Cuthbert, the man of God, had a successor in the solitary life that he had lived on Farne Island before he became a bishop. This was a venerable man named Ethelwald who had received the priesthood many years previously in the monastery of Ripon and adorned the office by conduct worthy of it. To illustrate more clearly his virtue and the kind of life that he led, I will relate a miracle of his that was told me by one of the brethren among whom and for whose benefit it was performed; this was the venerable priest and servant of Christ Guthfrid, who afterwards presided as abbot over the brethren of the church of Lindisfarne where he had been brought up.
‘I came with two other brothers to Farne Island,’ he said, ‘wishing to speak with the most reverend Father Ethelwald. We were greatly inspired by his discourse and, having asked his blessing, were returning homewards. Then, while we were in the middle of the sea, the calm weather that was favouring our crossing suddenly changed. There followed a storm of such ferocity and violence that sail and oars were useless and we expected nothing but death. Having struggled unavailingly against the wind and waves for a long time, we looked back to see whether it were practicable to fight our way back to the island we had left, but found the storm equally violent on all sides, so that in ourselves there was no hope for us of escape. But, as we looked into the distance, we saw that Father Ethelwald, the beloved of God, had come out of his cell on Farne and was watching our progress; for he had heard the roar of the gale and raging of the sea and had come out to discover how we were faring. When he saw us in distress and despair, he fell on his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and prayed for our safety. Directly his prayer was ended, the raging sea grew calm, the severity of the storm lessened on all sides, and a following wind bore us over calm water towards the land. As soon as we had reached the shore and were lifting our little boat out of the surf, the wind that had dropped awhile for our sakes at once began to blow again and continued strongly all that day. So we realized that the short interval of calm had been granted by the mercy of heaven at the prayer of the man of God so that we might escape.’
The man of God remained on Farne Island for twelve years and died there; but he was buried on the island of Lindisfarne in the church of the blessed Apostle Peter next to the bodies of the above-mentioned bishops. These events took place in the time of King Aldfrid, who succeeded his brother Egfrid as King of the Northumbrians and reigned for nineteen years.