Neot was bright. He was, in fact, brilliant. He loved to study–both the secular and the sacred sciences. He preferred to live as a hermit–and did so for a number of years–and desired to live alone, reading and learning, in a way that garnered as little notice as possible.

Of course, none of these saints would be on the Calendar were they successful in their wishes to leave no footprints upon history; Neot was no different. His brilliant mind and accompanying wisdom came to the attention of no less a personage than King Alfred the Great, a 9th-century British monarch of tremendous renown. Even from his hermitage, Neot became a private and influential counselor to Alfred and, over time, he successfully convinced Alfred to become the “Education King.” As Butler tells it:

Our historians agree that the plan of erecting a general study of all the sciences and liberal arts was laid by this holy anchoret; and upon it Alfred is said to have founded the university of Oxford.

Neot further advised Alfred on appropriate faculty to recruit in the sciences and liberal arts. Not long after, Neot died. King Alfred not only ensured that a great tomb be built for Neot, but he himself frequently visited that tomb. Butler reports that Alfred’s prayers uttered at Neot’s gravesite were instrumental in gaining a cure for particularly painful hemorrhoids that plagued the good king.

Neot is a glowing example that great things can and do happen whenever persons follow their natures and do the things that matter to them–things that they are cut out to do–rather than cutting themselves so that they can fit a certain, accepted pattern. Had Neot not spent so much of his life isolated, studying, reading, and discovering the power of learning, Oxford University might not have come into being…and Alfred the Great might not have been able to sit upon his throne without immense pain!