St. Cuthbert was an English bishop who lived until 687 and, according to Bede's "Life of St. Cuthbert," was said to perform miracles even before he died — which is when many future saints started showing off their supernatural powers. While Cuthbert is quite famous, especially in the U.K., if you're not familiar with him, don't worry. When you walk into a church or art museum, he's pretty easy to pick out — he's the saint carrying another guy's head, the head of St. Oswald, to be precise.
Unfortunately, that's not just a piece of symbolism or metaphor represented through art. When Cuthbert died, he was buried at his monastery, Lindisfarne, however, over the next 400 years, his body was disinterred and moved around repeatedly, per The Catholic Encyclopedia. In 1104, the people doing the moving got a surprise: Cuthbert's body was now keeping company with the head of St. Oswald, the long-dead king of Northumbria.
While Oswald and Cuthbert lived in the same area, their lives only overlapped by a decade or less, with Cuthbert estimated to have been a young child when Oswald died. But like his fellow saint, Oswald's body wasn't laid to rest permanently, getting moved around over the years. At some point, the remains of the two finally ended up in Durham Cathedral at the same time, and Oswald's head was put into Cuthbert's grave. (Other bits of the late king were spread around, including his arm, which was displayed further south at Peterborough Abbey.) Sadly, the remains of both saints have since been lost.
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