Download or read book Two Medieval English Saints: Cuthbert and Alban written by Sister Benedicta Ward SLG and published by SLG Press. This book was released on 2024-08-30 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fairacres Publications 217 In his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, the Venerable Bede (673–735) recorded not simply the biographies of the early saints of Britain, but the stories and myths about them, deliberately passed down from those who knew them, describing the impact they had on those close to them. Bede gave a very full account of Alban, despite the chronological distance separating them, but his sources for information about St Cuthbert were those who had known the saint personally, giving Bede’s account considerable authority. His texts are first-rate hagiographies, providing us with compelling prose images of the enduring power of genuine, selfless holiness in the early church. From Bede and other sources, Sister Benedicta is able to paint a picture of the spirituality of these two saints who are so crucial to understanding early Christianity in Britain.