Saints Who Predicted Their Own Deaths

Many saints were said to have psychic powers, and they used these abilities to help others, thus leading to their saintly reputations even while alive. But it wasn't always just other people they made predictions for; in some cases, these saints used their gifts of foresight to see their own deaths. Other times, saints without any seemingly supernatural abilities would have a vision towards the end, telling them their death was about to happen. Sometimes these visions or predictions were as detailed as the exact time and place the death would occur.

Many of these saints were very old, especially for the times they were living in, so those around them must not have been too impressed with their ability to realize they were dying. Other tales record that no one believed the future saints when they said their death was coming, either because they were still young or seemed perfectly healthy. Regardless, those saints, at least according to the stories and legends about their lives, really did accurately predict their own deaths.

If you are going to anger an absolute ruler, it's probably best to avoid ones nicknamed "the Terrible." But St. Philip found himself in this position when Czar Ivan IV of Russia made him leave his monastery and become the Metropolitan of Moscow in 1567. (In the Russian Orthodox Church, a metropolitan is similar to a Catholic or Protestant archbishop.) 

But, according to the Holy Protection Russian Orthodox Church, St. Philip couldn't ignore the violence and murders that the czar allowed under his reign and called the ruler out on it in public, saying, "I lament not of the innocent murdered as martyrs and saints; it is your soul that I mourn over. Although a monarch blessed from above, you are still a mortal one, and you will have to account for all of your deeds before the Lord."

Ivan had St. Philip defrocked and removed from his post. Predicting your death when a bloodthirsty czar is furious with you might not seem impressive, but Ivan had promised not to burn St. Philip to death and agreed to life imprisonment. Yet, three days before he was murdered, St. Philip predicted the event was about to happen. When his assassin pretended to be calling on him about something else, the future saint said, "Do not blaspheme, fulfill the purpose of your visit." He was then strangled to death. He was made a saint in 1636.

The fact that St. Rumwold (also spelled Rumbold) of Buckingham predicted his own death is perhaps less surprising than the fact he said anything at all. You see, Rumwold was born to a king of Northumbria in 662 — and only survived for three days.

This infant proved his unbelievable precociousness as soon as he was born, so the story goes. Not only did he announce he was a Christian and demand to be baptized, but the infant even gave a sermon on the famously complex subject of the Holy Trinity. He also predicted his death and explained in detail how he was to be buried in various different places before finally getting to rest in peace in one final spot. 

It's probably not surprising that the existence of St. Rumwold is questioned. Even the 17th-century minister and academic Thomas Fuller was frustrated with how hard any of the saint's story is to prove, especially considering it is only found in one source written around 400 years after Rumwold would have lived. Despite this, a medieval cult of worship grew up around him, which built, among other things, a well dedicated to St. Rumwold (pictured).

[Featured image by Fractal Angel via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 2.0]

St. Boisil and St. Cuthbert, both of England, were linked in life and, amazingly, are both said to have predicted their own deaths. Boisil was a monk at the Melrose monastery and was known for being able to predict the future. When the young Cuthbert was looking for a place to start his own religious education around 651, he knew where to go. As the Venerable Bede wrote in his "Life of Cuthbert" (via "The Age of Bede"), "the reputation for sublime virtue enjoyed by Boisil, priest of Melrose, led him to enter there. By chance, Boisil was standing at the monastery gates and thus saw him first" (pictured).

Boisil must have been an exceptional teacher, as Cuthbert went on to work an astounding number of miracles. But he would have to do it without his mentor: Both future saints came down with the plague. After Cuthbert recovered, Boisil predicted, "You see, brother, that God has delivered you from this disease, nor shall you ever feel it again, nor die at this time; but my death being at hand, neglect not to learn something from me so long as I shall be able to teach you, which will be no more than seven days" (via St. Patrick's Church).

Decades later Cuthbert had a premonition he would soon die, and after becoming ill, he died at the exact time he said he would.

St. Stanislaus Kostka was born into an aristocratic family in Poland in 1550. His family's position meant St. Stanislaus and his brother were afforded a very good education and were sent away to Vienna when Stanislaus was 14. They attended a Jesuit college, but while there he got very sick and thought he was dying. Feverish, he saw a vision of the Virgin Mary and, in exchange for agreeing to enter a Jesuit monastery, was cured by her. 

The problem was, St. Stanislaus was still a teenager and far too young to enter religious life, at least without his parents agreeing to it, so he was refused admittance to the Jesuits in Vienna. Acting on a tip that a priest in Germany might accept him, he secretly left Austria, walking over 400 miles and begging for food along the way. His efforts were rewarded, though, and he joined the religious order in Bavaria. 

It was only 10 months later that he got very sick again, and this time instead of being miraculously cured, he predicted his own death. However, when he announced he was going to die the next day, the other monks didn't believe him, as he didn't seem that unwell. But his prediction came true, and he died on August 15, 1568.

The Belgian St. Hubert was an important member of the royal court and lived the life of a public man of that stature. Not only did he get married and enjoy the finer things in life, but he had the means to go out hunting whenever he wanted. But once, he made the mistake of hunting on a holy day: Good Friday. 

When his prey appeared ahead of him on that hunting trip, Hubert saw the stag had a cross in its antlers. Then, a disembodied voice said, "Hubert, unless thou turnest to the Lord, and leadest an holy life, thou shalt quickly go down into hell." Replying, "Lord, what wouldst Thou have me do?," Hubert received the answer, "Go and seek Lambert, and he will instruct you," as per New Advent. (The said Lambert, then a bishop, would also go on to become a saint.)

So Hubert did what he was told and entered a monastery. Eventually, he would go even further and become a hermit. In 727 or 728, he had a premonition that his death was imminent, so he gave one final sermon and died less than a week later.

St. Joannicius was born in 752 in modern-day Turkey. While he first joined the military, eventually he found his way to the religious life, choosing to live as a hermit. The number of incredible powers he supposedly had would let him stand toe to toe with any current superhero; these included invisibility, making others invisible, levitation, and invulnerability to fire and poison.

One of the problems famously pious people who could do miracles used to face was the number of visitors who wanted to visit or talk with them. While this might be manageable for a monk living in a monastery, a hermit like St. Joannicius needed to be left alone, otherwise, he wasn't really a hermit at all. St. Joannicius was so popular, he had to move just to get some privacy before his location would be discovered and he'd need to move again. Eventually, in his old age, he did join a monastery but continued living in seclusion even within that community.

St. Joannicius was also said to be able to predict the future, and he predicted, accurately, that he would die on November 4, 846.