A Ground Breaking New Study of the Life of Valentine Greatrakes

Valentine Greatrakes was born in Ireland on Valentine's Day 1629. His parents were English settlers and of the landed class. Greatrakes was born into relative wealth and comfort. He served as an officer in a cavalry regiment during the Irish Wars, then retired to the life of a country gentleman. Sometime around 1662, a 'strange impulse or persuasion' took over his mind, and he believed he had been called by God to heal the sick. He tried, and it worked. Instantly. Very quickly huge crowds were gathering wherever he was seen, and his reputation spread across Ireland.

Greatrakes opened a clinic in a nearby town, as his village could not cope with the crowds. Boatloads of patients set sail from England to see him, with the boats reputedly returning full of cured patients. In 1666 Greatrakes was invited to England where once again, crowds followed him wherever he went. Several days of healing crowds in Worcester was followed by a summons to treat King Charles II. Greatrakes then established a venue for healing in Lincoln's Inn Fields, where he treated thousands of patients.

The leading doctors and scientists of the day flocked to London to witness his work, their opinions divided on whether this strange Irishman was healing through God, through some strange quality of his body, was possessed by the devil, or was a fake and a quack. The cures kept coming. No matter what was presented to Greatrakes, he seemed to be able to cure it.

An anonymous attack on Greatrakes, in the form of a pamphlet was designed to destroy his reputation. Full of lies and insinuations, it just served to make him more famous. In response, we are lucky that Greatrakes published his own pamphlet, full of sworn testimonies and witness statements, attesting to his healing successes. Without it, Greatrakes would be an obscure footnote in history. But with it, we have an incredible portrait of a major 17th century celebrity, written at least in part, in his own words.

Robert Boyle, the father of modern chemistry and one of the founders of the Royal Society was a fan of Greatrakes, as were many other scientists and doctors. Boyle signed nine witness statements and was present at many more healing sessions. Boyle's interest in Greatrakes gave the Irishman extra credibility, but his work spoke for itself. People were cured in huge numbers, in a time when medical science was in its infancy and offered few answers.

Greatrakes returned to Ireland and continued his healing work until at least a year or two before his death. The crowds continued to flock to him and he was known to visit England at least one more time. His healing powers appear not to have diminished and public interest in his work remained strong.

The author, a trained historian and a practicing healer has written a fascinating account of Greatrakes' life. Previous writers have focused on Greatrakes' place in the shifting sands of religion and science in Restoration Britain, and concentrated on putting him into his sociohistorical context. Adrian has taken a different approach and attempted to analyse Greatrakes healing, from the large number of sworn testimonies left by his patients and witnesses. He has compared these testimonies with those he has received in his own clinics, and analysed the experiences of Greatrakes patients, as compared to his own. The result is fascinating and revelatory.

Adrian's life path through healing has been almost identical to Valentine Greatrakes, down to the attempts to destroy his reputation with lies and distortions, although in Adrian's case he survived a number of murder attempts too. Both healers survived those campaigns, and Adrian has produced a fascinating and highly readable account of Greatrakes' career. It is personal, affectionate and comes to some extremely interesting conclusions.