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Finchale
Priory was founded towards the end of the twelfth 
century
in 1196, but it is only fair to recognise that the priory would have never been
created without the existence of a most remarkable man.
The story of St. Godric, as written by his contemporary, Reginald of Durham, is picturesque in the extreme. An adventurous nature showed in him from the first, and, beginning as a travelling pedlar in his boyhood, he seems to have made a journey to Rome when about 20 years old, and on his return took to the sea, where he became a skilful and daring sailor.
He was born (perhaps in Norfolk) about 1065 and became a sailor in 1086, trading as part owner of a vessel in the North Sea, making voyages to Scotland, Denmark, and Flanders. In 1102 he took his ship to the Mediterranean, and it seems probable that he was the “Gueric, a pirate from the Kingdom of England,” who gave passage to King Baldwin 1 of Jerusalem from Arsuf to Jaffa. On his return journey he landed in Spain and made the pilgrimage to Compostella.
After a short stay in his native land he set out once more, to St. Gilles in Provence then to Rome, and returning, undertook yet a third journey to Rome, this time taking his mother with him.
Throughout
his active life he seems to have looked forward to retiring from the world,
and his first essay in the solitary life began in 1104, when he settled in a
lonely place near Carlisle. From this he went to join a hermit at Wolsingham,
but on the hermit’s death in 1106 he took up his travels once more and
went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. While at Wolsingham he was told in a vision
that, on his return from the pilgrimage, St. Cuthbert would find him a hermitage
at a place called Finchale, the situation of which was unknown to him.
When back again in England he settled for a time at Whitby, and from there went to Durham, where he attached himself to the Cathedral Priory and so first came to know where Finchale actually was. Rafulf Flambard, Bishop of Durham, gave him leave to settle there about the year 1110.
At
first Godric did not settle on the present site of Finchale Priory, but some
1.6km further up the river which became known as Godrics Garth, “Garth”
meaning a yard, garden or paddock and he moved to the present site around 1115.
It was then a wild overgrown place, liable to floods and infested with poisonous
snakes, and his first dwelling-place was a rude hut with a roof of sods. After
a time Godric built a small structure of rough timber as a chapel to St. Mary,
and attached to it a place where he could live and keep his possessions. In
later years, when his reputation for sanctity had attracted many visitors, a
second chapel, of stone, was built for him from their offerings. It was larger
than St. Mary’s Chapel and was dedicated in honour of St. John the Baptist.
Here Godric lived for sixty years.
The
river wound around his cell and thick woods spread down to the water’s
edge. Everyday the oratory bell was rung and the hermit knelt with his few companions
in deepest devotion. A little garden planted near his cell provided food for
him. He had some difficulties in being accepted by the neighbouring inhabitants,
who drove their cattle over his vegetable plot, but eventually became regarded
as a very holy man. His self-imposed penances included eating food only when
it was rotten and he lived a severe life, which only a sound constitution and
powerful build helped him endure. He wore a hair shirt and a coat of mail and
lived on mouldy bread, and as an aid to meditation would stand in the bed of
the Wear and let the water rise to his neck even in the depth of winter when
he had to break the ice. His private oratory, which was dedicated to the Blessed
Virgin Mary, contained a sunken barrel filled with water in which he could stand
with head out of sight among rushes on the floor.
Godric was never a monk. Until his old age he passed time providing the basic necessities and in fervent prayer. Towards the end of his life during the last eight years he spent bedridden he put himself under the protection of the prior of Durham. He died in May 1170, being 105 years of age.
Written by W.Bro. Thomas Robson Laws P.G.StB. P.Pr.J.G.W.
Photographs
by W.Bro. Robert Franklin