holy fool
noun
A person who does not conform to social norms of behaviour because of mental disability or as a deliberate choice, regarded as having a compensating divine blessing or inspiration.He's just great as the holy fool running around the moors grinning manically and whispering ‘I'm the Son of God!’...
- At sea the Frenchman is a holy fool, disillusioned by society and reluctant to let go of the ineffable feeling of well-being he gains at sea.
- People said he was a qalander, a holy fool, and very close to God.
Origin
Translating Russian yurodivy, a term first used by Pushkin in the blank verse drama Boris Godunov (1831).