Jump to content

John of Beverley: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
fixed mistake
Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.9.5
 
(41 intermediate revisions by 26 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|Bishop of York from 705 to 718, Christian saint}}
{{Other people|John Beverley}}
{{Other people|John Beverley}}
{{Infobox saint
|name=Saint John of Beverley
|birth_date=
⚫
|death_date=[[7 May]] [[721]]
⚫
|feast_day=[[7 May]]
|venerated_in=[[Catholic Church]]<br>[[Western Orthodoxy]]<br>[[Anglican Communion]]
|image=SaintJohnofBeverley.png
|imagesize=
|caption=St John of Beverley in a [[stained glass window]]
|birth_place=
⚫
|death_place=[[Beverley]], [[England]]
⚫
|titles=[[Bishop of York]]
⚫
|beatified_date=
⚫
|beatified_place=
⚫
|beatified_by=
⚫
|canonized_date=1037
⚫
|canonized_place=
|canonized_by=
⚫
|attributes=
⚫
|patronage=
|major_shrine=[[Beverly Minster]]
⚫
|suppressed_date=
|issues=
⚫
}}


{{Infobox Christian leader
{{Infobox Christian leader
| honorific_prefix = Saint
| name = John of Beverley
| bishop_of = [[Bishop of York]]
| name = John of Beverley
⚫
| image = Statue - St John of Beverley on the Minster.jpg
| image = SaintJohnofBeverley.png
| caption =[[Stained glass window]] depicting John in Beverley Minster
| caption =
⚫
| bishop_of = [[Bishop of York]]
⚫
| consecration = translated about 705
| diocese = York
| appointed = 705
| ended = resigned 717 or 718
| term = 705 – 718
| predecessor = [[Bosa of York]]
| predecessor = [[Bosa of York]]
| successor = [[Wilfrid II]]
| successor = [[Wilfrid II]]
| other_post = {{br list | Bishop Emeritus of York | (718–721) }}
⚫
|birth_date=unknown
<!----- Orders ----->
⚫
|birth_place= [[Harpham]]
⚫
| consecration = 25 Aug 687
|death_date=7 May 721, [[Beverley]]
| tomb = [[Beverley Minster]]
| consecrated_by = [[Theodore of Tarsus]]
<!----- Personal details ----->
|feast_day= 7 May
⚫
| birth_date = date unknown
|venerated=[[Roman Catholic Church]]<br>[[Anglicanism|Anglican Communion]]<br>[[Western Orthodoxy]]
⚫
| birth_place = [[Harpham]], England
⚫
|saint_title=Bishop
⚫
| death_date = 7 May 721
|beatified_date=
⚫
| death_place = [[Beverley]], England
|beatified_place=
⚫
| tomb = [[Beverley Minster]]
|beatified_by=
| previous_post = {{br list | [[Bishop of Hexham]] | (687–705) }}
|canonized_date=1037
<!----- Sainthood ----->
|canonized_place=
⚫
| feast_day = 7 May
⚫
|canonized_by= Pope Benedict IX
| venerated = {{Ubl
|attributes=
| [[Catholic Church]]
|patronage=
| [[Anglicanism|Anglican Communion]]
⚫
|shrine= [[Beverley Minster]]
| [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]
|suppressed_date=
⚫
}}
⚫
| saint_title =
⚫
| beatified_date =
⚫
| beatified_place =
⚫
| beatified_by =
⚫
| canonized_date = 1037
⚫
| canonized_place =
⚫
| canonized_by = [[Pope Benedict IX]]
⚫
| attributes =
⚫
| patronage =
| shrine = [[Beverley Minster]]
⚫
| suppressed_date =
}}
}}


'''John of Beverley''' (died 7 May 721) was an [[English people|English]] bishop active in the kingdom of [[Northumbria]]. He was the [[bishop of Hexham]] and then the [[bishop of York]] which was the most important religious designation in the area. He went on to found the town of [[Beverley]] by building the first structure there, a [[monastery]]. John was associated with miracles during and after his lifetime, and was [[canonised]] a saint by the [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic Church]] in 1037.
'''John of Beverley''' (died 7 May 721) was an English bishop active in the kingdom of [[Northumbria]]. He was the [[bishop of Hexham]] and then the [[bishop of York]], which was the most important religious designation in the area. He went on to found the town of [[Beverley]] by building the first structure there, a [[monastery]]. John was associated with miracles during and after his lifetime and was [[canonised]] a saint by the [[Catholic Church]] in 1037. As this is prior to the Great East–West [[Schism of 1054]], he is also recognised as a saint by the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]].


==Life==
==Life==
John was said to have been born of noble parents at [[Harpham]], in the [[East Riding of Yorkshire]],<ref name=Walsh316>{{cite book |title= A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West |last=Walsh |first=Michael J. |year=2007 |publisher= Burns & Oats |location=London |isbn=0-86012-438-X |page=316 }}</ref> He is said to have received his education at [[Canterbury]] under [[Adrian of Canterbury|Adrian]],<ref name=Walsh316/> and not [[Oxford]] as per some sources. However, all these statements are first recorded after his canonization in 1037, and may not be reliable.<ref name=DNB>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Palliser, D. M. |title=John of Beverley [St John of Beverley] (d. 721) |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press|year= 2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/14845 |accessdate= 9 November 2007}} {{ODNBsub}}</ref> He was for a time a member of the [[Whitby Abbey|Whitby]] community, under [[St Hilda]], a fact recorded by his friend [[Bede]].<ref name=DNB/> He won renown as a preacher, displaying marked erudition in expounding Scripture.<ref name=macauley>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08469b.htm MacAuley, Patrick. "St. John of Beverley." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 17 May 2013]</ref>
John was said to have been born of noble parents at [[Harpham]], in the [[East Riding of Yorkshire]],<ref name=Walsh316>{{cite book |title= A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West |last=Walsh |first=Michael J. |year=2007 |publisher= Burns & Oats |location=London |isbn=978-0-86012-438-2 |page=316 }}</ref> He is said to have received his education at [[Canterbury]] under [[Adrian of Canterbury|Adrian]],<ref name=Walsh316/> and not [[Oxford]] as per some sources. However, all these statements are first recorded after his canonization in 1037, and may not be reliable.<ref name=DNB>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Palliser, D. M. |title=John of Beverley [St John of Beverley] (d. 721) |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press|year= 2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/14845 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/14845 |access-date= 9 November 2007}} {{ODNBsub}}</ref> He was for a time a member of the [[Whitby Abbey|Whitby]] community, under [[St Hilda]], a fact recorded by his friend [[Bede]].<ref name=DNB/> He won renown as a preacher, displaying marked erudition in expounding Scripture.<ref name=macauley>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08469b.htm MacAuley, Patrick. "St. John of Beverley." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 17 May 2013]</ref>


In 687 he was consecrated [[bishop of Hexham]] and in 705 was promoted to the [[Bishop of York|bishopric of York]].<ref name=Handbook224>{{cite book |author1=Fryde, E. B. |author2=Greenway, D. E. |author3=Porter, S. |author4=Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology|edition=Third revised |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X |pages=217, p. 224}}</ref> Of his new activity little is known beyond that he was diligent in visitation, considerate towards the poor, and attentive to the training of students whom he maintained under his personal charge.<ref name=macauley/> He ordained Bede as a [[deacon]] and as a [[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|priest]].<ref name=Walsh316/> He resigned perhaps about 717 and retired to a monastery which he had founded at Beverley, where he died on 7 May 721.<ref name=Walsh316/>
In 687 he was consecrated [[bishop of Hexham]] by [[Theodore of Tarsus]],<ref name="CH">{{Catholic-hierarchy|bishop|bbevrly|Bishop St. John of Beverly †}}</ref> Archbishop of Canterbury (602–690), and in 705 was promoted to the [[Bishop of York|bishopric of York]].<ref name=Handbook224>{{cite book |author1=Fryde, E. B. |author2=Greenway, D. E. |author3=Porter, S. |author4=Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology|edition=Third revised |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X |pages=217, p. 224}}</ref> Of his new activity little is known beyond that he was diligent in visitation, considerate towards the poor, and attentive to the training of students whom he maintained under his personal charge.<ref name=macauley/> He ordained Bede as a [[deacon]] and as a [[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|priest]].<ref name=Walsh316/> He resigned perhaps about 717 and retired to a monastery which he had founded at Beverley, where he died on 7 May 721.<ref name=Walsh316/>


==Veneration==
==Veneration==
[[File:York Minster Window s10 1b (28236108977).jpg|thumb|"Vision of St John of Beverley" ([[York Minster]])]]
John was canonised in 1037,<ref name=DNB/> and his feast is celebrated annually in the Roman Catholic Church on 7 May. His translation is celebrated on 25 October.<ref name=ODS278>{{cite book| author=Farmer, David Hugh |title=Oxford Dictionary of Saints |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |edition=Fifth |location=Oxford, UK |isbn= 978-0-19-860949-0|pages=278–279}}</ref> Many miracles of healing are ascribed to John, whose pupils were numerous and devoted to him, and the popularity of his cult was a major factor in the prosperity of Beverley during the Middle Ages. He was celebrated for his scholarship as well as for his virtues. Around 1066, [[Folcard]] was commissioned to write a Life of John.<ref>{{cite web| title =The Life and After-Life of St John of Beverley | url =https://www.ashgate.com/shopping/title.asp?key1=&key2=&orig=results&isbn=0%207546%205326%209| accessdate =11 August 2007}}</ref> An account of John's miracles was written by [[William Ketel]] in the 11th or 12th century which contains the first mention of King [[Æthelstan]]'s visit to Beverley.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |author = Rollason, David |title=Ketel, William (fl. c.1100) |encyclopedia= Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15481 | accessdate= 4 January 2016 |doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/15481 |format={{ODNBsub}} }}</ref>
John was canonised in 1037,<ref name=DNB/> and his feast is celebrated annually on 7 May. His translation is also celebrated on 25 October in the Catholic Church.<ref name=ODS278>{{cite book| author=Farmer, David Hugh |title=Oxford Dictionary of Saints |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2004 |edition=Fifth |location=Oxford, UK |isbn= 978-0-19-860949-0|pages=278–279}}</ref> Many miracles of healing are ascribed to John, whose pupils were numerous and devoted to him, and the popularity of his cult was a major factor in the prosperity of Beverley during the Middle Ages. He was celebrated for his scholarship as well as for his virtues.<ref>{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=John of Beverley, St|volume=15|page=447}}</ref> Around 1066, [[Folcard]] was commissioned to write a Life of John.<ref>{{cite web| title =The Life and After-Life of St John of Beverley| url =https://www.ashgate.com/shopping/title.asp?key1=&key2=&orig=results&isbn=0%207546%205326%209| access-date =11 August 2007| archive-date =28 September 2007| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070928074119/https://www.ashgate.com/shopping/title.asp?key1=&key2=&orig=results&isbn=0%207546%205326%209| url-status =dead}}</ref> An account of John's miracles was written by [[William Ketel]] in the 11th or 12th century which contains the first mention of King [[Æthelstan]]'s visit to Beverley.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |author = Rollason, David |title=Ketel, William (fl. c.1100) |encyclopedia= Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15481 | access-date= 4 January 2016 |doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/15481 }}{{ODNBsub}}</ref>


The earliest existing mention of John's banner is in 1138 when [[Thurstan]] incorporated it into the standard which gave its name to the [[Battle of the Standard]]. By 1266 it was accepted that when levies were made in Yorkshire for the royal army, it was sufficient for Beverley to send one man with the banner of John.<ref name=DNB/> In 1292 a new shrine was commissioned. An extant contract between Roger de Faringdon and the canons of [[Beverley Minster]] states:
The earliest existing mention of John's banner is in 1138 when [[Thurstan]] incorporated it into the standard which gave its name to the [[Battle of the Standard]]. By 1266 it was accepted that when levies were made in Yorkshire for the royal army, it was sufficient for Beverley to send one man with the banner of John.<ref name=DNB/> In 1292 a new shrine was commissioned. An extant contract between Roger de Faringdon and the canons of [[Beverley Minster]] states:
Line 71: Line 61:


On 25 October 1307 John's relics were [[translation (relics)|translated]] to the new tomb.<ref name=Walsh316/>
On 25 October 1307 John's relics were [[translation (relics)|translated]] to the new tomb.<ref name=Walsh316/>
⚫
[[File:Statue - St John of Beverley on the Minster.jpg|thumb|Statue - St John of Beverley on the Minster]]
Edward I visited the Minster in 1296, 1297, and 1300 on his way north to fight with the Scottish and took the banner of John to aid him. [[Edward II of England|Edward II]], [[Edward III of England|Edward III]], and [[Henry IV of England|Henry IV]] also used the banner in military campaigns.<ref name=DNB/>
Edward I visited the Minster in 1296, 1297, and 1300 on his way north to fight with the Scottish and took the banner of John to aid him. [[Edward II of England|Edward II]], [[Edward III of England|Edward III]], and [[Henry IV of England|Henry IV]] also used the banner in military campaigns.<ref name=DNB/>


During the Middle Ages his name was also attached to the legend of a hermit who commits grave sins but nonetheless enjoys God's grace. This text survives in the Dutch [[chapbook]] ''Historie van Jan van Beverley'', printed by [[Thomas van der Noot]] in Brussels in c.1512.
During the Middle Ages his name was also attached to the legend of a hermit who commits grave sins but nonetheless enjoys God's grace. This text survives in the Dutch [[chapbook]] ''[[:s:nl:Jan van Beverley|Historie van Jan van Beverley]]'', printed by [[Thomas van der Noot]] in Brussels in c.1512.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ustc.ac.uk/editions/436847|title = USTC}}</ref>


[[Henry V of England|Henry V]] gave the credit for his victory at the [[Battle of Agincourt]] to the miraculous intervention of John,<ref>{{cite book|author=Gross, Ernie |title=This Day in Religion|location=New York |publisher=Neil-Schuman| year=1990|isbn= 1-55570-045-4}}</ref> the battle having been fought on the anniversary of John's translation.<ref name=Walsh316/> On the day of the battle, blood and oil were seen running from the tomb. Henry made John one of the patrons of the royal household and ordered that his feast was to be celebrated throughout England. Henry and his queen came to Beverley in 1420 to make offerings at the saint's shrine.
[[Henry V of England|Henry V]] gave the credit for his victory at the [[Battle of Agincourt]] to the miraculous intervention of John,<ref>{{cite book|author=Gross, Ernie |title=This Day in Religion|location=New York |publisher=Neil-Schuman| year=1990|isbn= 1-55570-045-4}}</ref> the battle having been fought on the anniversary of John's translation.<ref name=Walsh316/> On the day of the battle, blood and oil were seen running from the tomb. Henry made John one of the patrons of the royal household and ordered that his feast was to be celebrated throughout England. Henry and his queen came to Beverley in 1420 to make offerings at the saint's shrine.
Line 93: Line 82:
On the Sunday nearest 7 May the civic dignitaries process in full [[regalia]] with [[Ceremonial mace|mace]] bearers to the minster. The procession enters by the Great West Door. During the following service, children from Harpham present [[Primula vulgaris|primroses]] gathered from the woods around the village. The flowers are placed around John's tomb.
On the Sunday nearest 7 May the civic dignitaries process in full [[regalia]] with [[Ceremonial mace|mace]] bearers to the minster. The procession enters by the Great West Door. During the following service, children from Harpham present [[Primula vulgaris|primroses]] gathered from the woods around the village. The flowers are placed around John's tomb.


[[Julian of Norwich]] and [[John Fisher|St John Fisher]] were devotees of John of Beverley.<ref name=ODS278/>
[[Julian of Norwich]] and [[John Fisher]] were devotees of John of Beverley.<ref name=ODS278/>


==Works==
==Works==
The following works, none of which now survives, are ascribed to John by [[John Bale]]:
The following works, none of which now survives, are ascribed to John by [[John Bale]]:


*''Pro Luca exponendo'' (an exposition of Luke)
*''{{Lang|la|Pro Luca exponendo}}'' (an exposition of Luke)
*''Homiliae in Evangelia''
*''{{Lang|la|Homiliae in Evangelia}}''
*''Epistolae ad'Herebaldum, Audenam, et Bertinum''
*''{{Lang|la|Epistolae ad'Herebaldum, Audenam, et Bertinum}}''
*''Epistolae ad Hyldant abbatissam''.
*''{{Lang|la|Epistolae ad Hyldant abbatissam}}''.


==Citations==
==Citations==
Line 108: Line 97:
==Further reading==
==Further reading==
*Life by [[Folcard]], based on [[Bede]], in ''[[Acta Sanctorum]]. Bolland.''
*Life by [[Folcard]], based on [[Bede]], in ''[[Acta Sanctorum]]. Bolland.''
*Pamela Hopkins, ''St John of Beverley'' Hallgarth Publishing, Beverley 1999 095366600X
*Pamela Hopkins, ''St John of Beverley'' Hallgarth Publishing, Beverley 1999 {{ISBN|095366600X}}
*[[James Raine]], ''Fasti eboracenses'' (1863).
*[[James Raine]], ''Fasti eboracenses'' (1863).
*{{Cite web|url=https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_jan002janv01_01/_jan002janv01_01_0001.php|title=Historie van Jan van Beverley · DBNL|editor=G. J. Boekenoogen|place=Leiden|date=1903|publisher=E. J. Brill|lang=nl|series=(Nederlandsche Volksboeken VI)}}
*G. J. Boekenoogen (ed.), ''Historie van Jan van Beverley'' (Nederlandsche Volksboeken VI), Leiden: Brill 1903.
*Alan R. Deighton, "The Sins of Saint John of Beverley: The Case of the Dutch ''Volksboek'' ''Jan van Beverley''", ''Leuvense Bijdragen'' 82 (1993) 227–246.
*Alan R. Deighton, "The Sins of Saint John of Beverley: The Case of the Dutch ''Volksboek'' ''Jan van Beverley''", ''Leuvense Bijdragen'' 82 (1993) 227–246.
*Susan E. Wilson, ''The Life and After-Life of St John of Beverley: The Evolution of the Cult of an Anglo-Saxon Saint'', Aldershot: Ashgate 2006.
*Susan E. Wilson, ''The Life and After-Life of St John of Beverley: The Evolution of the Cult of an Anglo-Saxon Saint'', Aldershot: Ashgate 2006.
*{{EB1911|wstitle=John of Beverley, St|volume=15|page=447}}


==External links==
==External links==
*{{PASE|7212|John 18}}
*{{PASE|7212|John 18}}
*[http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/JOHNBEV.HTM Butler, Alban. "The Lives or the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints", Vol.V, D. & J. Sadlier, & Company, 1864]
*[http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/JOHNBEV.HTM Butler, Alban. "The Lives or the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints", Vol.V, D. & J. Sadlier, & Company, 1864]
* {{Catholic-hierarchy|bishop|bbevrly|Bishop St. John of Beverly †}}


{{s-start}}
{{s-start}}
Line 136: Line 125:
{{Use British English|date=June 2013}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}

{{SHORTDESC:8th-century Bishop of York and Saint}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:John Of Beverley}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:John Of Beverley}}
Line 143: Line 130:
[[Category:Northumbrian saints]]
[[Category:Northumbrian saints]]
[[Category:Bishops of Hexham]]
[[Category:Bishops of Hexham]]
[[Category:Archbishops of York]]
[[Category:Bishops of York]]
[[Category:People from Beverley]]
[[Category:People from Beverley]]
[[Category:7th-century bishops]]
[[Category:7th-century English bishops]]
[[Category:8th-century bishops]]
[[Category:8th-century English bishops]]
[[Category:Yorkshire saints]]
[[Category:Yorkshire saints]]
[[Category:8th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:8th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:7th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:7th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:8th-century English writers]]
[[Category:8th-century writers in Latin]]

Latest revision as of 09:48, 28 November 2024

For other people named John Beverley, see John Beverley (disambiguation).
Saint

John of Beverley
Bishop of York
DioceseYork
In office705 – 718
PredecessorBosa of York
SuccessorWilfrid II
Other post(s)Bishop Emeritus of York
(718–721)
Previous post(s)Bishop of Hexham
(687–705)
Orders
Consecration25 Aug 687
by Theodore of Tarsus
Personal details
Borndate unknown
Harpham, England
Died7 May 721
Beverley, England
BuriedBeverley Minster
Sainthood
Feast day7 May
Venerated in
Canonized1037
by Pope Benedict IX
ShrinesBeverley Minster

John of Beverley (died 7 May 721) was an English bishop active in the kingdom of Northumbria. He was the bishop of Hexham and then the bishop of York, which was the most important religious designation in the area. He went on to found the town of Beverley by building the first structure there, a monastery. John was associated with miracles during and after his lifetime and was canonised a saint by the Catholic Church in 1037. As this is prior to the Great East–West Schism of 1054, he is also recognised as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Life

[edit]

John was said to have been born of noble parents at Harpham, in the East Riding of Yorkshire,[1] He is said to have received his education at Canterbury under Adrian,[1] and not Oxford as per some sources. However, all these statements are first recorded after his canonization in 1037, and may not be reliable.[2] He was for a time a member of the Whitby community, under St Hilda, a fact recorded by his friend Bede.[2] He won renown as a preacher, displaying marked erudition in expounding Scripture.[3]

In 687 he was consecrated bishop of Hexham by Theodore of Tarsus,[4] Archbishop of Canterbury (602–690), and in 705 was promoted to the bishopric of York.[5] Of his new activity little is known beyond that he was diligent in visitation, considerate towards the poor, and attentive to the training of students whom he maintained under his personal charge.[3] He ordained Bede as a deacon and as a priest.[1] He resigned perhaps about 717 and retired to a monastery which he had founded at Beverley, where he died on 7 May 721.[1]

Veneration

[edit]
"Vision of St John of Beverley" (York Minster)

John was canonised in 1037,[2] and his feast is celebrated annually on 7 May. His translation is also celebrated on 25 October in the Catholic Church.[6] Many miracles of healing are ascribed to John, whose pupils were numerous and devoted to him, and the popularity of his cult was a major factor in the prosperity of Beverley during the Middle Ages. He was celebrated for his scholarship as well as for his virtues.[7] Around 1066, Folcard was commissioned to write a Life of John.[8] An account of John's miracles was written by William Ketel in the 11th or 12th century which contains the first mention of King Æthelstan's visit to Beverley.[9]

The earliest existing mention of John's banner is in 1138 when Thurstan incorporated it into the standard which gave its name to the Battle of the Standard. By 1266 it was accepted that when levies were made in Yorkshire for the royal army, it was sufficient for Beverley to send one man with the banner of John.[2] In 1292 a new shrine was commissioned. An extant contract between Roger de Faringdon and the canons of Beverley Minster states:

For a silver-gilt shrine, made from gold and silver supplied by the Chapter, 5ft long, 1ft wide. Of proportionate height, beautiful, and adorned with plates and columns in architectural style with figures everywhere of size and number as the Chapter determine, and canopies and pinnacles before and behind, and other proper ornaments. Roger to remake any figure at the whim of The Chapter. The pay to be silver equal to the weight used before gilding. Roger may not undertake any other work before completion.

Edward I was a devotee of John and furthered the cult. In 1295 Edward established a chantry in Beverley Minster in the saint's honour.[2] In 1301, he gave 50 marks towards the building of the shrine and diverted half of a fine owed by the town to the same purpose and ceded the remaining half.

On 25 October 1307 John's relics were translated to the new tomb.[1] Edward I visited the Minster in 1296, 1297, and 1300 on his way north to fight with the Scottish and took the banner of John to aid him. Edward II, Edward III, and Henry IV also used the banner in military campaigns.[2]

During the Middle Ages his name was also attached to the legend of a hermit who commits grave sins but nonetheless enjoys God's grace. This text survives in the Dutch chapbook Historie van Jan van Beverley, printed by Thomas van der Noot in Brussels in c.1512.[10]

Henry V gave the credit for his victory at the Battle of Agincourt to the miraculous intervention of John,[11] the battle having been fought on the anniversary of John's translation.[1] On the day of the battle, blood and oil were seen running from the tomb. Henry made John one of the patrons of the royal household and ordered that his feast was to be celebrated throughout England. Henry and his queen came to Beverley in 1420 to make offerings at the saint's shrine.

The West front of Beverley Minster today. The relics of John of Beverley are housed there, covered by a marble slab.

In 1541, the shrine was destroyed on the orders of Henry VIII as part of the English Reformation.[2] Its contents disappeared from records. In 1664, workmen discovered a vault under the floor of the minster's nave. Made of stone, it was 15 ft long (4.6 m) and 2 ft wide (0.61 m) at the head and 1 ft wide (0.30 m) at the base. Encased in lead, were found ashes, six beads, three great brass pins and four large iron nails. The lead had the following inscription:

In the year from the incarnation of our Lord, 1188, this church was burnt in the month of September, the night after the feast of St Matthew the Apostle and in the year 1197, the 6th of the ides of March, there was an inquisition made of the relics of the Blessed John in this place, and these bones were found in the east part of this sepulchre, and redeposited; dust mixed with mortar was found likewise and re-interred.

In 1738, when the present minster floor was laid, the same relics were dug up and replaced in the same position with an arched brick vault over them. This was covered by a marble slab, similar to others in the nave. On the roof of the church, over the tomb, Reliquas beati Johanis Beverlacenic his undicat.

The inscription on the tomb now reads:

HERE LIES
THE BODY OF SAINT JOHN OF BEVERLEY
FOUNDER OF THIS CHURCH
BISHOP OF HEXHAM AD 687–705
BISHOP OF YORK A.D. 705–718
HE WAS BORN AT HARPHAM
AND DIED AT BEVERLEY
AD 721

In recent times, the feast of St John has been marked in Beverley in two ways. On the Thursday nearest 7 May the choir and members of the congregation of Beverley Minster go the church at Harpham and process to the well. The well is decorated (before the event) with flowers. After singing an anthem and praying, the procession returns to the church for choral evensong.

On the Sunday nearest 7 May the civic dignitaries process in full regalia with mace bearers to the minster. The procession enters by the Great West Door. During the following service, children from Harpham present primroses gathered from the woods around the village. The flowers are placed around John's tomb.

Julian of Norwich and John Fisher were devotees of John of Beverley.[6]

Works

[edit]

The following works, none of which now survives, are ascribed to John by John Bale:

  • Pro Luca exponendo (an exposition of Luke)
  • Homiliae in Evangelia
  • Epistolae ad'Herebaldum, Audenam, et Bertinum
  • Epistolae ad Hyldant abbatissam.

Citations

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f Walsh, Michael J. (2007). A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West. London: Burns & Oats. p. 316. ISBN 978-0-86012-438-2.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Palliser, D. M. (2004). "John of Beverley [St John of Beverley] (d. 721)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/14845. Retrieved 9 November 2007. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  3. ^ a b MacAuley, Patrick. "St. John of Beverley." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 17 May 2013
  4. ^ "Bishop St. John of Beverly †". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney.
  5. ^ Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third revised ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 217, p. 224. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
  6. ^ a b Farmer, David Hugh (2004). Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Fifth ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 278–279. ISBN 978-0-19-860949-0.
  7. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "John of Beverley, St". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 447.
  8. ^ "The Life and After-Life of St John of Beverley". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 11 August 2007.
  9. ^ Rollason, David (2004). "Ketel, William (fl. c.1100)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/15481. Retrieved 4 January 2016.(subscription or UK public library membership required)
  10. ^ "USTC".
  11. ^ Gross, Ernie (1990). This Day in Religion. New York: Neil-Schuman. ISBN 1-55570-045-4.

Further reading

[edit]
  • Life by Folcard, based on Bede, in Acta Sanctorum. Bolland.
  • Pamela Hopkins, St John of Beverley Hallgarth Publishing, Beverley 1999 ISBN 095366600X
  • James Raine, Fasti eboracenses (1863).
  • G. J. Boekenoogen, ed. (1903). "Historie van Jan van Beverley · DBNL". (Nederlandsche Volksboeken VI) (in Dutch). Leiden: E. J. Brill.
  • Alan R. Deighton, "The Sins of Saint John of Beverley: The Case of the Dutch Volksboek Jan van Beverley", Leuvense Bijdragen 82 (1993) 227–246.
  • Susan E. Wilson, The Life and After-Life of St John of Beverley: The Evolution of the Cult of an Anglo-Saxon Saint, Aldershot: Ashgate 2006.
[edit]
Christian titles
Preceded by Bishop of Hexham
687–705 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Bishop of York
705–718 		Succeeded by

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=John_of_Beverley&oldid=1260013156"