View source for Godric of Finchale

{{Short description|English hermit (c. 1065–1170)}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix=Saint 
|name=Godric of Finchale
|birth_date=c. 1065-1070<ref>{{cite book |last1=Amt |first1=Emilie |last2=Smith |first2=Katherine Allen |title=Medieval England, 500-1500: A Reader |date=2018 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |location=Toronto |isbn=9781442634688 |page=187 |edition=2nd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tsdtDwAAQBAJ |access-date=11 December 2022}}</ref>
|death_date={{death date|df=yes|1170|5|21}}
|feast_day=
|venerated_in=[[Catholic Church]]
|image=Godric-Finchale.jpg
|imagesize=180px
|caption=St Godric 
|birth_place=[[Walpole, Norfolk]], England 
|death_place=[[Finchale Priory|Finchale]] in County Durham, England
|titles=Hermit
|attributes=[[Hermit]]
|patronage=
|major_shrine=
|suppressed_date=
|issues=
|prayer=
|prayer_attrib=
}}

'''Godric of Finchale''' (or '''St Goderic''') ({{circa|1065-1070}} – 21 May 1170)<ref>{{Cite ODNB|id=10884|title=Godric of Finchale [St Godric of Finchale]}}</ref> was an [[England|English]] [[hermit]], [[merchant]] and popular [[medieval]] [[saint]], although he was never formally [[Canonization|canonised]]. He was born in [[Walpole, Norfolk|Walpole]] in [[Norfolk]] and died in [[Finchale Priory|Finchale]] in [[County Durham]].

Some of the earliest surviving English songs have been attributed to him.{{sfn|Hoppin|1978|pp=322–323}}<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Trowell |first=Brian |author-link=Brian Trowell |year=2001 |encyclopedia=[[Grove Music Online]] |title=Godric |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |access-date=30 November 2020 |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.11345 |isbn=978-1-56159-263-0 |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000011345 }} {{Grove Music subscription}}</ref>

==Life==
{{quote box|align=left|width=25%|I. Saintë Marië Virginë, <br> Moder Iesu Cristes Nazarenë,<br> Onfo, schild, help thin Godric,<br> Onfong bring hegilich<br> With the in Godës riche.<br><br>
II. Saintë Marië Cristes bur,<br> Maidenës clenhad, moderës flur;<br>Dilie min sinnë, rix in min mod,<br>
Bring me to winnë with the selfd God.
|source=The first two hymns of St Godric, some of the earliest surviving musical settings in [[Middle English]]{{efn|I. St Mary, Virgin,<br>Mother of Jesus Christ the Nazarene,<br> Receive, shield, help your Godric,<br> When received, bring him solemnly <br>With you into God's kingdom.<br><br> II. Saint Mary, Christ's bower,<br>Maiden's purity, mother's flower,<br>Destroy my sin, reign in my heart,<br>Bring me to bliss with the very same God.}}}}

Godric's life was recorded by a contemporary of his, a monk named [[Reginald of Durham]]. Several other [[hagiography|hagiographies]] are also extant. According to these accounts, Godric, who began from humble beginnings as the son of Ailward and Edwenna, "both of slender rank and wealth, but abundant in righteousness and virtue". He began as a peddler and became an entrepreneur. "[H]e was wont to wander with small wares around the villages and farmsteads of his own neighbourhood; but, in process of time, he gradually associated himself by compact with city merchants."<ref>{{cite book |url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/goderic.asp |chapter=Reginald of Durham, "Life of St. Godric" |title=Social Life in Britain from the Conquest to the Reformation |editor=G. G. Coulton |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1918}}</ref>

Then he was a ship's captain and part owner of two ships, one of which may have conveyed [[Baldwin I of Jerusalem]] to [[Jaffa, Israel|Jaffa]] in 1102. After many [[pilgrimage]]s around the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]], Godric found himself off the [[Farne Islands]] near [[Lindisfarne]] and there was inspired to change his life.<ref name=Norman>{{cite web |url=http://www.normanconnections.com/en/characters/famous-characters/st-godric-of-finchale/ |title=St. Godric of Finchale |website=Norman Connections}}</ref>

Godric returned to England and lived at [[Wolsingham]] with an elderly hermit named Aelric (†1107) for two years.<ref name=northern>[http://northernsaints.com/ "Northern Saints/ Stories", 'This is Durham', Durham County Council]</ref> Upon Aelric's death, Godric made one last pilgrimage to [[Jerusalem]], and then returned home where he convinced [[Ranulf Flambard]], the [[Bishop of Durham]], to grant him a place to live as a hermit at Finchale, by the [[River Wear]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Barlow |first=Frank |title=The English Church 1066–1154: A History of the Anglo-Norman Church |date=1979 |location=New York |publisher=Longman |page=73 |ISBN=0-582-50236-5}}</ref> He had previously served as doorkeeper, the lowest of the [[minor orders]], at the [[St Giles Church, Durham|hospital church]] of nearby [[Kepier Hospital|St Giles Hospital]] in [[Durham, England|Durham]]. At Finchale he cleared forests to build a wooden oratory dedicated to the Virgin Mary; later he constructed a stone chapel dedicated to St John the Baptist.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/members-area/past-lives/st-godric/ |last=Carter |first=Michael |title=St Godric at Finchale Priory |website=English Heritage}}</ref>

He is recorded to have lived at Finchale for the final sixty years of his life, occasionally meeting with visitors approved by the local prior. As the years passed, his reputation grew, and [[Thomas Becket]] and [[Pope Alexander III]] both reportedly sought Godric's advice as a wise and holy man.<ref name=Norman/>
[[File:Song-Godric.jpg|thumb|13th-century manuscript of the four hymns of St Godric]]
[[File:Fichale.jpg|thumb|[[Finchale Priory]] on the [[River Wear]] on the site of Godric's hermitage]]
Reginald describes Godric's physical attributes:

{{blockquote|For he was vigorous and strenuous in mind, whole of limb and strong in body. He was of middle stature, broad-shouldered and deep-chested, with a long face, grey eyes most clear and piercing, bushy brows, a broad forehead, long and open nostrils, a nose of comely curve, and a pointed chin. His beard was thick, and longer than the ordinary, his mouth well-shaped, with lips of moderate thickness; in youth his hair was black, in age as white as snow; his neck was short and thick, knotted with veins and sinews; his legs were somewhat slender, his instep high, his knees hardened and horny with frequent kneeling; his whole skin rough beyond the ordinary, until all this roughness was softened by old age.|author=|title=|source=}}

St Godric is perhaps best remembered for his kindness toward animals, and many stories recall his protection of the creatures who lived near his forest home. According to one of these, he hid a stag from pursuing hunters; according to another, he even allowed snakes to warm themselves by his fire. Godric lived on a diet of [[herb]]s, wild [[honey]], acorns, [[Malus|crab-apple]]s and nuts.<ref name="Clay 1914">{{cite book |last=Clay |first=Rotha Mary |date=1914 |url=https://archive.org/details/hermitsanchorite00clayuoft/page/n59 |title=The Hermits and Anchorites of England |location=London |publisher=Methuen |page=59}}</ref> He slept on the bare ground.<ref name="Clay 1914"/>

Reginald of Durham recorded four songs of St Godric's: they are the oldest songs in English for which the original musical settings survive. Reginald describes the circumstances in which Godric learnt the first song.{{sfn|Trend|1928}} In a vision the Virgin Mary appeared to Godric with at her side "two maidens of surpassing beauty clad in shining white raiments." They pledged to come to his aid in times of need; and the Virgin herself taught Godric a song of consolation to overcome grief or temptation (''Saintë Marië Virginë'').

The novel ''[[Godric (novel)|Godric]]'' (1981) by [[Frederick Buechner]] is a fictional retelling of his life and travels. It was a finalist for a [[Pulitzer Prize]].

A tune named for him by its composer, [[John Bacchus Dykes]], appears in dozens of hymnals.

==References==
===Notes===
{{Notelist}}

===Citations===
{{reflist|2}}

===Sources===
* {{cite book |last=Hoppin |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Hoppin |year=1978 |title=Medieval Music |series=The Norton Introduction to Music History |edition=1st |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0-393-09090-1}}
*{{citation|title=The First English Songs|first=J. B.|last= Trend|jstor=726705|journal=Music & Letters|volume= 2|year= 1928|issue=2 |pages=111–128 |doi=10.1093/ml/IX.2.111 }}

==Further reading==
*[[Reginald of Durham]], "Life of St. Godric", in [[G. G. Coulton]], ed. ''Social Life in Britain from the Conquest to the Reformation (p. 415)'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1918. – [https://archive.org/details/sociallifeinbrit00couluoft digital copy]
*[[Frederick Buechner]], ''[[Godric (novel)|Godric]]'', 1981, {{ISBN|0-06-061162-6}}, a historical novel.
*Entry for "Godric", first edition of the ''[[Dictionary of National Biography]]''.
*Victoria M. Tudor, "Reginald of Durham and St. Godric of Finchale: a study of a twelfth-century hagiographer and his subject", Reading PhD thesis, 1979.
*Victoria M. Tudor, "Reginald of Durham and Saint Godric of Finchale: learning and religion on a personal level", ''Studies in Church History'', 17, 1981.
* Susan J. Ridyard, "Functions of a Twelfth-Century Recluse Revisited: The Case of Godric of Finchale", in ''Belief and Culture in the Middle Ages: Studies Presented to Henry Mayr-Harting''. Eds. Henry Mayr-Harting, Henrietta Leyser and Richard Gameson (Oxford, OUP, 2001), pp.
* Francis Rice, rector of St Godrics "The Hermit of Finchale: Life of Saint Godric" Pentland Press {{ISBN|1-85821-151-4}}
*{{citation|journal=Music & Letters|year=2005|volume= 86|pages=169–185|first=Helen|last=Deeming|title=The Songs of St Godric: A Neglected Context|issue=2 |url=http://ml.oxfordjournals.org/content/86/2/169.abstract|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415160428/http://ml.oxfordjournals.org/content/86/2/169.abstract|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-04-15|doi=10.1093/ml/gci031|url-access=subscription}}
*{{citation|title=Anglo-Norman Durham, 1093–1193|editor1-first=David|editor1-last= Rollason|editor2-first= Margaret|editor2-last= Harvey|editor3-first= Michael|editor3-last= Prestwich|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|year= 1998|isbn=0-85115-654-1}}

==External links==
*[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/goderic.html Medieval SourceBook: Reginald of Durham, ''Life of Saint Godric (12th Cent)''], excerpts.
*[http://www.hermitary.com/lore/buechner.html The Hermit in Lore: Frederick Buechner's Godric.]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UylxMwBvbT4 Santë Marië Virginë] performed by the [[early music]] group [[La Reverdie]]

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{{Subject bar |portal1= Saints |portal2= Biography |portal3= Catholicism |portal4= England}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Godric Of Finchale}}
[[Category:People from Walpole, Norfolk]]
[[Category:English men centenarians]]
[[Category:12th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:1060s births]]
[[Category:1070s births]]
[[Category:1170 deaths]]
[[Category:Medieval English saints]]
[[Category:English hermits]]
[[Category:English male classical composers]]
[[Category:11th-century composers]]
[[Category:12th-century composers]]
[[Category:Medieval male composers]]
[[Category:Folk saints]]