You may not be able to see it but St Francis has nail marks on his hands. He was never crucified. How can that be? _________________ Please visit our main site
maybe in his solitude, his penance wasn't only to wear the hair shirt but also to mark himself with the "marks of christ"??? _________________ i'm not afraid of dying...it's living that scares me!!!!
I found out that St Francis is often depicted with stigmata. Perhaps he experienced the phenomena himself. _________________ Please visit our main site
Two years before Francis, the faithful servant of Christ, gave his soul back to God, he was alone on the top of Mt. Alverna. There he had begun a fast of forty days in honor of the archangel Michael and was immersed more deeply than usual in the delights of heavenly contemplation. His soul became aglow with the ardor of fervent longing for heaven as he experienced within himself the operations of grace.
As he was drawn aloft through ardent longing for God one morning near the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, and was praying on the mountainside, he saw what appeared as a seraph with six bright wings gleaming like a fire descending from the heights of heaven. As this figure approached in swift flight and came near the man of God it appeared not only winged but also crucified. The sight of it amazed Francis and his soul experienced joy mingled with pain. He was delighted with the sight of Christ appearing to him so graciously and intimately and yet the awe-inspiring vision of Christ nailed to the cross aroused in his soul a joy of compassionate love.
When the vision vanished after a mysterious and intimate conversation it left Francis aglow with seraphic love in his soul. Externally, however, it left marks on his body like those of the Crucified as if the impression of a seal had been left on heated wag. The figures of the nails appeared immediately on his hands and feet. The heads of the nails were inside his hands but on top of his feet with their points extending through to the opposite side. His right side too showed a blood-red wound as if it had been pierced by a lance, and blood flowed frequently from it.
Because of this new and astounding miracle unheard of in times past, Francis came down from the mountain a new man adorned with the sacred stigmata, bearing in his body the image of the Crucified not made by a craftsman in wood or stone , but fashioned in his members by the hand of the living God
That's good, I thought stigmata before I'd read any of the other replies.
Where is that window, David? And who is the other saint? He's dressed in (I'd say) 15th C clothes, and his dog looks like a labrador. Is it a fairly modern window?
On closer inspection it's St Hubert, and he's wearing early Tudor dress. He's a huntsman, because he also has a hunting horn. And why are the signs of the zodiac all around the edge? This doesn't look like a church window, even with the images of two saints on it. This is intriguing. David, can you enlighten me any more?
Saint Hubertus or Hubert (born c. 656 to 658, probably in Toulouse; died May 30, 727 or 728 in Tervuren near Brussels, Belgium), called the "Apostle of the Ardennes" was the first Bishop of Liège. Hubertus is a Christian saint, the patron saint of hunters, mathematicians, opticians and metalworkers, and used to be invoked to cure rabies. Saint Hubert was widely venerated in the Middle Ages.
Is it anything to do with patronage? Something to do with whoever had the window commissioned, or because Hubert is patron of something associated with the area? Or is there even a connection with St Francis?
Here are some more windows from the same church. Bearing in mind that this is the parish church, where I wonder, does the theme of these windows fit in with Christianity!
People do things for a reason especially when you consider the cost of these windows.
What I wonder was the reason for these images?
Connection between King Arthur and the Bible.
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Holy thorn of Glastonbury.
It is believed St Joseph of Arimathea came to Glastonbury and thrust his staff into the ground on Wearyall hill. It took root and grew and every year from then on blossomed at Midnight on Christmas eve. It is said that the tree was destroyed in the seventeenth century by a puritan soldier, but not before many cuttings had been taken and planted elsewhere. One such daughter tree is in the grounds of Glastonbury abbey. It continues to bloom to this day although flowering now is more usually upon old Christmas eve (5th January)
The cutting of the thorn, and the retelling of the Joseph legend through The Holy Thorn Song--sprigs of the thorn are sent to the Queen. (Until her death, sprigs also continued to be sent to the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.)
Biblical reference;
"Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for The Kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth [see The Shroud of Turin] and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women [see Mary and Mary of Magdala] who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how His body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to The Commandment." (Luke 23:50-56)
King Arthur is purported to have been buried at Glastonbury ,and there is, I believe mention of him in the Apocrypha,the books of the bible that were removed,seemingly unimportant. [ _________________ Remember words spoken complaining may blight every effort and plan,
A kind word would help in attaining,
So say a kind word when you can.
Yes I would call that a tentative link rather than a positive connection.
The expression good and upright man seems familiar. I believe it may be a Freemasonry expression.
Look back at the pictures and note the shape of the stone from which Excalibur is being extracted. It is a truncated pyramid.
I am beginning to think that this church has Freemasonry connections and I don't mean the guys who built it.
I shall investigate more.
By the way the church is St Mary's at Prittlewell in Essex.
Also note the reversed lance in another of the pictures and the similarity between the Devil card in the Ryder Waite pack and yet another of the windows.
So what with Astronomical signs out of sequence and strange windows, what is it all about. I have some more interesting picture to put on later. _________________ Please visit our main site
There's a link with Arthurian legend & the Grail hunt, which is why I wondered if there was a link with the masons, or even the Priory of Zion ? _________________
The Masons and the templars are very strongly linked, and there are legends of a Grail quest around the Templars, if you follow the ideas of the book "The Holy blood & the Holy Grail" by Baigent & Leigh, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Blood,_Holy_Grail then the Templars & the masons have been hiding the truth of the holy grail, which according to certain historians is the bloodline of Christ, since before the founding of the templars in the C12th !
Masons are according to legend followers of the templar movement !
(You've hit upon something that I know a fair deal about here & something which fascinates me !) _________________
I shall be looking at the sites you recommend later when my head is on the right way for such things. I do believe that we have our own connections with this mystery here in darkest Essex. Following on from my own work together with a local expert he has found some amazing things in the landscape and I was with him in fact discovered some myself. I had no understanding of what the overall picture was but it is all to do with the Great Bear(Arthur) constellation and golden means and landscape geometry which is all beyond me. Sadly he is married to the witch that I fell out with and try as I might he will not publish or release any of his work. If someone reads this who can research such things then so be it. In the meantime I shall press on and put whatever I find on here. That is what his site is all about. Openness and sharing. At least I hope it is.
I have red Holy Blood three times and it it really fascinating stuff. Having spent a lot of time out in the landscape I am certain that there are secrets yet to be uncovered for those who wish to involve themselves in such things.
PS.
Note the similarity between this truncated pyramid and the one in the photo in my previous post out of wich Excalibur is being extracted.
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