honoured, and when, in common with the other relics, it was neglected, it was believed that St. Cuthbert appeared to a certain aged man and charged him to remove it, which he did by a stratagem, related by Reginald on the authority of Ælred of Rievaux (c. 49). It was taken to Lindisfarne, and when the monks there fled from the Danes in 875 they placed it in St. Cuthbert's coffin, which they carried with them to different places, until, after long wanderings, it found a final resting-place at Durham in 998. The head was in the coffin at the translation of St. Cuthbert in 1104, and when the coffin was opened in 1828. Reginald gives a long description of it (c. 51 ; see also Raine, St. Cuthbert). Other relics of St. Oswald — his sceptre, his ivory horn, his standard, and some parts of his armour — were preserved at Durham, where his memory is greatly venerated. His day is 5 Aug. Besides the 'Life' written by Reginald, and printed by the Surtees Society, and as regards all its important parts in the Rolls edition of Symeon of Durham (vol. ii.), there are manuscript lives founded on Bede at Trinity College, Cambridge, and in the Chapter library at Peterborough (see further Dictionary of Christian Biography, art. 'Oswald' (1), by Canon Raine).
[Bede's Hist. Eccl. ii. cc. 5, 14, 20, iii. cc. 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Adamnan's Vita Columbani, i. c. 1, ed. Reeves; Nennius, cc. 64, 65 (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Symeon of Durham's Hist. Eccl. Dunelm. and Hist. Regum, i. 17–20, ii. 14, 45, 379 (Rolls Ser.); Reginald's Vita ap. Symeon of Durham, i. 326–385 (Rolls Ser.), and ed. Raine (Surtees Soc.); Alcuin's Carmen de Pontiff. ap. Historians of York, i. 356–64 (Rolls Ser.); William of Malmesbury's Gesta Pontiff. pp. 158, 263, 293, 317 (Rolls Ser.), and Gesta Regum, i. 51–4 (Rolls Ser.); Raine's Mem. of Hexham Priory, pref. (Surtees Soc.); Miscellanea Biogr. pp. 2, 3, 7, 121 (Surtees Soc.); Raine's (the elder) St. Cuthbert, pp. 183–7; Dict. Chr. Biogr. art. ‘Oswald’ (1), by Canon J. Raine; Skene's Celtic Scotland, i. 244–6, 251, 252; Green's Making of England, pp. 274–6, 290–4.]
OSWALD, Saint (d. 972), archbishop of York, said to be of Danish parentage, a nephew on his father's side of Archbishop Odo [q. v.], and related to Oskytel [q. v.l, arch-bishop of York, was brought up under the care of Odo, and was instructed by Frithefode [q. v.] (Historia Ramesiemis, p. 21). laving taken orders, he was enabled by Odo's liberality to purchase the monastery of Winchester, then in the hands of secular clerks or canons, over whom he ruled (Vita S. Oswald, anon. Historians of York, i. 410 ; by later biographers, Eadmer and Senatus, he is said to have entered the monastery as a canon, and to have been elected as dean). Being zealous in piety and persuaded of the excellence of monastic life, he was discontented with his life as a secular clerk, and with his position as head of a body of married clergy, enjoying the revenues that should rightfully have been received by monks living according to the rule of their order. Accordingly he went to Odo and told him that he desired to go over sea to some place that his uncle might choose, that he might there learn the rule of St. Benedict, which was at this period wholly forgotten and neglected in England. Odo joyfully agreed, and sent him to the monastery of Fleury on the Loire, where he knew that the Benedictine rule was carried out to perfection, and whence he had himself received the monastic habit. Oswald took gifts to each of the brethren at Fleury, the number of professed monks there at that time apparently being twelve, beside the abbot Wulfald : they received him joyfully, and admitted him into their society (Vita, anon, p. 414). He applied himself diligently to the study of the scriptures and of the Benedictine rule, practising many austerities, and in
all things fulfilling to the utmost the duties of the monastic life. While at Fleury he was advanced to the diaconate and the priesthood, and learnt by heart all the offices of the church, as well as the monastic constitutions, in order that he might on his return
to England be fully qualified to teach them to his fellow countrymen (ib. p. 419). In divine service the beauty and strength of his voice were remarkable. He was wont to pray and to officiate in the chapel called the confessional, in the crypt, under the western part of the church, and there it was believed that on one occasion an angel acted as his assistant (Eadmer). After he had stayed at Fleury for some years (Vita, anon. p. 417) he in 959 received a message from his uncle Odo, who was then sick, bidding him come to him. He returned to England, and on reaching Dover heard of the death of Odo.
Oswald went to York to his kinsman Oskvtel, then archbishop of York, who received him with gladness, and persuaded him to go with him to Rome. On this journey he was accompanied by a young friend from Winchester named Germanus, to whom he was much attached. Instead of returning with Osky tel, he and Germanus remained at Fleury . Before long Oskytel sent for him that he might help nim in the reforms that the archbishop was desirous of carrying out. He returned to England, leaving Germanus at Fleury, took an active part in ecclesiastical affairs, and was made Known to Oskytel's
