Cathedral News
May 13, 2012 Announcements
From the Dean
Alleluia! The Lord is risen!
This morning, as you celebrate the Eucharist together at our Cathedral, I’ll be representing you at Beverley Minster in Beverley, England. Beverley is located in Yorkshire, to the southeast of York, not far from the English Channel. It was, historically, an important economic center of trading in the North, connected to the River Hull by various waterways. It was primarily as a center of pilgrimage that it attained its importance and size. That which pilgrims came to see, to venerate, were the remains and the tomb of St. John of Beverley. I have copied a short biography of St. John here, taken from the Beverley Minster website, and written by David Palliser.
John was one of the leaders of the Northumbrian Church following the conversion of the North to Christianity in the 620s and 630s. According to later tradition he was born at Harpham near Driffield, and he was certainly Bishop of Hexham (687-706) and then York (706-c.714).
In old age he retired to a monastery he had founded in a secluded spot called by Bede Inderawuda, ‘in the wood of Deira’ (an old name for East Yorkshire), where he died in 721. Tradition identified this place with Beverley, probably correctly; certainly a major church stood on this site before the Norman Conquest, as excavations have confirmed, and John’s tomb seems always to have been here.
His holy life, and miracles after his death, persuaded the Pope to canonize him in 1037 as St. John of Beverley. It was John’s reputation that made the Minster a privileged sanctuary and a centre of pilgrimage, and which turned the remote spot to which he had retired into a thriving town. By 1377 Beverley was one of the dozen largest towns in England.
From very early days John’s miraculous powers were believed to include the granting of victory in battle. Alfred’s grandson, King Athelstan, is said to have prayed for success at his tomb, as a result of which he destroyed a coalition of his enemies in a great battle in 937. In 1138 John’s banner was one of the Northern banners behind which the men of Yorkshire marched to beat an invading Scottish army near Northallerton.
By 1266 it was the custom that when the King summoned an army, the Minster sent one man with the banner; the banner was also lent to at least four English Kings to help them defeat their enemies. In 1415 King Henry V won the battle of Agincourt on the Feast of St. John’s translation (25th October); afterwards the King visited John’s shrine to give thanks, and made him one of the patron saints of the Royal family.
The cult of John, like all other saints, was abolished by Henry VIII, who robbed and destroyed his splendid tomb and shrine, but Beverley did not forget what it owed to John. His bones, rediscovered in 1664, were re-interred in their present tomb between the nave choir stalls, and his main Feast on 7th May is once again a ‘red-letter day’.
This morning I will have participated in the Eucharist at the Minster, and I’ll miss being with you all, as I always do when I’m away on a Sunday. This is a marvelously beautiful and inspiring place, and it’s not home. It is a place of pilgrimage for me, and I continue to seek God’s purpose in uniting me, through my date of ordination (St. John’s Feast Day, May 7), to this holy man. I’ll be preaching at the Evensong which will conclude the Civic observance of St. John’s Day in Beverley.
The official title of Beverley Minster is The Church of St. John and St. Martin. Being dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, the Minster and our Cathedral share this common spiritual link. St. John the Evangelist shared the Light of Christ, “he who is coming into the world,” with the western world of his day, through brilliant theological interpretation of the Gospel story. St. Martin (of Tours) is an inspiring example of the openness of the Church to the poor, the marginalized, those who are lost in life. Beverley Minster is both a center of teaching and preaching, as well as of service and outreach to its community. We work hard to be the same here, at St. John’s Cathedral, and it is through partnerships and friendships, between churches, clergy and other leaders, that we gain insights into how better to serve Christ. I look forward to bringing back some exciting ideas from my brief time in Beverley. I will remember the Cathedral, and all of you, in my prayers at the tomb of St. John of Beverley today, and I hope that you will remember my family and me in your prayers.
The Lord is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
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