containing the uncorrupt body of the Father. The miracles of healing that take place from time to time at the tomb bear witness to the holiness of them both. I have recorded some instances in my book on his life. And in this present history I have included further examples that have recently come to my knowledge.