York Minster will host two book launch events in March as the cathedral marks 800 years since the canonisation of St William of York. The two books explore different understandings of Christian healing and how accounts of saintly miracles have been interpreted over the centuries.

The first book, written by the Reverend Canon Timothy Goode, Canon for Congregational Discipleship and Nurture at York Minster, is titled Breaking, not Broken: Ableism and the Church after Constantine. Having lived with disability for over thirty years, Canon Tim draws on both lived experience and theological reflection to explore how ideas of bodily perfection have shaped Christian theology, practice and imagination, often to the exclusion of disabled people.

800 years ago, on 18 March 1226, Pope Honorius III proclaimed William fitzHerbert the Patron Saint of York. William had twice been Archbishop of York and, following his death, many pilgrims travelled to his shrine where miracles of healing were reported. While the historical records do not allow us to identify precisely who experienced these healings, we can imagine that disabled people and many others who were suffering came seeking hope, relief and restoration.

Canon Tim reflects on what this legacy means today: “As a residentiary canon at York Minster, I feel a deep empathy with the medieval pilgrims who travelled to St William’s shrine in search of healing. Many of the visitors I meet today come with similar hopes and fears, seeking health, meaning and reassurance for themselves and those they love. We now live in a world shaped by advances in science and medicine, and our understanding of disability has also developed. Disabled people do not need to match an imagined ‘normative’ figure in order to belong. Instead, the challenge for the Church is to recognise how often the world itself needs healing – through the removal of barriers, prejudice and exclusion – so that all people may be recognised as sacred gifts, each made in the image of God.

“My book explores how a return to a risen body theology, grounded in the wounded yet glorified body of Christ, offers a more hopeful vision of humanity – one in which wounds are not erased, and where embodied difference is understood not as failure, but as a place where grace and belonging are more fully revealed.”

The second book, co-authored by Professor Sarah Brown of the University of York and former director of the York Glaziers Trust and Professor Christopher Norton of the University of York, is titled The St William Window at York Minster: Rediscovering a Miraculous Narrative. For the very first time, the remarkable story of the conservation of one of the largest narratives in medieval stained glass ever created is told by authors who worked alongside the conservators, as members of the St William Window Advisory Group.

Professor Brown explains: “The window tells the story of the life and miraculous events associated with St William of York. We can see depictions of pilgrims offering models of body parts which they wished to be healed, sight being restored to the blind, and paralysed people carried to the tomb to be cured. The modern conservation of the window the York Glaziers Trust, underpinned by groundbreaking historical research by Professor Norton, allowed this complex narrative to be unravelled and correctly reassembled for the first time since the window’s creation. Professor Norton’s research not only sheds new light on the life and career of William fitzHerbert the man, but also reveals, for the first time, the extraordinary achievement of the medieval glazier John Thornton in constructing a unique visual account of William’s miracles from a wide range of textual sources. New research has also brought into sharp focus the role of the woman whose generosity paid for the window.

“Although we now have a very different understanding of what it means to be healed, the window reveals how our medieval forebears interacted with St William and with their faith. Through our new book we are able to explore their stories as well as this remarkable conservation journey.”

Both books form part of York Minster’s wider programme marking the 800th anniversary of St William of York, inviting reflection on how Christian understandings of healing, holiness and human flourishing continue to develop in conversation with contemporary experience and theology.

BOOK LAUNCH: Breaking, not Broken: Ableism and the Church after Constantine
Wednesday 11 March, 6.30pm
Canon Tim will be in conversation with Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York, to discuss perfectionism and disability in the Church.
The discussion will take place in the Lady Chapel after Evensong and is free to attend with no tickets required.

BOOK LAUNCH: The St William Window at York Minster: Rediscovering a Miraculous Narrative
Wednesday 18 March, 6.30pm
Professors Brown and Norton will be available to answer questions about the St William Window and sign copies of their new book.
The launch will take place in the North Transept following a special service of Evensong to commemorate the 800th anniversary of St William’s canonisation.

Both books will be available to purchase at the launch events and will also be sold in-store and online via the York Minster Shops:
York Minster Shop | Breaking not Broken – £30.00
York Minster Shop | The St William Window at York Minster – £35.00