John Bradburne sought a life of solitude in Zimbabwe
Credit: Paul Grover for the Telegraph / Kate Macpherson
Today marks the centenary of the birth of John Bradburne: poet, mystic and wanderer, a martyr who was murdered for refusing to abandon the sick and, in the hearts of his supporters, a saint.
The cause of his canonisation has been opened; one watertight miracle is credited to him, the curing of a terminal brain tumour in a Scotsman who prayed for his help. Assuming everything goes to plan – and a second miracle is identified – Bradburne might become the second Englishman post-reformation, along with John Henry Newman, to be recognised as a saint by the Catholic church.