In April 2023, the county council of Cumbria will cease to exist and the city council of Carlisle and borough councils of Allerdale and of Copeland will unite to become the new county council of Cumberland. Cumberland has ancient roots: Originally part of the Old North, it was part of the Kingdom of Strathclyde, and the first written mention of Cumberland is when the area was incorporated into the English Kingdom in 945AD. This history probably explains why the area has its own distinctive traditions and language. But one of the threads running through this history is the region’s Christian faith and it is hoped that a new icon will be commissioned in the near future comprising the region’s native saints which in turn will provide a focus for Cumberland as it sets out anew on the next stage of its history.

We begin with St Ninian who lived in the early fifth century and originated in the wild country just south of Hadrian’s Wall. The Roman armies had departed and this part of the world was thrown into disarray with the breakdown of law and order, tribal conflict and incursions from slave raiding parties in Ireland. Ninian had been on his travels on the continent, was ordained a priest in Rome, and on his way back home, he stopped off in Tours in Gaul (present-day France) and was inspired by the monastic community established by St Martin of Tours. There he saw a community of prayer, a place where travellers could find rest, and where the sick and dying were cared for, and he saw that this community had established outlying communities to spread the faith. Returning to the Solway Firth, he established his monastery at Whithorn and established missions across the Brythonic lands and further afield into the Pictish kingdoms of the north. There is still a church dedicated to St Ninian near Penrith, called locally Ninekirk, on the bend of the river Eamont.

Perhaps it was Ninian’s example that led St Patrick who was born in 385AD, most likely in Carlisle, to spend his life proclaiming the Good News. Captured by raiders from Ireland at the age of 16, he was enslaved and set to work in Ireland, far from home. After escaping his captor’s clutches, he returned to Briton, and trained as a priest on the continent, and was consecrated as a Bishop. Instead of enjoying an easy life at home, he faced into his traumatic past and returned to the land of his captivity to proclaim the Good News. The image of St Patrick driving out the serpents from the Emerald Isle symbolises the way in which the light of faith transformed the darkness and violence of the druidic religions.

This was a time of the great missionaries, and another that we can mention in relation to Cumberland, is St Kentigern (or Mungo). He lived in the sixth century, established his community in Glas Chu (Glasgow, a name which means ‘God’s family’), and became the Bishop of the ancient kingdom of Strathclyde. Exiled from his see by political enemies, he spent much time in Cumbria, preaching the Gospel in Keswick and surrounding areas, before becoming the Bishop at Llanelway in North Wales. His life shows the influence of saints who were not bounded by the political boundaries that we acknowledge today. During these times, the Brythonic languages enabled people from Ireland, Wales, Cumbria and Southern Scotland to communicate with one another and influence each other. Besides Kentigern one cannot ignore the influence of St Brigid of Ireland, who though never visited Cumbria, had a profound influence as we can see in many Cumbrian settlements such as Bridekirk and Brigham and the number of churches in this area dedicated to her.

Following the victories of St Oswald over Cadwallon and the armies from Mercia at Heavenfield (next Hexham) in 634AD, the land became more stable and the Christian faith spread. Of particular importance were St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne and St Herbert of Derwentwater who lived in the seventh century. Cuthbert ended up becoming bishop and abbot of Lindisfarne in Northumbria, the great missionary outpost on the North Sea coast established by monks from Iona. Despite the many demands placed upon him, Cuthbert always remained a man steeped in prayer and he would seek solitude in his cell on the Farne Isles amongst the seals, otters, dolphins and wildlife. Each year he would travel over to Carlisle where he would meet St Herbert, a kindred spirit, who above all sought to live a life of studying the Scriptures, a life of penance and prayer. He lived in his cell in the beautiful Borrowdale valley on an island in Derwentwater, now called St Herbert’s Island. Though living on separate sides of the country, they both died and entered their heavenly reward on the same day.

Another of the great saints of this time was St Bega. Having taken a private vow of celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom of God, Bega, who was of high birth, prayed for protection and fled her father’s plan to marry her off to a Nordic chieftain. ‘Leaving rank, luxury, home, kindred, all things for her exceeding love of holy virginity’, she crossed the wild seas from Ireland and came ashore at what is now known as St Bees Head in Cumbria. There is a beautiful statue in the Priory there by the famous sculptor, Josefina de Vasconcellos, showing St Bega kneeling before Our Lady who appeared to her with the child Jesus. The place where she arrived was ideally suited to a solitary life dedicated to God, and Bega would use her knowledge of the medicinal nature of plants to soothe the ailments of the poor and sick. The peacefulness of her existence was broken by incursions from marauding raiders, and Bega left the forests of Copeland and travelled eastwards where she set up a convent under the patronage of the Christian kings of Northumbria on the Isle of the Stags in the Tees estuary, now called Hartlepool. For many years Bega laboured in establishing this community and perhaps others too before retiring once again to a solitary hermitage in Tadcaster, leaving the care of her foundation to St Hilda who would in turn become the famous Abbess and saint of Whitby. One wonders if those walking Wainwright’s Coast-to-Coast Walk realise that they are treading in the steps of St Bega, making a pilgrimage in her wake.

Over the following centuries Christianity spread across the area, especially through the patronage of the monasteries: the great Augustinian abbeys at Carlisle and Lanercost, the Cistercian monasteries at Holmcultram, and on the Furness peninsula and at Calder, the Benedictines at St Bees and Seaton Priory, and the Premonstratensian Monastery at Shap. But the unity of Christendom was shattered by the Reformation, and the old religion was driven underground. The changes that erupted can be seen through the life of Blessed Christopher Robinson who was born at Woodside, near Carlisle in 1565. Queen Elizabeth I forbad the practice of the faith and to be a Catholic priest was a capital crime. Despite many risks, Robinson felt called to be a priest and left his home and country to train as a priest at the English Colleges at Douai and Rheims in France and was ordained and sent to the English mission in 1592. Two years later he was a witness at the condemnation and martyrdom of St John Boste (from Dufton, Appleby) at Durham and wrote a graphic account of the occasion. Rather than retreating in fear, Robinson continued to serve the Catholic faithful in Cumbria and was arrested at Johnby Hall, imprisoned at Carlisle and executed in 1597. A witness wrote of how ‘the rope broke twice and the third time he rebuked the sheriff for cruelty saying that, although he meant no way to yield but was glad of the combat, yet flesh and blood were weak, and therefore he showed little humanity to torment a man for so long. And when they took order to put two ropes, then, said he, by this means I shall be longer a-dying, but it is no matter, I am willing to suffer all’.

We now jump three centuries, a time when Catholics kept their heads down, and quietly lived out their faith with humility and magnanimity. During the nineteenth century, the growth of the mining industries, ship building and ironworks brought in migrants, many of Catholic Irish origin to which we owe the astonishing development of Catholicism in the nineteenth century under the guidance and pastoral care of the Benedictine Community.

But there is one more saint to mention. In fact, strictly speaking, he is still not a saint, but his process for canonisation has begun, and John Bradburne can be termed a ‘Servant of God’.  Born to Anglican parents in 1921 in Skirwith (near Penrith), he served with the British Army in the Second World War during which time he became Catholic and subsequently lived a nomadic life, not quite fitting in anywhere or with anything, and spending much time writing poetry. With over 170,000 lines of verse to his credit, he is listed in the Guiness Book of Records as the most prolific poet in English. Taking a vow of celibacy he became a lay Franciscan, and finally found himself settling in 1969 at Mutemwa (meaning 'You are cut off'), a leper colony in what was then Rhodesia. The conditions were abysmal but Bradburne enlisted help from the local Catholic mission and set about washing, bandaging, bathing and burying the lepers, all of whom he counted as his family. In the heat of civil war Bradburne was warned to leave the district but he refused to leave his family and was abducted and shot on 5 September 1979 while kneeling to pray. He had three wishes: to help lepers, to die a martyr and to be buried in a Franciscan habit. He was granted all three. 'I am so useless, and clueless and un-illustrious', he once remarked. 'That makes me more truly confident in the power and the guidance of the Holy Spirit'.

The icon of the Cumberland saints will be a fitting tribute to the contribution of Christianity to this unique part of the world. The iconographer is Martin Earle whose website reveals the quality of craftmanship that he will be able to bring to bear on this project. Drawing inspiration from Andrea di Bonaiuto da Firenze’s icons which can be viewed in the National Gallery, Martin will create an altarpiece and icon of the Saints of Cumberland with six saints (St Ninian, Cuthbert, Herbert, Bega, Christopher Robinson & John Bradburne) with a central image of Our Lady Star of the Sea and the Infant Christ the Good Shepherd, incorporating the name of the church and of the parish. If anyone would like to contribute to this devotional enterprise and make a personal donation to this project, please contact one of the priests.