Martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket

Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford England

Martyrdom of St Thomas Becket. Early 14th Century

Observations of a Monk

Edward Grim, a monk, observed the attack from the safety of a hiding place near the altar. He wrote his account some time after the event. Acceptance of his description must be qualified by the influence that Becket's sainthood had on Grim's perspective. However, the fundamentals of his narrative are no doubt true. We pick up the story after the knights have stormed into the cathedral.

"The murderers followed him; 'Absolve', they cried, 'and restore to communion those whom you have excommunicated, and restore their powers to those whom you have suspended.'

"He answered, 'There has been no satisfaction, and I will not absolve them.'

'Then you shall die,' they cried, 'and receive what you deserve.'

'I am ready,' he replied, 'to die for my Lord, that in my blood the Church may obtain liberty and peace. But in the name of Almighty God, I forbid you to hurt my people whether clerk or lay.'
"Then they lay sacrilegious hands on him, pulling and dragging him that they may kill him outside the church, or carry him away a prisoner, as they afterwards confessed. But when he could not be forced away from the pillar, one of them pressed on him and clung to him more closely. Him he pushed off calling him 'pander', and saying, 'Touch me not, Reginald; you owe me fealty and subjection; you and your accomplices act like madmen.'

"The knight, fired with a terrible rage at this severe repulse, waved his sword over the sacred head. 'No faith', he cried, 'nor subjection do I owe you against my fealty to my lord the King.'

"Then the unconquered martyr seeing the hour at hand which should put an end to this miserable life and give him straightway the crown of immortality promised by the Lord, inclined his neck as one who prays and joining his hands he lifted them up, and commended his cause and that of the Church to God, to St. Mary, and to the blessed martry Denys. Scarce had he said the words than the wicked knight, fearing lest he should be rescued by the people and escape alive, leapt upon him suddenly and wounded this lamb who was sacrificed to God on the head, cutting off the top of the crown which the sacred unction of the chrism had dedicated to God; and by the same blow he wounded the arm of him who tells this. For he, when the others, both monks and clerks, fled, stuck close to the sainted Archbishop and held him in his arms till the one he interposed was almost severed.

"Then he received a second blow on the head but still stood firm. At the third blow he fell on his knees and elbows, offering himself a living victim, and saying in a low voice, 'For the Name of Jesus and the protection of the Church I am ready to embrace death.'
"Then the third knight inflicted a terrible wound as he lay, by which the sword was broken against the pavement, and the crown which was large was separated from the head. The fourth knight prevented any from interfering so that the others might freely perpetrate the murder.

As to the fifth, no knight but that clerk who had entered with the knights, that a fifth blow might not be wanting to the martyr who was in other things like to Christ, he put his foot on the neck of the holy priest and precious martyr, and, horrible to say, scattered his brain and blood over the pavement, calling out to the others, 'Let us away, knights; he will rise no more.'

(Source)

Medieval Pieta

Scourging at the Pillar

(photo credit)

Chartres Cathedral Stained Glass, France
Passion of Christ Window (c.1150): Scourging

PILATE, perceiving the obstinacy of the people in requiring that Jesus should be crucified, sentenced Him, in the first place, to the shameful punishment of scourging, and consigned Him to the hands of the soldiers, that his orders might be executed.

Jesus is scourged, for no crime of His own, but to expiate, in His innocent flesh, those sins of impurity with which you have so often defiled your body. Contemplate Jesus at the pillar, bleeding and lacerated from head to foot, and learn hence all that your sins of impurity have cost Him. Beseech Him to cleanse all the stains of your soul with His Divine Blood.

Institution of the Eucharist

Chartres Cathedral Stained Glass
Passion of Christ Window (c.1150): Last Supper

THE INSTITUTION OF THE EUCHARIST

I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
Jesus took bread, blessed it: "Take and eat, this is My Body."
Taking the wine: "This cup is the new covenant in my Blood, shed for you."
At that eucharistic meal, Jesus celebrated the first Mass.
At every Mass the sacrifice of Calvary is made present.
At the Last Supper Jesus instituted the sacrament of Holy Orders to perpetuate this sacrifice.
"Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him."
The Eucharist is a sacrifice inasmuch as it is offered up, and a sacrament inasmuch as it is received.
In the Mass we offer ourselves to God, and God gives himself to us.
The Mass will be fruitful in the measure of our surrender to the Father.
Spiritual Fruit: Love of our Eucharistic Lord

St Raphael leading Tobias

St. Raphael, one the those who stand before the Throne of God and intercedes on our behalf. This great angel is the patron of Doctors, nurses and travelers (among others). I urge everyone to read the book of Tobit - my favorite book of the Bible and a great read.

Armed Man

(photo credit)

The following is a quote from the photographer:

"L'homme, l'homme, l'homme armé,

L'homme armé

L'homme armé doibt on doubter, doibt on doubter.

On a fait partout crier,Que chascun se viengne armer

D'un haubregon de fer."

'The man, the man, the armed man,

The armed man

The armed man should be feared, should be feared.

Everywhere it has been proclaimed

That each man shall arm himself

With a coat of iron mail.'

This famous late medieval chanson seemed a fitting description of this mid-14th-century roundel from St Mary's church in Stanton St John.

Medieval Coat of Arms

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Segovia Alcazar, Spain

Ely Cathedral

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Medieval stained glass window from Ely Cathedral. This window appears to depict scenes from ordinary medieval life.

Below is a partial caption from the photographer:

"The story of Ely Cathedral begins in Saxon Times with the life of its founder,St. Etheldreda.St. EtheldredaEtheldreda (Æthelthryth, Ediltrudis, Audrey) (d.679), queen, foundress and abbess of Ely. She was the daughter of Anna, king of East Anglia, and was born, probably, at Exning, near Newmarket in Suffolk. At an early age she was married (c.652) to Tondberht, ealdorman of the South Gyrwas, but she remained a virgin. On his death, c.655, she retired to the Isle of Ely, her dowry. In 660, for political reasons, she was married to Egfrith, the young king of Northumbria who was then only 15 years old, and several years younger than her. He agreed that she should remain a virgin, as in her previous marriage, but 12 years later he wished their marital relationship to be normal. Etheldreda, advised and aided by Wilfred, bishop of Northumbria, refused. Egfrith offered bribes in vain. Etheldreda left him and became a nun at Coldingham under her aunt Ebbe (672) and founded a double monastery at Ely in 673. (from FARMER, David: The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, 3rd ed. OUP, 1992.)Etheldreda restored an old church at Ely, reputedly destroyed by Penda, pagan king of the Mercians, and built her monastery on the site of what is now Ely Cathedral. After its restoration in 970 by Ethelwold it became the richest abbey in England except for Glastonbury.Etheldreda's monastery flourished for 200 years until it was destroyed by the Danes. It was refounded as a Benedictine community in 970. Etheldreda died c.680 from a tumour on the neck, reputedly as a divine punishment for her vanity in wearing necklaces in her younger days; in reality it was the result of the plague which also killed several of her nuns, many of whom were her sisters or nieces. At St Audrey's Fair necklaces of silk and lace were sold, often of very inferior quality, hence the derivation of the word tawdry from St Audrey.17 years after her death her body was found to be incorrupt: Wilfred and her physician Cynefrid were among the witnesses. The tumour on her neck, cut by her doctor, was found to be healed. The linen cloths in which her body was wrapped were as fresh as the day she had been buried. Her body was placed in a stone sarcophagus of Roman origin, found at Grantchester and reburied.For centuries, Etheldreda's shrine was the focus for vast numbers of medieval pilgrims. It was destroyed in 1541, but a slate in the Cathedral marks the spot where it stood, and the 23 June and 17 October are still kept as major festivals in the Cathedral. Some relics are alleged to be in St Etheldreda's Church, Ely Place, London (where the bishops of Ely formerly had their London residence). Her hand, which was discovered in a recusant hiding place near Arundel in 1811, is claimed by St Etheldreda's Roman Catholic church at Ely"

St Mary Magdalene and St. George

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Detail of the early 16th century glazing of the north nave aisle of Cologne Cathedral

Saint Blaise

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Early 14th-century detail from Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, of St Blaise, whose feast is 3 February. St Blaise, who was bishop of Sebaste and persecuted and executed by Licinius in 316, is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers and famed for many miracles and wonders. According to tradition, on one occasion, a woman whose boy was dying because a fish bone had stuck in his throat, came to St Blaise and laid the boy at his feet, tearfully begging him to cure her child. St Blaise promptly laid his hands on the boy and prayed that this child, and anyone else who sought help from God in his name, should obtain the benefit of health. The boy was cured instantly and to this day, St Blaise remains a worthy help in cases of throat ailments.For centuries now, the Church has attributed to this fourth-century Armenian bishop and martyr, protection from throat ailments. Two candles are blessed and then held saltire (often tied in this position with red ribbon) and placed on the throat of the devotee as the priest prays the prayer of the blessing of throats, that God will free from all afflictions of the throast and other ills those who place themselves under the protection and intercession of St Blaise.

St. Catherine's Wheel

The wheel of St. Catherine of Alexandria

Church of St Mary, Gislingham, Suffolk, England

(photo credit)

A virgin and martyr whose feast is celebrated in the Latin Church and in the various Oriental churches on 25 November, and who for almost six centuries was the object of a very popular devotion.
Of noble birth and learned in the sciences, when only eighteen years old, Catherine presented herself to the Emperor Maximinus who was violently persecuting the Christians, upbraided him for his cruelty and endeavoured to prove how iniquitous was the worship of false gods. Astounded at the young girl's audacity, but incompetent to vie with her in point of learning the tyrant detained her in his palace and summoned numerous scholars whom he commanded to use all their skill in specious reasoning that thereby Catherine might be led to apostatize. But she emerged from the debate victorious. Several of her adversaries, conquered by her eloquence, declared themselves Christians and were at once put to death. Furious at being baffled, Maximinus had Catherine scourged and then imprisoned. Meanwhile the empress, eager to see so extraordinary a young woman, went with Porphyry, the head of the troops, to visit her in her dungeon, when they in turn yielded to Catherine's exhortations, believed, were baptized, and immediately won the martyr's crown. Soon afterwards the saint, who far from forsaking her Faith, effected so many conversions, was condemned to die on the wheel, but, at her touch, this instrument of torture was miraculously destroyed. The emperor, enraged beyond control, then had her beheaded and angels carried her body to Mount Sinai where later a church and monastery were built in her honour. (source)

St. Edward's Catholic Church in Drayton, ND
(photo credit)

Virgin & Child

A stunning 14th century Virgin and Child,

the figures exhibiting the S-shaped posture typical of figurative work of this period.

East Hagbourne, Berkshire England

(photo credit)

Our Lady - Detail

Monks Risborough, Buckinghamshire England

A small figure of Our Lady and the child Jesus, fourteenth century glass set amidst predominately fifteenth century glass fragments in a south aisle window.

(photo credit)

Jesus with Nathanael & Phillip

Canterbury Cathedral

London, England

Late 12th century. North window, northern aisle,

Jesus and the Apostles

Jesus and the Apostles fishing - detail

Canterbury Cathedral, London England

Late 12th century. North window, northern aisle

Probably during the reign of Henry II