St John of Beverley (died 721) bishop and healer
Early life
John was born of noble parents at
Harpham, Humberside. He studied under St Adrian at Canterbury (died 710 -
see 9th January)) and then became a monk at St Hilda's double monastery
at Whitby. About 687 he was made bishop of Hexham.
He was a mentor to
St Bede the venerable and ordained him deacon (692) and priest (703).
More holy man than bishop
John was more of a holy
man and monk than bishop or administrator.
He liked to withdraw to
solitude across the Tyne, especially during Lent and he would take with
him some poor person whom he would serve and care for during that time.
Miracles of speech therapy and healing
Once in
the beginning of a Lent, he took with him a dumb youth, whose head was
covered with hideous scabs and scales, without any hair.
The saint had
a cottage built for the sick boy within his enclosure, and often
admitted him into his own cell.
He carried out a kind of speech therapy
getting the boy to repeat simple sounds after him, gradually building up
into words and sentences until the boy was able to express his thoughts
for the first time.
John also prayed that the remedies applied to the
boy's head would heal him, which they did and he began to grow hair
(Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, Book V).
Archbishop of York and retirement
In 705 John was
translated to York and Wilfrid succeeded him at Hexham as a settlement
of his dispute with the Northumbrian kings.
As bishop of York he founded
the monastery at Beverley and retired there in 717, four years before
his death.
Memory and cult
The cure of the dumb boy is just
one of many miracles recorded by Bede about John.
Others to write
about or honour him were: Alcuin (735-804), King Athelstan (895-939),
Julian of Norwich (1342-1416), King Henry V (1387-1422) and St John
Fisher (1469-1535).
John's cult became very popular in the north of
England and his shrine at Beverley was a place of sanctuary throughout
the Middle Ages.