At the beginning of King Aldfrid’s reign Bishop Eata died, and was succeeded as Bishop of Hexham by a holy man named John.1 Many miracles are told of him by those who knew him well, and in particular by Berthun, a most reverend and truthful man, formerly John’s deacon and now abbot of the monastery known as In-Derawuda, which means ‘In the wood of the Deiri’.2 I have thought it fitting to preserve the memory of some of these miracles for posterity.
Whenever opportunity offered and especially during Lent, this man of God used to retire with a few companions to read and pray quietly in an isolated house surrounded by open woodland and a dyke. It stood about a mile and a half from the church at Hexham across the river Tyne, and had a burial-ground dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel. John once came to stay here at the beginning of Lent and, as was his invariable custom, told his companions to find some poor person who was either seriously infirm or in dire want, so that he might live with them during their stay and benefit from their alms.
In a village not far distant lived a dumb youth known to the bishop; for he had often visited him to receive alms and had never been able to utter a single word. In addition, he had so many scabs and scales on his head that no hair ever grew on the crown, but only a few wisps stood up in a ragged circle round it. So the bishop ordered this youth to be fetched, and a little hut to be made for him in the enclosure round the house where he could live and receive his daily allowance. When one week of Lent was past, on the following Sunday John told the poor lad to come to him, and when he had entered he ordered him to put out his tongue and show it to him; then he took him by the chin, and making the sign of the holy cross on his tongue, told him to retract it and speak. ‘Pronounce some word,’ he said: ‘say yea,’ which is the English word of agreement and assent, i.e. ‘Yes’. The lad’s tongue was loosed, and at once he did what he was told. The bishop then proceeded to the names of letters: ‘Say A.’ And he said ‘A’. ‘Now say B,’ he said, which the youth did. And when he had repeated the names of each of the letters after the bishop, the latter added syllables and words for him to repeat after him. When he had uttered every word accordingly, the bishop set him to repeat longer sentences, and he did so. All those who were present say that all that day and the next night, as long as he could keep awake, the youth never stopped saying something and expressing his own inner thoughts and wishes to others, which he had never been able to do previously. He was like the cripple healed by the Apostles Peter and John, who stood up, leaped, and walked, entering the temple with them, walking, and leaping, and praising God, rejoicing in the use of his feet, of which he had been so long deprived. The bishop was delighted at his cure, and directed the physician to undertake the cure of the youth’s scabby head.
The physician did as he was asked, and with the assistance of the bishop’s blessing and prayers his skin healed, and a vigorous growth of hair appeared. So the youth obtained a clear complexion, readiness of speech, and a beautiful head of hair, whereas he had formerly been deformed, destitute, and dumb. In his joy at this recovery, he declined an offer from the bishop of a permanent place in his household, preferring to return to his own home.