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RESTORATION OF BENEDICTINE RULE.
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tery of Evesham.
Two of the brethren of that house,
Elfwy and Reinfrid, were deeply moved by his earnest
and stirring words, and gained permission from their
superior to accompany him on his pilgrimage. The
three set forth on foot, taking an ass with them to
carry their service books, vestments, and whatever
else was requisite for the celebration of the Holy
Eucharist. They made their way to the banks of the
Tyne, and after covering the ruined church of Jarrow
with a roof of rough-hewn rafters and planks, they
made it once more re-echo the sounds of the holy
service of the altar. Adjoining to it they constructed
a lowly hut for their own shelter, and there they lived,
depending solely for subsistence upon the alms of
those who deeply venerated their simple faith, their
patient endurance, and their earnest zeal. Many
joined them and received the monastic habit from the
hands of Aldwin, who, from Symeon's delineation of
his character, must have been a man of singular gifts.
Walcher, the bishop of Durham, watched their work
and marked its progress. It was a revival of work
which had long lain dormant, a quickening of seed
that had been sown in by-gone years upon that very
spot by Benedict Biscop, and Bede. Walcher recognised
it with joy and gladness, and bestowed upon
them the vill of Jarrow and its dependent townships,
that they might perfect that which they had begun,
and be able to exist without anxious thought as to
how the morrow's meal was to be provided.
Encouraged by the success which attended their
efforts in Walcher's diocese, their energies were next
directed to repair the waste places in the great shire
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