Being Mindful Stories

Story · Ajahn Brahm

The Norwich priest who bit off a saint's finger

As told by Ajahn Brahm in How to Not Be Afraid | Ajahn Brahm | 10 October 2025

1 min read

Content note: desecration; crime

The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

priest from Norwich in England and he went to visit one of these saints over in Europe somewhere. It was high security there because if you had the relics, you had a lot of money. He this corpse was very old. this uh priest bit off the finger and hid it in his mouth. That's really weird. But he brought it back to the city of Norwich in England. And he was just made a saint himself cuz that brought so much uh business into the town of Norwich. And he made him a saint eventually had a big cathedral there simply because he broke the law and bit off a finger of a of a saint

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 56:00 (to 56:53)

A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

A medieval priest from Norwich, the story goes, bit a finger off a guarded saint's body and smuggled it home in his mouth. Pilgrims and money poured in, and he was made a saint himself. Ajahn Brahm shakes his head: relics were big business. Respect what is holy, but don't confuse reverence with trade.

In brief (our summary)

A Norwich priest visiting a highly guarded saint's corpse in Europe bites off a finger, hides it in his mouth, and brings the relic home — later made a saint himself because the finger drew so much business and a cathedral to Norwich.

Teaching point

Even 'holy' institutions can be built on a crime that paid.

When this story may help

  • religious tourism
  • questioning institutions

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in How to Not Be Afraid | Ajahn Brahm | 10 October 2025 · 2025-10-10 · ▶ watch from 56:00 to 56:53 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions with machine-added punctuation; words left exactly as captioned.

The narrative is Ajahn Brahm's own telling, quoted from the talk captions. The summary and reflection are Being Mindful Stories's editorial notes. Please credit the teacher and link the original talk. Markdown version

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