John of Beverley

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 John was said to have been born of noble parents at Harpham, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, He is said to have received his education at Canterbury under Adrian, He was for a time a member of the Whitby community, under St Hilda, a fact recorded by his friend Bede.

In 687 he was consecrated bishop of Hexham by Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury (602–690), and in 705 was promoted to the bishopric of York. 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. 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. 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.

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. Julian of Norwich alludes to this in chapter 38 of her "Revelations of Divine Love" dating from between 1373 and 1393 when she lists the great figures of the Old and New Testament who had been sinners - David, Mary Magdalen, St Paul. And she adds "St John of Beverley and many others." She doesn't say what his sins were but she does say "he was so homely and unaffected" and that when young he served God, yet God allowed him to fall, yet later on he was "raised to much greater grace".(Julian of Norwich, translated by Clifton Walters, Penguin)

Henry V gave the credit for his victory at the Battle of Agincourt to the miraculous intervention of John, the battle having been fought on the anniversary of John's translation. 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. Its contents disappeared from records. In 1664, workmen discovered a vault under the floor of the minster's nave. Made of stone, it was and at the head and 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 BEVERLEYFOUNDER 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.

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

(an exposition of Luke)

.