BIOGRAPHIES OF FAMOUS O.K.S. from The Cantuarian 1926

BIOGRAPHIES OF FAMOUS O.K.S.

In this number of The Cantuarian we are starting a series of very short biographies of some of the greater scholars who have been at this School.

ST . JOHN OF BEVERLEY.

He is said to have been born of noble parents in Harpham, Yorkshire. He came to Canterbury to be educated under Archbishop Theodore of Tarsus about the year 670 A.D. He was consecrated bishop of Hexham in 687 after being for some time a member of the Whitby community, under St. Hilda. In 705 he was promoted to the bishopric of York, from which he resigned in 718 and retired to the monastery which he had founded at Beverley, where he died on the 7th of May, 721.

He was canonized in 1037 and his feast is celebrated annually in the Roman Church.

He spent his life healing the sick (sometimes by so-called miracles), helping the poor and teaching those willing to listen to him. His many pupils were very devoted to him. He was celebrated for his scholarship as well as his virtues.

Of his contemporaries Albinus, Tobias (afterwards Bishop of Rochester), and Aldhelm, a short account of the life of the latter would not be out of place.

ST. ALDHELM.

Born in 640 A.D. he first received education in the school of an Irish scholar and monk:, Maildulf, at Malmesbury. At about the age of 30 he came to Canterbury and eventually became a disciple of Hadrian. Ill-health compelled him to leave Canterbury, and he returned to Malmesbury, where he was a monk under Maildulf for fourteen years. When Maildulf died, he was appointed first abbot of the monastery where he introduced the Benedictine rule. The Community increased and be was able to found monasteries at Frome and at Bradford-on­ Avon.

His fame as a scholar spread rapidly. Writers submitted their works to him for criticism; he was the first Englishman, as far as is known, to write Latin verse; he wrote 101 riddles in Latin Hexameters; Bede speaks of him as a wonder of erudition. Pope Sergius I. requested a visit from him and sent him back with many favours.

Halddi, bishop of Winchester, died in 705, and his diocese was divided into two parts, one of which was Sherborne. Aldhelm was consecrated bishop of this see rather reluctantly. He wished to resign the abbey of Malmesbury which he had governed for thirty years, but on the pleading of the monks he continued as abbot till his death on the 25th of May, 709.

Miracles are also attributed to him.