Saint Martin Jewish Cemetery
Saturday 13 October 2012
Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe - Burial within Church
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| Book of The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints Alban Butler (1895) Project Gutenburg © Godric Godricson |
He would abate nothing of his usual austerities without an absolute necessity. In his agony, calling for his clergy and monks, who were all in tears, he begged pardon if he had ever offended any one of them; he comforted them, gave them some short, moving instructions, and calmly breathed forth his pious soul in the year 533, and of his age the 65th, on the 1st of January, on which day his name occurs in many calendars soon after his death, and in the Roman; but in some few on the 16th of May,—perhaps the day on which his relics were translated to Bourges, in France, about the year 714, where they still remain deposited.His disciple relates, that Pontian, a neighboring bishop, was assured in a vision of his glorious immortality. The veneration for his virtues was such, that he was interred within the church, contrary to the law and custom of that age, as is remarked by the author of his life. St. Fulgentius proposed to himself St. Austin for a model; and, as a true disciple, imitated him in his conduct, faithfully expounding his doctrine, and imbibing his spirit.
Holsworthy Parish Church
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| Ecclesiastical Curiosities Edited William Andrews (1899) Project Gutenburg © Godric Godricson |
The practice of our masons of putting the blood of oxen into mortar was no doubt in the first instance associated with the idea of a sacrifice; however this may be, the blood had no doubt a real effect in hardening the mortar, just the same as treacle, which has been known to be used in our days. The use of cement when any extra strength is needed has put aside the use of either blood or treacle in the mixing of mortar.
Friday 12 October 2012
Apostles who possess two or three bodies
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| A Treatise on Relics - John Calvin (1870) - Project Gutenburg |
"Now, let us reckon up those apostles who possess two or three bodies. St Andrew has a duplicate at Amalfi, St Philip and St James the Minor both have duplicates at Rome, ad sanctos Apostolos, St Simeon and St Jude the same in St Peter's Church. St Bartholomew enjoys an equal privilege at Rome, in the church bearing his name. Here we have enumerated six of them, each provided with two bodies, and St Bartholomew has an additional skin into the bargain, which is shown at Pisa. St Matthew, however, outrivals them all, for besides the body at Padua, which we have before mentioned, he has another at Rome in the church of St Maria Maggiore, a third at Treves, and an additional arm at Rome."
Scrubbed and scraped
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| Saint Andrew - Little Snoring [Link] © Godric Godricson |
I like this photogrtaph because it gives some impression of the big sky that frames Norfolk and the graveyard. We can also see how the lovable rascals in the Diocese of Norwich have allowed the grubbing out of many memorials and monuments.
James Baldwin 1833 - 1904
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| James Baldwin Died 4th December 1904 All Saints, Stibbard [Link] © Godric Godricson |
Fra Dom Vincenzo Labini
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| Maltese Death, Mourning, and Funeral Customs A. Cremona "Folklore" Vol. 34, No. 4 (Dec. 31, 1923) |
"The hiring of poor women and beggars to pray over and watch the corpse for the whole night. This custom prevails mostly in Gozo. In old days official female mourners, named neiffiieha (from neiiiiah, " to cry ") were employed. The prac- tice was abolished in Malta during the plague of A.D. 1676.1 Sicilians employed mourners called Praeficae or Reputatrices, a custom of Greek and Roman origin and practised by the Irish until A.D. 1849. It still prevails among the Corsicans and the Sahara tribes of Algeria.
The old ceremonial of the Maltese female mourners is described by Abela as follows :- They wore trailing veils (kurkdr), and when they entered the premises of the deceased they cut down the bower vines in the yard and threw the flower pots from the balconies and windows into the street. They searched the house for the finest piece of china, dashed it on the floor, and mixed the fragments with ashes from the hearth. They boiled the whole together in a pot, and with the mixture washed the door posts and window shutters of the house. During these proceedings they sang couplets which ended in long-drawn sighs and lamentations. Then they gathered round the corpse and knelt down, extolling the virtues of the deceased, the relations joining in their mourning".
Sheringham Family
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| Harriet Sheringham Died 24th February 1864 Emily Sheringham Died 8th November 1868
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Sarah Sheringham Died 3rd January 1858
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Robert Sheringham 12 February 1879
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John William Sheringham Died 1911
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Thursday 11 October 2012
Trinitarianism and unity
Substance tries to unify confused human thinking and the imprecise vocabulary used in describing ‘God’ so that ‘Substance’ describes the state whereby the three persons within ‘God’ are unified into one and humanity comes to know God as a unified reality rather than a confused mélange. The three persons of the Trinity are comprised of the same material or ‘substance’ with no differences between them.
The practical implications of the doctrine of the Trinity for Christian life in the 21st century is immense. The Trinity is clearly expressed in the work of Roman Catholic theologians and the Roman Catholic Church and has reference to the West and I wonder what Orthodox Christians would make of The Trinity and especially with the unity of the living and the dead. I suggest that the doctrine of The Trinity was ‘simplified’ in the 4th century CE to make the teaching of essential Christian doctrine easier for Christians to understand and this’ simplification’ was redressed from the 1960’s onwards. I will suggest that that a developed understanding of the ‘Holy and undivided Trinity’ places a greater emphasis on Christians to understand ‘diversity’, the liturgy and particularly the Eucharist as part of Christian life and community. I would also suggest that The Trinity also encourages humanity to consider the unity of all forms of life and the link between the living and the dead.
‘Lumen gentium’, promulgated by Pope Paul (1964) as part of Vatican II, clearly moves on a little from Augustine’s simplified statements and acknowledges that the doctrine of the Trinity is at the heart of the Christian community. ‘Lumen gentium’ is a document set within the historic epoch of the Roman Catholic Church in the 1960’s and acknowledges that the Church has been made one with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In effect, the modern ministry of the Church is officially and formally identified with the ‘ministry’ of the Economic Trinity without which Christian life and community is devalued. As part of the process of change within the Church; the ideas of the French ‘Nouvelle Théologie’ often focused and amplified the 16 documents of Vatican II and concerned itself with renewing Christian life and Catholic expressions of worship.
One area of Christian life to be addressed as a result of Vatican II is the collegiality of the Church and in I do not simply mean the Collegiality of the Episcopacy. Instead, the Church itself seems to require a degree of change that leads to a ‘real’ diversity being developed. Just as Jesus is not present in The Eucharist in isolation; then no one group in society can be seen as being dominant or the sole representative of humanity within the Church. Can humanity collectively aim to form individual societies on Trinitarian principles of perichoresis? In effect such unity would require the diminution of social distinction and a situation whereby social class is less important than it was and whereby other divisions of status and rank are erased in our collective service to a Triune God. This will be extremely painful for organised religion which often works within the frameworks of society. I hesitate to use the term ‘the Priesthood of all believers’, although the idea of a unified Trinity does perhaps communicate something to us of the unity that God sees as being both natural and part of that Immanent Trinity that remains mysterious. I also believe that a Trinitarian view of faith allows humanity to integrate the living and the dead.
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| John Wright Died 1742 "....in the hopes of the Blessed Resurrection... Saint Andrew - Little Snoring[Link] © Godric Godricson |
The Trinity is a complex doctrine at the core of the Christian faith; requiring study and reflection to be fully understood. 21st Century denominations often have distinctive views of ‘The Trinity’ and often those denominational views are mutually exclusive and the object of intense rivalry. We can see a continuing development of the doctrine over time from a fairly limited statement of belief by the 4th Century Church at Nicea to a much more developed statement of belief during the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council. How a Trinitarian perspective would impact on the afterlife and faith in the resurrection remains a quiet point. Are we, in effect, being lead into doctrinal error by contemporary Catholicism?
Many people initially hear their first account of ‘The Trinity’ from Church services in the Nicene Creed which exposes people to the doctrine and emphasises the central importance of the doctrine. The Trinity is developed as an idea in the Athanasian Creed.
“I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who together with the Father and the Son is to be adored and glorified, who spoke by the Prophets”.
Wilhelm, Joseph. "The Nicene Creed." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York 15 Nov. 2009
The Nicene Creed sets out the very basic and unelaborated tenets of the doctrine without explaining that doctrine in detail and this ‘vagueness’ allows debate, confusion and conflict. The creed also fails to define what it would be like to integrate a Trinitarian perspective into life and also into death.
The Roman Catholic Church tried to explain and codify the doctrine as part of the “Catechism of the Catholic Church”. Emphasising that the doctrine is a core ‘mystery’; the Catechism teaches the doctrine in a ‘pithy’ style that draws upon the historical teaching and cultural traditions of this particular denomination. The Trinity is a mystery that relies upon God to reveal the mystery to others and cannot, in isolation, be understood by humanity with reference to human reason alone. Equally, the Trinity cannot be understood without reference to the Incarnation. The catechism is a succinct (although sometimes legalistic) statement of doctrine that tries to free the denomination from perceived doctrinal error. The Catechism also introduces specific Church terminology such as "consubstantial Trinity" which are explained; although, the explanation is sometimes so highly refined that it is inaccessible as a means of informing Christian life. There is a gap in logic in the that we may expect the Trinity to encourage a greater relatedness on Earth between humans and between the living and dead to mirror an eternal, heavenly, integration
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| The traditional power of Catholic theology Saint Mary - Great Snoring [Link] © Godric Godricson |
Building on earlier explorations of the doctrine (and acknowledging that some Protestant denominations totally refute the doctrine); Karl Rahner (SJ) has written extensively in this area such as “The Trinity” (1967). Rahner developed earlier Creedal statements and catechism towards a further refined perception and enhanced an understanding of this doctrine by exploring themes such as the “Economic Trinity” and the “Immanent Trinity”. Such developments are intellectually complicated and sometimes esoteric although, ultimately, Rahner encourages thinking about the doctrine without reaching an ultimately satisfying conclusion.
The doctrine of The Trinity is at the heart of the Christian faith and yet the doctrine is one of the hardest to conceptualise and teach for both for clergy and the laity. The doctrine tries to say something about the nature of God and to reconcile a simple monotheism with a more complex ‘Triune deity’. The doctrine also fails to be a ‘theory of everything’ and sometimes remains an attempt to explain God. The doctrine refutes any assertion that we have three distinct Gods within the Trinity, instead, we have the proposition that within the Trinity we have three distinct personalities; all of which are co-equal and indivisible within a mystical union. Causing much controversy; the doctrine did not become accepted until the 4th Century at the Councils of Nicea. Some non-creedal Protestant denominations have abandoned the doctrine altogether. A stumbling block for some Protestants; the Trinity is a conundrum whereby any discussion about the ‘one’ inevitably becomes a discussion about the ‘three’ and a discussion about the ‘three’ becomes a discussion about the ‘one’. In explaining the Trinity It has often been argued (in simplistic terms) that God the father is ‘love’; Jesus as the son is that Incarnate ‘love’ sent to the world and the Holy Spirit is how that divine ‘love’ is communicated to humanity. There is no attempt to explain how humanity and the history of humanity would be different if we truly understood the Trinity and incorporated Trinitarian beliefs into faith.
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| "Tradition" filling in the gaps within Catholic theology Saint Mary - Great Snoring [Link] © Godric Godricson |
The language surrounding the Trinity is specialist and exclusive; almost legalistic. In discussing the Trinity, the theological term ‘person’ can be seen as being outside of common English usage. ‘Person’ may be conceptualised in terms of a separate and unique. Person in this sense is not like a ‘human person’ or an individual. However, we cannot define ‘person’ simply by reference to what the ‘person is not. Instead, we may use our imprecise language to say that we believe each person of The Trinity to be perfect and whole and co-equal to the other persons of The Trinity.
Rather than dealing with the human idea of financial economics, the Economic Trinity is a theological term that describes the aspects of The Trinity that are revealed to humanity and which are part of and involved with the ‘Economy’ of salvation. It has often been believed in the Latin rite Churches that Jesus is particularly involved with Salvation and Redemption through His Incarnation, Passion death and Resurrection.
The Immanent Trinity is that way of perceiving the Triune Deity, as having an ‘essential existence’ that is outside of the comprehension and understanding of humanity and which is ‘unseen’ by humanity and which is essentially unravelled to humanity. In accepting the ‘Immanent Trinity’, humanity has another way of conceptualising ‘God’ who was revealed to humanity through the Economic Trinity.
Perichoresis; is a term from the Greek language used in English to try and describe a particular situation where the three ‘persons’ of The Trinity are unified together and are sometimes seen to be ‘in community’ or be an intimately close and shared/ inter-related state of existence. Whilst the English language may be blunt and imprecise when dealing with theological concepts first addressed in Greek; perichoresis as a concept attempts to render into a coherent form the idea of a Deity that is “three personned” and indivisible rather than being three separate ‘persons’ who act in isolation from each other.
I suggest that we need to recognise an inconsistency in Latin Rite Christianity before exploring the practical implications of The Trinity for Christian life. This inconsistency can most clearly be perceived in the documents of the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council (1962-1965) which give the impression that the Trinity is at the heart of Christian life and doctrine. However, the documents are formed within a religious and cultural tradition which is largely “monotheistic” in outlook and which finds it difficult to incorporate the Trinity. As a result it is often difficult to define what Catholic Christians actually understand about ‘God’ and what Christian communities would be like if a community of believers embraced more overtly Trinitarian perceptions of God and implemented such perceptions into society. History and liturgy points towards a monotheistic faith rather than a Trinitarian faith
One problem seems to be that Christian communities have; from the witness and ministry of Augustine of Hippo in the 4th Century, been taught to view God as a rather monotheistic Deity or as ‘a unity’ and that minimises the ‘triune’ qualities of God. In effect, the complexities of a ‘triune’ deity have been ‘ironed out’ and ‘simplified’. A renewed emphasis on the Trinity would set the church free from any Augustinian perception that stressed the ‘unity of God’ and effectively strip away the Trinitarian qualities from an essentially ‘triune’ deity. It is unclear what a Church would look like if ‘set free’ from confines that have been in place for so long. In effect, we recognise that The Trinity is confusing, complicated and challenging to understand although it does open up to the Human experience to the concept of ‘diversity’, ‘mystery’ and co-operative endeavour as opposed to individualism.
An intellectual, academic and hierarchical ‘re-discovery’ of the Trinity became possible in the 1960’s. Catholic ‘intellectuals’ in the widest sense began the process of re-discovering The Trinity and also re-conceptualising humanity's relationship with a Triune God. Rather than simply seeing God the Father as a remote and distant figure; Latin Rite Christians are now more easily able to perceive God ‘in community’ or in ‘perichoresis’ with the other personalities of the Economic Trinity. A strengthened emphasis on the Trinity paradoxically informs humanity’s own relationships with each other, the living and dead. The worldwide Church is potentially offered the option of moving away from hierarchical and domineering structures based on ‘power’ and move towards patterns of behaviour that are inherently more collegiate. If we see the Latin Rite tradition as re-discovering the Trinity from the 1960’s; we may also suggest that the Church has the possibility of contemplating the more perfect interaction of the Church (as the mystical body of Christ on Earth) with the Triune Deity. It is probably in the hands of the laity how long they will allow the ‘formal Church’ to take in this reflection on purpose and direction before deciding to press the matter by either their action or increased indifference.
Whilst the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church and a well educated Catholic elite has been able to re-discover a Trinitarian God hidden behind monotheistic ‘overlays’; it is not always clear that official teaching has effectively been communicated ‘downward’ to Catholic Christian communities. It is not apparent that parishes understand what a more Trinitarian God would mean for a Christian life in the 21st Century or their own relationship with God or participation in The Eucharist. There always remains a question about the resources that are given over to the training and education of the laity in parishes. In an age when people perceive a shortage of priests it seems convenient to train the laity.
For contemporary parishes and communities; It is in the Eucharist that they collectively come into the Presence of God in the most meaningful way. This is a very real although undeclared problem for Catholic Christians. That problem seems to relate to the question, “Is it just Jesus that I receive at the Eucharist?”. For many Catholic Christians; the answer to this is “Yes!”. The common sense perception being that the words of institution were delivered by Jesus and that Jesus alone is present in the Eucharist. However, this cannot be correct. Rather than the common sense perception of Jesus alone being present at the Eucharist; a restatement of the Trinitarian dimension is required whereby the Eucharist sees us unified with all the consubstantial persons of the Trinity joined in ‘circumincession’. The Trinity also re-states an idea of reintegration that is hard to accept from a monotheistic standpoint.
Despite reforms in the 1960’s. the present celebration of the liturgy may be characterised as being monotheistic in nature; even if the actual words reflect the Trinitarian formula. We perceive the current Eucharist as a “fragmentation” of God into constituent parts and this is unhelpful. Christians should arguably “Live the life of The Trinity” within the Eucharist and this is perhaps the direction of travel as a logical consequence of Vatican II; post conciliar theologians and even the development of alternative and diverse theologies such as “Liberation theology” and even “Queer Theology”. Humanity may begin to see ‘Diversity’ and ‘Freedom’ as a major outcome of a re-exploration of ‘Trinitarianism’. Rather than the rather false and self conscious ‘sign of peace’ given in English parishes at the Eucharist are we being directed towards a real and more perfect unity as Christians that reflects the unity of the Trinity?
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| The modern Church forgetting old knowledge
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In considering the practical implications of the doctrine of the Trinity for Christian life, it is evident that humanity is heir to a diverse Christian heritage which requires hermeneutics to fully determine. Society is very far from the unique perfection inherent in the Trinity. However, from the 1960’s and the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council we may question whether or not we are experiencing a process whereby the Holy Spirit is directing Christian life as a whole and Catholic theological study in particular towards a more reflective position. It is the case that if the Latin Rite Churches are to survive that they must change radically and it may be that ‘et Unum Sint’ (that they may all be one) is the direction in which the Trinity offers to humanity as a model for Christian life?
Wednesday 10 October 2012
Living animals as sacrifice
Grimm, in his German Mythology, tells us: “It was often considered necessary to build living animals, even human beings, into the foundations on which any edifice was reared, as an oblation to the earth to induce her to bear the superincumbent weight it was proposed to lay upon her. By this horrible practice it was supposed that the stability of the structure was assured as well as other advantages gained.” Of course the animal is merely the more modern substitute for the human being, just in the same manner as at the present day the bottle and coins are the substitute for the living animal. In Germany, after the burial of a living being under a foundation was given up, it became customary to place an empty coffin under the foundations of a house, and this custom lingered on in remote country districts until comparatively recent times.
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| Ecclesiastical Curiosities Edited William Andrews (1899) Project Gutenburg © Godric Godricson |
In our own time the burial of a bottle with coins under a foundation stone is the faded memory of the immuring of a human victim. So hard does custom and superstition die that even in the prosaic nineteenth century days we cannot claim to be altogether free from the bonds and fetters with which our ancestors were bound.
Saint Mary The Virgin - Great Snoring
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| Saint Mary The Virgin - Great Snoring [Link] © Godric Godricson |
This is a wonderful Church that has been ruined by those lovable rascals that run the Anglican Diocese of Norwich. They collectively seem to believe that if a Church is scraped within an inch of its spiritual life and attacked with neglect that the place becomes more Anglican. The 'Catholicity' of this Church has been removed and exported elsewhere and the spirit of God that we seek within such walls is absent. Yes, I'm sure that the fabric of this aircraft hanger is easy to maintain and the absence of candles and devotional material is easy to defend when the Bishop's man arrives although it is weak as a defence. The building is magnificent and it should be allowed to be the house of God for this community if they collectively want a house of God.
The graveyard has been scraped to remove many of the earlier monuments and the impression has been given of a municpal park. A park is not required in this part of Norfolk because its green and lush without the need for recreation space and I can imagine that parish Authorities would blench at the idea of ball games in this particular park. The mowing space must be great here as the stele headstones have all gone and I don't just mean put to the edge as at Sporle. Instead, the memorials have just gone and a sort of green desert is in situ.
BTW there is hardly a right angle in the place and this is one of the many charms of the building
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| Saint Mary The Virgin - Great Snoring [Link] © Godric Godricson |
Tuesday 9 October 2012
Their bodies are at Rome
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| A Treatise on Relics - John Calvin (1870) - Project Gutenburg |
"It is now time to speak of the apostles, and I shall begin with St Peter and St Paul. Their bodies are at Rome; one part of them in the church of St Peter, and the other in that of St Paul. We are told that St Sylvester weighed their bodies in order to divide them into equal parts. Both their heads are preserved also at Rome in St John of the Lateran. Besides the two bodies we have just mentioned, many of their bones are to be found elsewhere, as at Poitiers they have St Peter's jaw and beard. At Treves there are several bones of the two apostles. At Argenton in Berri they have St Paul's shoulder, and in almost every church dedicated to these apostles there will be found some of their relics. At the commencement of this treatise I mentioned that St Peter's brains, which were shown in this town (Geneva), were found on examination to be a piece of pumice stone, and I have no doubt that many of the bones considered to belong to these two apostles would turn out to be the bones of some animal."
Westminster Abbey and burial in Church
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| Robert Leeke Died 1762 Buried in Church Saint Mary The Virgin - Great Snoring [Link] © Godric Godricson |
The Tombs in Westminster AbbeyHenry W. LucyThe North American Review(1892)
"What is less known is the presence within the precincts of the Abbey of a long list of nonentities. As recently as the year 1817 there was buried in the cloisters George Wellington Francis Balthasar St. Anthonio, aged two years. The Royal Commission in vain inquired as to the identity of Master Anthonio, and the wherefore of the honour done to him, for which Nelson cheerfully perilled his life at St. Vincent. Nothing is known of him, only his name, under the weight of whose syllables the infant seems to have sunk ere yet he learned to walk. It is easy to understand why in 1801 Susanna Frances was buried in Westminster Abbey, for it is mentioned in the register that she was the widow of a sacrist. Similar honor was done in following years to George Schliemacher, "formerly servant to the Dean"; Elizabeth Newbegin, wife of the college butler; Mary Barrow, widow of a chorister Ann Forster, niece of the Abbey carpenter, and Amelia Cook, daughter of the Abbey organist, were people connected, however obscurely, with the service of the Abbey, and were buried within its precincts. But persons having property in the neighborhood claimed the right, and generally had it admitted. Macpherson, the reputed author of " Ossian," died in Inverness. When his will was opened, there was found in it directions for his burial in Westminster Abbey on the ground that he had property near there.
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| Buried in Church Saint Mary The Virgin - Great Snoring [Link] © Godric Godricson |
No objection was offered on the part of the authorities. Macpherson's body was brought by hearse all the way from the far north and buried in the Abbey close by Dr. Johnson, who when alive had not been reticent in his criticism on " Ossian." In the register one finds an entry of the interment of a lady with the explanation that it was "so ordered in her will,"? scarcely sufficient authority in these days for burial in Westminster Abbey. forward. It belongs to the Duke of Northumberland's family, who claim a prescriptive right of burial in this Abbey dating back to the time when the Duke of Somerset married the heiress of the Percys. The Percy tomb is in the chapel of St. Nicholas, and when in 1883 Lady Louisa Percy died she was buried there. Naturally an end must come to this luxury. There are already twenty-five coffins in the vault, and scarcely room enough for another full grown Percy. There is one other private vault in the nave, that of Atterbury. This good bishop, having been sent to the Tower on suspicion of high treason, and subsequently banished from the realm, left directions in his will that he should be buried in Westminster Abbey, adding the proviso that it should be "as far away as possible from Kings "? a foresight lacking in the case of Macpherson, who never thought of Dr. Johnson when he desired to be buried in the Abbey".
Monday 8 October 2012
The brain of St Peter
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| A Treatise on Relics - John Calvin (1870) - Project Gutenburg |
"In this town (Geneva) there was formerly, it is said, an arm of St Anthony; it was kissed and worshipped as long as it remained in its shrine; but when it was turned out and examined, it was found to be the bone of a stag. There was on the high altar the brain of St Peter; so long as it rested in its shrine, nobody ever doubted its genuineness, for it would have been blasphemy to do so; but when it was subjected to a close inspection, it proved to be a piece of pumice-stone. I could quote many instances of this kind; but these will be sufficient to give an idea of the quantity of precious rubbish there would have been found if a thorough and universal investigation of all the relics of Europe had ever taken place. Many of those who look at relics close their eyes from superstition, so that in regarding these they see nothing; that is to say, they dare not properly gaze at and consider what they properly may be. Thus many who boast of having seen the whole body of St Claude, or of any other saint, have never had the courage to raise their eyes and to ascertain what it really was. The same thing may be said of the head of Mary Magdalene, which is shown near Marseilles, with eyes of paste or wax. It is valued as much as if it were God himself who had descended from heaven; but if it were examined, the imposition would be clearly detected.It would be desirable to have an accurate knowledge of all the trifles which in different places are taken for relics, or at least a register of them, in order to show how many of them are false; but since it is impossible to obtain this, I should like to have at least an inventory of relics contained in ten or twelve such towns as Paris, Toulouse, Poitiers, Rheims, &c. If I had nothing more than this, it would form a very curious collection. Indeed, it is a wish I am constantly entertaining to get such a precious repertory. However, as this is too difficult, I thought it would be as well to publish the following little warning, to awaken those who are asleep, and to make them consider what may be the state of the entire church if there is so much to condemn in a very small portion of it;—I mean, when people find so much deception in the relics I shall name, and which are far from being the thousandth part of those that are exhibited in various parts of the world, what must they think of the remainder? moreover, if those which had been considered as the most authentic proved to be fraudulent inventions, what can be thought of the more doubtful ones? Would to God that Christian princes thought a little on this subject! for it is their duty not to allow their subjects to be deceived, not only by false doctrine, but also by such manifest impositions. They will indeed incur a heavy responsibility for allowing God to be thus mocked when they could prevent it."
Ancient legend and sacrifice
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| Ecclesiastical Curiosities Edited William Andrews (1899) Project Gutenburg © Godric Godricson |
It is said that when Romulus was about to found the city of Rome he dug a deep pit and cast into it the “first fruits of everything that is reckoned good by use, or necessary by nature,” and before the pit was closed up by a great stone, Faustulus and Quinctilius were killed and laid under it. The legend of Romulus slaying his twin brother Remus because he jumped the walls of the city to show how poor they were, probably arises out of a confusion of the two legends and has become associated with the idea of a sacrificial foundation. To the present day there is a general Italian belief that whenever any great misfortune is going to overtake the city of Rome the giant shadow of Remus may be seen walking over the highest buildings in the city, even to the dome of St. Peter’s.
Sunday 7 October 2012
Saturday 6 October 2012
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