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| John of Beverly |
John of Beverly was an influential clergyman of seventh-century England,
one of five bishops whom the historian Bede tells us emerged from Hild
of Whitby's monastery. Bede himself was ordained by John and devoted
several pages of his "Ecclesiastical History" to his life and miracles.
One of the most interesting reports is of a dumb man whom John taught to
speak, training him to enunciate one letter of the alphabet after
another. Another chapter recounts the testimony of one of John's
assistants who was thrown by a horse, landing head-first on a stone. All
day he lay paralyzed from the neck down until John asked him if he would
live. Heribald replied that he would if John prayed over him. John did.
Heribald then recovered so swiftly that he was able to mount his horse
the next day to ride forward with his master.
In 718, John resigned as bishop of York and retired to a place later
known as Beverly, from which he takes his name. There he died on May 7, 721.
