Herbert of Derwentwater

Saint Herbert of Derwentwater was a priest and hermit in England who died on 20 March 687. Our knowledge of him comes from Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People and from the life of Saint Cuthbert. For a long time he was a friend and disciple of Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, at whose request he lived as an anchorite on a small island in Derwentwater, which bears his name. He ate fish from the lake and grew vegetables around his cell.

Every year he went to Lindisfarne to receive spiritual direction. In 686 he heard that his friend was at Carlisle, to give the veil to Queen Eormenburg, and went to see him there. Cuthbert told him that they would not see one another again in this world, for he knew that his end was near. Herbert fell weeping at his feet and begged him to obtain from God the grace that they might both be received into heaven at the same time. After Cuthbert prayed, he returned to his hermitage, fell into a long illness and, purified of his weaknesses, reposed on the very day that Cuthbert died, 20 March 687.

The remains of his cell can still be seen at the north end of the island. Each year a liturgy is served there in his memory, and several English churches bear his name. He is a saint of the undivided Church, commemorated on 20 March (new style; 2 April in the old style).