The Venerable Bede, monk of the abbey of Wearmouth-Jarrow in Northumbria, provided an account of the otherworldly journey of a monk named Dryhthelm in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People (completed 731). Like Barontus before him, Dryhthelm’s soul journeyed far from his body to visit the realm of sinful souls and to witness the variety of sufferings that they endured to prepare them for God’s final judgment. In the newly converted territories of the Anglo-Saxons, the experience of Dryhthelm was a warning. Superficial conversion to Christianity was not enough to merit entrance into heaven. Only those believers who embraced the Christian faith with a true change of heart and a contempt for this world would experience God’s abiding presence in heaven.
Around that time, a remarkable miracle occurred in Britain similar to those that happened long ago. For in order to arouse the living from the death of the soul, a certain man who was already dead returned to life and he recounted many things worthy of remembering that he had seen. I think that it is worth gathering some of them together briefly in this work. There was a man, the father of a family in the region of Northumbria called Cunningham, who was leading a religious life with the rest of his household. Laid low by a bodily illness and brought to Death’s door as it grew worse day by day, he died in the early hours of the evening. When the sun rose, however, he returned to life and immediately sat up. Everyone who had been sitting around his body in mourning was struck with a great fear and turned in flight. Only his wife remained, for she loved him very much, though she trembled with fright. He consoled her by saying, “Do not fear, for truly I have now risen from the death by which I was held and I have been permitted to live among humankind once more. Nevertheless, from this time forward I must conduct my life very differently than I had before.” He immediately got up and went to the oratory in the village, where he prayed well into the day. Soon thereafter he divided everything that he possessed into three separate portions. He gave one portion to his wife and another to his sons, but the third he retained for his own good by giving it directly to the poor. Not long thereafter he abandoned the cares of this world by entering the monastery at Melrose, which is enclosed almost entirely by a bend in the river Tweed. Once he had received his tonsure, he entered his own secluded cell, which the abbot had provided for him. There until the day of his death he lived a life of great repentance of mind and body, so that even if his tongue was silent, his life would have revealed that this man had seen many things either dreadful or desired that have been concealed from other men.
He told us what he had seen with the following words: “A man with a luminous appearance and bright clothing was my guide. We went forth without speaking in what seemed to me to be the direction of the rising of the sun at the solstice. As we walked, we arrived at a valley that was very broad and deep and seemed to stretch on forever to our left. One side of the valley was very terrifying with raging flames; the other was equally intolerable owing to fierce hail and cold blasts of snow gusting and blowing away everything in sight. Both sides were teeming with the souls of men, which seemed to be thrown back and forth, as though by the onslaught of a storm. When those poor souls could no longer endure the intensity of the immense heat, they leapt into the midst of the deadly cold. And when they could find no respite there, they leapt back to the other side to burn in the midst of those unquenchable flames. Since a countless number of misshapen souls was subject to the torture of this alternating misery far and wide as far as I could see without any hope of respite, I began to think that perhaps this was hell, for I had often heard stories about the agonizing torments there. My guide, who walked ahead of me, answered my thought: ‘Do not believe this, for this is not the hell you are thinking of.’
“But when he led me a little way farther on, completely shaken by this terrifying scene, suddenly I noticed that the places before us began to grow gloomier and covered in darkness. As we entered this place, the shadows became so thick that I could see nothing else except for the outline and garment of my guide. As we progressed through the shadows in the lonely night, behold, suddenly there appeared before us thick masses of noisome flames spouting up into the air as though from a great pit before falling back into it again. When we arrived in this place, my guide suddenly disappeared and abandoned me alone in the midst of the shadows and this terrifying scene. As the masses of flames spouted to the heights and plunged to the depths of the pit over and over again, I saw that the tips of the rising flames were full of human souls, which like sparks ascending with smoke shot up to the heights and then, when the flames withdrew, fell back into the depths once again. Moreover, an incomparable stench poured forth with these flames and filled this entire realm of shadows. And after I had stood there for a long time, unsure what I should do or which way to turn or what fate awaited me, suddenly I heard behind me the sound of a great and most wretched wailing and at the same time raucous laughter as though some illiterate rabble was hurling insults at enemies they had captured. And as the noise became louder and finally reached me, I saw a crowd of evil spirits cheering and laughing as they dragged the souls of five people crying and wailing into the midst of the shadows. I could discern among these people one tonsured like a priest, a layman, and a woman. Dragging the souls with them, the evil spirits descended into the midst of the burning pit, and it happened that, as they went farther down into the pit, I could not clearly distinguish the wailing of the people and the laughter of the demons, for the sound was confused in my ears. In the meantime, insubstantial spirits rose up out of that flame-spitting abyss and rushing forward, they surrounded me. With flaming eyes and blowing a putrid flame from their mouths and nostrils, they tormented me. They also threatened to grab me with the fiery tongs that they held in their hands, but although they terrified me, they never dared to touch me. Surrounded on every side by enemies and blinded by the shadows, I cast my eyes this way and that way to see if by chance the help that I needed might arrive from somewhere. Back on the road along which we had come there appeared something like the brightness of a star shining among the shadows, which grew little by little as it hastened quickly toward me. When the light approached, all of the vile spirits who were trying to seize me with their tongs scattered and fled.
“It was in fact my guide whose arrival put the spirits to flight. Presently he turned to the right and began to lead me in the direction of the rising sun in wintertime. Without delay he led me out of the shadows and into gentle breezes of serene light. As I followed him in the open light, I saw before us an enormous wall, the height and length of which seemed to have no end. I began to wonder why we were approaching the wall, for I could discern no door or window or stairway anywhere along it. But once we had reached the wall, we immediately found ourselves on top of it, I know not how. And behold there was an expansive and pleasant meadow, filled with such a fragrance of blooming flowers that the sweetness of this wondrous smell quickly banished every trace of the stench of that dark furnace that still clung to me. Moreover, such a great light filled the entire place that the meadow seemed to be brighter than the day could ever be or even the rays of the sun at noontime. There were in this meadow countless groups of white-robed people and many parties of rejoicing companions. As my guide led me among these companies of the glad inhabitants of that place, I began to think that this was perhaps the kingdom of heaven, concerning which I had often heard people speak about. He replied to my thought, saying, ‘No, this is not the kingdom of heaven as you imagine it.’
“When we had moved on and left behind these dwellings of the blessed spirits, I saw before us a much greater grace of light than before, in which I could even hear the sweetest sound of people singing, but the fragrance of such a marvelous smell poured forth from that place that the smell I thought was incomparable a short time before paled in comparison to it, and the light of the flowering meadow seemed very thin and weak. Just as I was hoping that we would enter the sweetness of this place, suddenly my guide stopped. Without delay, he turned around and led me back by the way that we had just come.
“When we returned once more to those happy dwellings of the white-robed spirits, he asked me, ‘Do you know what all of these things are that you have seen?’ And I responded, ‘No.’ And he said, ‘That valley, which you saw, so frightful with its fierce flames and harsh cold, that is the place where souls are required to be tried and punished because they failed to confess and make amends for the evil deeds that they committed for they waited to confess until the very moment of death, and so they died. But even though they delayed confession and penance until their death, all of them will enter heaven on the day of judgment. Moreover, the benefits of repeated prayers by the living and alms and fasting and especially the celebration of masses may even release them from this place before the day of judgment. Furthermore, that foul pit that vomited flames, which you saw, is the very mouth of hell. Whoever falls into it will not be freed for all eternity. That blooming meadow, in which you saw those very beautiful youths rejoicing and bright, that place receives the souls of those who died having done good works, but they are not so perfect that they merit arriving immediately in the kingdom of heaven. Nevertheless, on the day of judgment all of them will enter into the sight of Christ and the joys of the heavenly kingdom. For whoever is perfect in every word and deed and thought, as soon as they die, they will enter the heavenly kingdom, which is near to that place where you heard the sound of sweet singing accompanied by the pleasing fragrance and the brilliance of light. It is now time for you to return to your body and to dwell among the living once more. But if you apply yourself to paying attention to your actions with greater care and strive to behave and speak in the spirit of righteousness and honesty, then you will receive upon your death a place of dwelling among those rejoicing companies of blessed spirits you saw before. For when I abandoned you for a time, I did so in order to learn what would become of you when you die.’ After he had told me these things, I returned to my body most displeased for I had delighted so much in the sweetness and beauty of the place I had seen and equally in the company of those whom I saw dwelling there. I did not dare to ask my guide any other questions, but meanwhile—I do not know how—I suddenly found myself back among the living.”
The man of God did not speak about these and other things that he had seen to those who were inactive or careless with respect to their fates, but only to those who, terrified by the fear of torments or delighted by the hope of eternal joys, wanted to draw inspiration from his words for the fulfillment of their piety. For example, near his cell there lived a certain monk by the name of Haemgisl, a priest equal in his good work to his outstanding rank, who still lives as a hermit in Ireland and sustains the last age of his life with a diet of bread and cold water. Often coming to visit this man, Haemgisl learned from him through repeated questioning what kinds of things he experienced when he had departed from his body. Indeed, it was through Haemgisl’s report that the few details that we composed above came to our attention. Moreover, he also related his visions to King Aldfrith, a very learned man in every way, who was well disposed to listen to him. At the king’s insistence, he entered the monastery mentioned above and was crowned with a monastic tonsure. Whenever the king came to those parts, he went to the monastery very often to hear him speak about his visions. At the time, the community was governed by Æthelwold, an abbot and priest renowned for his simple and devout life, who now holds the seat of the bishop of the church of Lindisfarne with deeds worthy of that rank.
In that monastic community, the man received a more isolated dwelling place, where he could devote himself more freely to ceaseless prayers in the service of his Creator. And since his retreat was located on a river bank, he used to enter the water because of his great desire to punish his body and he frequently immersed himself under the waves. In this way, he kept himself in the water for as long as he was able, reciting psalms or prayers, remaining still while the water of the river rose up to his loins and even to his neck. And when he left the water, he never bothered to take off his cold and wet garments until they had been warmed and dried by the heat of his own body. When in the winter months, while broken bits of ice floated around him, which he himself sometimes had to break in order to make a place for him to stand or immerse himself in the river, those who saw him would say, “Brother Dryhthelm”—for that was his name—“it is amazing that you have the strength to bear such bitter cold for any reason!” And he responded simply—befitting a man with a plain disposition and a humble nature—“I have seen colder.” And when they said, “It is amazing that you wish to endure such a harsh way of life,” he responded, “I have seen harsher.” Thus, until the day he died, with a tireless desire for heavenly joys he subdued his old body with daily fasting and he had a saving influence on many people both with his words and with his way of life.