542
THE CANTUARIAN
BIOGRAPHIES
OF
FAMOUS
O.K.S.
In this Humber of The Canluarian we are starting a series of very short biographies of some of t he greater scholars who have been at t Ws School. ST . JOHN OF BEVERLEY. H e is said to have been bom of noble parcnt.'i in Harpham, Yorkshire, He came to Canterbury to be educated uuder Archbishop Theodore of T arsus a bout t he year 670 A.D. He was cousccrnted bishop of Hexhalll in 687 after being for some t ime a member of the Whitby community, uuder S t. Hilda. In 705 be was promoted to the bishopric of York, from which see h e resigned ill 718 and retired to the monastery which he badfoullded at Beverley, where he died Oll the 7th of May, 72 1. He wns canonized in 1037 and his feast!s celcbr atec:l annually iu the Roman Church. H e SpCllt his li fe healing the sick (sometimes by so-called miracles) , helping the poor and t eaching those willing to listen to him. His many pupils werc very devoted to him. He was celebrated for his scholarship as well as his virtues. Of h is contemporaries Albinus. Tobias (afterwards Bishop of Rochester ), and Aldhelm. a short account of tlte life of the latter would 110t be out of p lace. ST. ALDHELM. Born in 640 A.D. he first received education in t he school of au Irish scholar and malik:, JÂĽfaildulf, at Mnhllesbury. At about the age of 30 he callie to Call terb ury nnd eventually became a d isciple of Hadrian. I ll-health compell ed h im to leave Cauterbury, and he returned to Mahll esbury, where he was a monk under Maildulf for fourtecn years. Wilen Maildulf died, h e was appointed fi rst abbot of t h e monastery where he introduced the Benedictine rule. The COllllllUlllty iucreased and be was able to found monasteries nt I"rOIllC and at Bradford-ouAvon. His fam e as a scholnr spread rapidly. Writers submitted their works to him for criticism ; h e was t he first I~ng lish ll1an, as fur as is known, to write Latin verse; he wrote 10 1 riddles ill L atin H exalllcter!i; Dede speaks of him as a wonder of erudition. Pope Sergius 1. requested a visit from him and seu t him b a(,k with many favoll.: s. H aldeli, Lisllop of Winchester, died ill 705, and his diocese was divided into two parts, on e of which was Sherborne. Aldhelm was consecratccl bishop of tilis see rather r eluctantly. He wished to resign the abbey of Malmesbury wWcll be had govemoo for tilirty years, but ou tile pleading of the monks he continued as abbot till his deatil on the 25th of It'Iay, 709. Miracles a rc also attributed to hlw.
