Godric de Finchale
v. 1065-1170 12th century Feast day: May 21
A song received rather than composed, and long faithfulness to a single place.
Who was Godric de Finchale?
A pedlar and then a seaman in Norfolk, he made a fortune trading along the North Sea, went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Rome and Compostela, and at about forty stopped for good in a wood by the Wear near Durham. He lived there sixty years as a hermit, gardening, tending injured animals, receiving whoever came. He could not write: the four songs he said he had received in vision were taken down with their music by a monk of Durham, and they are the oldest English songs whose tune survives.
In their own words
Saint Mary, virgin, mother of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, receive, shield, help your Godric; receive him and bring him on high with you into God's kingdom.
Saint Mary, Christ's chamber, purity of maidens, flower of mothers, blot out my sin, reign in my mind, bring me to bliss with God himself.
Saint Nicholas, God's beloved, build us a fair bright house. At the birth, at the bier, Saint Nicholas, bring us safely there.
Christ and Saint Mary so led me upon a support that never on this earth did I have to tread with my bare foot.