 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "John Goodchild" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(April 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
John Arthur Goodchild (1851–1914) was a physician; later, he authored several works of poetry and mysticism, most famouslyThe Light of the West.
According to Patrick Benham, Goodchild had a private medical practice inBordighera,Italy, serving mainly expatriate Britons. From 1873 until the early 1900s, he stayed in Italy during summers and returned to the UK in winters.
Goodchild was an antiquarian influenced byBritish Israelite ideas and theGolden Dawn esoteric group. He was friends withWilliam Sharp (who wrote as Fiona Macleod), who dedicated his final literary work,The Winged Destiny: Studies in the Spiritual History of the Gael, to Goodchild.
He sawGlastonbury,Iona (Scotland) andDevenish Island (Ireland) as being a triune of holy sites in theBritish Isles.
InThe Light of the West, Goodchild advanced the theory that under the influence of the Roman church, the feminine had become neglected in Christianity, and that it was the destiny of a revitalisedCeltic church to restore the feminine to due prominence in Christian life and thought.
The story is told that,[who?] in February 1885, while visitingBordighera,Italy, Goodchild bought a "bowl and a platter" seen in a tailor's shop. They lay untouched in a cupboard for ten years.[1] Ten years later he felt "directed" by an intense psychic experience to take the "bowl" or "cup" to Bride's Hill, Glastonbury, Somerset, a place he had never previously visited. Arriving in August 1898 he concealed the "Cup" in a pond or sluice beside a thorn tree near theRiver Brue. This place was reputedly known as the Women's Quarter, Beckery, and according to legend was linked to St Bride. Then, he waited for the future discovery of the cup "by women" as had appeared to him in a vision. He continued to visit the site every year from 1899 until 1906, except the year 1905.
Benham claims the cup was then found and became the focus of a Christian group, including Goodchild andWellesley Tudor Pole, based inBristol, who believed the vessel to have formerly belonged to Jesus. The object is reported to now be in the possession of theChalice Well Trust, based in Glastonbury.
The platter is claimed to have been sent to the "Sons of Garibaldi" which may be a reference to themasonicRite of Memphis-Misraim, of whichGiuseppe Garibaldi was grandmaster for a while.[citation needed]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
