Aethelwold of Farne

Venerable Aethelwold of Farne (Aethelwald, Ethilwold) was a hermit of the late seventh century who lived on Inner Farne, the island off the coast of Northumberland. Little is known of him apart from what the Venerable Bede records. He was a priest and a monk of Ripon Abbey and, desiring solitude, succeeded to Saint Cuthbert's tiny hermitage on Farne after Cuthbert's death in 687. He found it so drafty that he had to make repairs with a calfskin.

The best-⁠known story about him tells how the future abbot Guthrid visited him on his island with two Lindisfarne monks and, on the journey home, was saved from shipwreck by the saint's prayers. He reposed on 23 March 699, not 720 as is sometimes stated, and was buried with Cuthbert; like Cuthbert he was eventually enshrined in Durham Cathedral. He should not be confused with Saint Aethelwold of Lindisfarne, a near contemporary. His feast is kept on 23 March (new style, Western calendar). He is a saint of the undivided Church.