Valentine Greatrakes

Valentine Greatrakes ( April 14, 1628 - November 28, 1682 ), also Greatorex or The Stroker , was an Irish spiritual healer who worked in England and claimed to be able to heal people with the help of the laying on of hands.

Young years

Greatrakes was born on February 14, 1618 in Affane, County Waterford , Ireland. Page parents were William (1600–1643) and Mary (died 1656) Greatrakes. Mary was the daughter of Edward Harris, who was Chief Justice of Munster . At the age of 13 he went to the College of Dublin after attending the public school in Lismore . When the Irish Rebellion broke out in 1641, he fled with his mother to England, where he was taken in by his great-uncle Edmund Harris. After Harris died, his mother Greatrakes quartered him with John Daniel Getsius in Devonshire.

The War, the Commonwealth, and the Restoration

After six years in England, Greatrakes returned to his homeland, which he found completely destroyed, which is why he spent a year of reflection in the castle of Cappoquin. In 1649 he became a lieutenant in Lord Broghill's regiment in the English parliamentary army in Ireland, and took part in a campaign against the Irish royalists in Munster. In 1656, a large part of the army disbanded and therefore Greatrakes returned to Affane and was here clerk for County Cork and justice of the peace. He lost these positions shortly afterwards in the course of the Irish Restoration .

Healer in Ireland

He said of himself that he had an experience of revival in 1662 and that he had a strong impulse through an inner experience to be able to cure the disease scrofula . This conviction became so strong that he touched numerous people and healed them with it.

Three years later a fever spread in his home country and he had another religious experience that led him to be able to heal this too. He found that he could heal everyone who came to him. In April 1665 he had another revelation that made him believe that he could now also heal wounds and tumors.

On April 6, 1665, he said he healed Robert Phayre, the Commonwealth Governor of County Cork, who lived in Cahermore. He previously visited Greatrakes for a fever that Greatrakes was able to cure in minutes.

In August 1665 John Flamsteed visited him because he had heard of these acts in order to be treated for his poor health, but Greatrakes was unsuccessful.

Trip to england

In 1665 Greatrakes was invited to England by his old commander, Lord Broghill, to cure Anne Conway of chronic headaches. He reached England at the beginning of 1666, but here too he failed to heal. Unimpressed by this, he traveled through England to heal other sick people.

Greatrakes then stayed mainly in London, where he went to places where many sick people gathered. He made a reputation for himself during this period of all kinds of illnesses, chronic pain, gout , rheumatism and cramps. Since he only used his hands for this purpose, he was nicknamed The Stroker in London .

In addition to admirers, many skeptics formed in London who thought Greatrakes was a charlatan. In response to these allegations, he wrote a letter in which many of his followers confirmed his healings and defended him against his opponents.

Return to Ireland and life as a farmer

In 1667 Greatrakes returned to Ireland and took up his old occupation as a farmer. As a result, he disappeared from the public eye for many years and no longer appeared as a faith healer.

Greatrakes died on November 28, 1682 in Affane, County Waterford. His grave is not known, it is likely to be in Lismore Church or under the old church of Affane near his father.

family

In the early 1660s, Greatraks married Ruth (died 1678), daughter of Sir William Godolphin. His second wife was Alice Tilson (died 1678 or 1684). He had the following children with these women:

• William (died 1686), who married Mary.
• Edmund (died between 1691 and 1692), who married Anne.
• Mary, who married Edmund Browning.

Works

• A series of letters between Greatrakes and Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey were edited by Alan Marshal .

literature

• William Alexander Greenhill:  Greatrakes, Valentine . In: Leslie Stephen, Sidney Lee (Eds.): Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 23:  Gray - Haighton. , MacMillan & Co, Smith, Elder & Co., New York City / London 1890, pp. 34 - 37 (English).
• Brian Lalor (Ed.): The Encyclopaedia of Ireland . Gill & Macmillan, Dublin 2003, ISBN 0-7171-3000-2 , p. 457.
• Willie Frahe: Valentine Greatrakes - 'The Stroker' . Waterford County Museum. July 26, 2001. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
• Peter Elmer: The Miraculous Conformist: Valentine Greatrakes, the Body Politic, and the Politics of Healing in Restoration Britain , illustrated. Edition, Oxford University Press, 2013, ISBN 9780199663965 , p.  63 .

Web links

Commons : Valentine Greatrakes  - collection of images, videos and audio files