Boisil

Boisil (also sometimes spelled Boisel) was a Northumbrian monk of the Melrose Abbey in the 7th century. He served as Prior under Abbot Eata and is venerated as a saint in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

Boisil is primarily known for his role as a teacher and spiritual guide to Saint Cuthbert, who later became Bishop of Lindisfarne. Cuthbert spent time under Boisil's tutelage at Melrose Abbey, receiving his early monastic training.

According to the Venerable Bede's Life of St. Cuthbert, Boisil possessed prophetic gifts. Bede recounts that Boisil accurately predicted a plague that would affect the monastery and the number of monks, including himself, who would succumb to it. Boisil is said to have used the brief time he had left to intensively study the Gospel of John with Cuthbert.

Boisil died of the plague in 664 AD. His feast day is celebrated on February 23rd. He is regarded as a significant figure in the early history of the Church in Northumbria and a key influence in the spiritual development of Saint Cuthbert.