All his lifetime he was remarkable for his almsdeeds, and it was a law with St. Eadbert to lay aside yearly the tenth part of his goods for the poor. He was ordained successor to St. Cuthbert in the see of Lindisfarne, Scotland in 687 and most worthily governed that church eleven years. It was his custom twice a year in Lent, and during forty days before Christmas, to retire into a solitary place encompassed by the waters of the sea, where St. Cuthbert had for some time served God in private before he went to the isle of Ferne. St. Eadbert spent this time from all company in abstinence, prayers and tears.