The Feast of St Cuthbert

Poking around the nerdier precincts of the internet, I am reminded that today, in the liturgical calendar, is St Cuthbert's Day.  The historic St Cuthbert is most associated with the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, which straddled the modern northeast England and Southeast Scotland.  Cuthbert lived in, shall we say, interesting times, an era in which there were tensions among pagans, adherents of Celtic Christianity, and adherents of mainland Western European Christianity, based in Rome.  

After Cuthbert's death, his supposedly non-putrefied body, a sign of divine favor instrumental in his canonization, was transported from place-to-place due to the Danish invasion of England, and finally came to a rest in Durham.

The reason why St Cuthbert resonates with modern nerds is that he is the namesake of a parody character popular in gaming circles, St Cuthbert of the Cudgel, who represents the more-lawful-than-good subset of law-and-good.  If I recall correctly, St Gary originally just used the Church of the Blinding Light as the main religion in his roleplaying game, but he really couldn't steal this wholesale when he published his game, and St Cuthbert of the Cudgel is a perfect devotee of such a faith.  As enumerated in the 'adventure module' The Village of Hommlet (itself a comedic name). the creed of the Church of St Cuthbert of the Cudgel is a perfect parody of conservative Christianity:

SQUARE CORNERS CAN BE POUNDED SMOOTH

THICK HEADS ARE NOT MADE OF GLASS

SALVATION IS BETTER THAN SMART ANSWERS

SOME GOOD FOLK CAN ONLY UNDERSTAND ONE THING

ENLIGHTENMENT CAN PENETRATE EVEN THE HELM OF IRON

EVIL WHICH CANNOT BE REMOVED MUST BE ELIMINATED

FOOLISHNESS CAN BE BEATEN

LAWFUL CORRECTION LIES IN A STOUT BILLET

CAPRICIOUS BEHAVIOR BRINGS KNOTS TO THE HEADS OF THOSE LACKING WISDOM

PREACH QUIETLY BUT HAVE A LARGE CUDGEL HANDY

Given the time and place in which he lived, I imagine the historical St Cuthbert would have endorsed this creed, whether or not he had the strong thews and mighty cudgel to back it up.

As for my celebration of this feast, not having to work tonight, I am pounding my own skull with coffee spiked with kahlua and amaretto.  I don't know if this capricious behavior will bring a knot to my head, but perhaps it's a bit unwise.