Christmas Every Day

842 The Restoration of Icons

For almost a century, the Eastern Christian world was split over the proper use of images in worship. The Ten Commandments expressly forbade the creation of “graven images” and Judaism developed as an aniconic faith, eschewing the visual representation of God as a form of idolatry.

Christians, however much they rejected the worship of idols, felt it was necessary to portray the Godhead inasmuch as Christ had come to earth in human form. To reject depicting him was to fall prey to the Docetic heresy, which claimed that Jesus had only appeared to be human and to reject the goodness of the created world. Thus Christianity developed a rich visual art tradition. This tradition was particularly strong in the East where icons of Jesus and the saints were treated with intense devotion.

When Christian forces suffered losses in the Middle East at the hands of Muslim invaders, many military officers from the border areas began to believe that the Islamic refusal to depict God was a reason for their success; Christianity had fallen into idolatry and was being punished. When one of these generals, Leo III, became emperor he began a period of iconoclasm, a policy followed by his successor Constantine V. Images were destroyed, defaced or painted over, causing popular outrage and clashes with the monasteries which were devotees of images. Ironically, the greatest intellectual supporter of icons was John of Damascus who lived in Muslim-occupied Syria.

For a short time at the end of the century under Empress Irene, icons were restored but the army continued to oppose them. When she was overthrown, iconoclasm was resumed. It was not until February 19, 842, that were icons restored to the churches largely at the instigation of the Empress Theodora. The first Sunday of Lent is still observed as the “Feast of Orthodoxy” in Eastern churches.

The iconoclastic spirit was strong in 16th and 17th century Protestantism which carried out much regrettable destruction of religious art. The current brouhaha over the depiction of the Muslim prophet Mohammed shows the issue is still very much alive.

The icon above is of Christ Pantocrator (Almighty), from the 6th century in the St Catherine monastery, Mount Sinai.

The Shipwreck of Paul

On this day is commemorated the shipwreck on Malta suffered by Paul on his way to Rome. The New International Version of Acts 27 reads:

27 On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land. 28 They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet deep. 29 Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight. 30 In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. 31 Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it drift away.

33 Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. “For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything. 34 Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.” 35 After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. 36 They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. 37 Altogether there were 276 of us on board. 38 When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.

39 When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. 40 Cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea and at the same time untied the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach. 41 But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf.

42 The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. 43 But the centurion wanted to spare Paul’s life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land. 44 The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely.

The stamp pictured below was issued by Malta on the 1,900th anniversary of the wreck. Today tourists can visit Saint Paul’s Bay on Malta. This article discusses the historical accuracy of the claim: http://www.parsagard.com/shipwreck.htm

Saint Sigfrid’s Day

(But let us not forget Saints Winaman, Unaman and Sunaman who are also commemorated on this day.)

Evangelizing the pagans of northern Europe was a tough job and, for centuries, the reward for the efforts of Christian priests and monks was death. Many a mission was slaughtered at the water’s edge or after the first sermon denouncing pagan idols. Even some conversions of Nordic kings came to naught when their successors decided that maybe the good old gods were best after all.

Finally, early in the eleventh century, an English monk from the Benedictine Abbey at Glastonbury named Sigfrid succeeded in converting Olof, the King of Sweden, who would be the first Swedish ruler to remain faithful to Christianity until his death. Joining their uncle Sigfrid on the mission front were his nephews Winaman, Unaman and Sunaman who had the misfortune of preaching to obdurate pagans who murdered them and threw their heads in a nearby lake. Sigrid recovered the heads (see above) and these relics were venerated in Sweden until the Protestant Reformation.

Sigfrid won admiration when he refused to allow the murderers to be executed and remitted the blood fine. He died c. 1045, revered as The Second Apostle of the North. (St Ansgar, 801-865, was the First.)

February 14 is, of course, St Valentine’s Day, but the saint commemorated on February 13 is too good to overlook, so, a day late, I give you:

St Dyfnog’s Day

Be not abashed if you are as yet unaware of St Dyfnog, a Welsh saint of surpassing obscurity. He was a priest of the sixth century who served as confessor to a prominent family. Saxon invaders had pressed the native Romano-Britons back into the remoter areas of the island where they maintained their Christianity in the face of the pagan onslaught.

St Dyfnog, Llanrhaeadr-yng-Nghinmeirch in Denbighshire, Wales is built on a site which has been occupied by a church since the 500s when it was founded by its name saint in close proximity to a well with healing powers. Today the well and the church with its magnificent Jesse Window dating from the 16th century are tourist attractions. A Jesse Window is a stained glass creation which depicts the family tree of Jesus.

Follow this link http://stdyfnog.org.uk and then on the Jesse Tree link. This will take you to an image of the window, an explanation of its history and a nifty little feature that allows you to click on it and see which ancestor pops up. Enjoy.

St Scholastica’s Day

Scholastica (c.480-542) was the sister of St Benedict of Nursia, the founder of western monasticism, and was the first Benedictine nun. The story most frequently told about her concerns the yearly meeting that she would have with her brother. As her death drew near, she begged him to stay longer to discuss the joys of heaven. Not wishing to break his vows, Benedict refused but Scholastica prayed and a fierce storm erupted requiring Benedict to stay and talk longer. A few days later Scholastica died with her shroud, Benedict testified, ascending to heaven in the form of a dove. Scholastica is the patron saint of nuns and children suffering from seizures and is the go-to saint for prayers against storms.

“Havac! Havoc! Smyt fast, give gode knocks!” On St Scholatica’s Day in 1355 a riot broke out between the students of Oxford and townsmen after an incident in a pub over the quality of wine being served. The disorders claimed the lives of 63 students and 30 locals. On the 600th anniversary of the massacres a ceremony of reconciliation was held between the University and the town.

1846

The Mormon exodus west from Nauvoo begins.

The members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints founded by their prophet Joseph Smith (1805-44), found it hard to establish themselves peaceably in the United States. Their heterodox ideas of revelation, the nature of God and polygamy were branded as heretical by American Christian leaders and violence was often visited upon them, violence which they often returned in kind. The Mormons, as they came to be called, were driven out of Missouri to Illinois where they established the city of Nauvoo as their headquarters. Again violence broke out and Smith was arrested in 1844 along with his brother and subsequently murdered by a lynch mob in jail.

Plans were then made for a mass migration of Mormons outside the USA, either to California (then occupied by Mexico) or a settlement on unclaimed land across the Rockies. In February 1846, groups of settlers began to move out of Nauvoo. Eventually thousands would trek to the Great Salt Lake Valley in what is now Utah and establish themselves in the security they sought.

1921

Death of Hannah Grier Coome

On this day the Anglican Church in Canada honours Hannah Grier Coome (1837-1921) or Mother Hannah who found the country’s first Anglican religious order for women.

Born thirty years before Confederation in what was then Upper Canada, Hannah Grier was the daughter of an Anglican clergyman. At age 22 she married an engineer, Thomas Coome, and moved with him to England until 1877 when they returned to North America. At the death of her husband Hannah resolved to return to England to join the order of the Sisters of St Mary but she was persuaded to set up a similar sisterhood in Canada instead. While funds were being raised to endow the order, Hannah worked with nuns in New York to gain experience in hospital and social work.

In 1884 Hannah made her vows and established the Sisterhood of St John the Divine in Toronto. With Sister Aimée Hare, she began to provide meals and clothing for the poor, teach Bible classes, visit the sick and sew for churches. The next year she volunteered for nursing duties during the Northwest Rebellion and helped set up a field hospital in Moose Jaw.

When she returned, the order established the first surgical hospital for women in Toronto and a home for the aged. Over the past century they have trained nurses, in convalescent care, and in rehabilitation; administered schools and an orphanage; worked with the mentally handicapped; ministered to the elderly; and worked with the poor in large cities and depressed rural areas. Today the sisterhood is best known for its rehabilitation hospital and retreat centres and for urging liturgical renewal.

For more on the Sisterhood of St John the Divine: http://www.ssjd.ca/history.html

1685

The accession of the last Catholic ruler of the United Kingdom.

James II of England (James VII of Scotland) (1633-1701) was born to King Charles I and his queen Henrietta Maria. He was captured by the forces of Parliament during the English civil war but escaped and fled to France where he joined his mother at the court of his uncle Louis XIV. Parliament had executed his father in 1649 which made his older brother Charles, the king of a throne he could not recover until 1660 and James became the heir presumptive — meaning that he would be displaced as heir as soon as his brother produced a child. However Charles II, though capable of siring any number of bastard sons and daughters (at least 14), remained in a childless marriage.

Though both had been brought up as Protestants (and the ruler of England was expected to be head of the Anglican church), both Charles and James converted to their mother’s Catholicism. While Charles concealed his conversion as long as he lived, James made no secret of it after 1679. This led many in England to call for his being barred from the throne but when his brother died in 1685, on this day James succeeded as king with little public opposition.

Within three years, however, James would be deposed from the throne in a Protestant coup. There were three main reasons for this: James’s attempts to win toleration for his Catholic subjects, his use of non-Parliamentary powers to do so, and the astonishing birth of a male son who would be the Catholic heir which the English political class dreaded. In 1688 politicians conspired with Mary, the daughter of James II and her husband, William of Orange, the Dutch prince. An Orange-led army invaded England causing James to flee; he returned with an army to invade Catholic Ireland where he hoped to build a base of support but he was defeated in 1689 at the Battle of the Boyne. James then went into permanent exile in France; by his flight he was deemed to have abdicated and William and Mary were installed as joint rulers.

The consequences of this “Glorious Revolution” were enormous. The two new monarchs had to accept a Bill of Rights and new laws that would result eventually in the supremacy of Parliament. Catholics were (and still are) barred from the throne but further religious toleration was granted to non-Anglican Protestants. James, his son (the Old Pretender) and grandson (Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Young Pretender) kept up their claims to the throne, often backed by armed invasions. It was not until 1807 that the last Stuart claimant, a Catholic cardinal named Henry Benedict Thomas Edward Maria Clement Francis Xavier Stuart died.

Death of an apoplectic earl

Given the heated tenor of recent political exchanges, it seems worthwhile to remember that one may literally burst a blood vessel when arguing with one’s opponents. That was the case with James Stanhope, (1673-1721) the first Earl Stanhope, who was defending his conduct during the infamous Southsea Bubble scandal, a failed investment scheme in which many lost their fortunes and government finances took serious damage. Chamber’s Book of Days notes:

This eminent person carried arms under King William in Flanders; and his Majesty was so struck with his spirit and talent that he gave him a captain’s commission in the Foot Guards, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, he being then in his 21^st year. He also served under the Duke of Schomberg and the Earl of Peterborough; and subsequently distinguished himself as Commander-in-chief of the British forces in Spain. At the close of his military career, he became an active Whig leader in Parliament; took office under Sunderland, and was soon after raised to the peerage. His death was very sudden. He was of constitutionally warm and sensitive temper, with the impetuous bearing of the camp, which he had never altogether shaken off. 

In the course of the discussion on the South Sea Company’s affairs, which so unhappily involved some of the leading members of the Government, the Duke of Wharton (Feb. 4^th, 1721) made some severe remarks in the House of Lords, comparing the conduct of ministers to that of Sejanus, who had made the reign of Tiberius hateful to the old Romans. Stanhope, in rising to reply, spoke with such vehemence in vindication of himself and his colleagues, that he burst a blood-vessel, and died the next day. 

‘May it be eternally remembered,’ says the British Merchant, ‘to the honour of Earl Stanhope, that he died poorer in the King’s service than he came into it. Walsingham, the great Walsingham, died poor; but the great Stanhope lived in the time of South Sea temptations.’

Candlemas

Since the sixth century, February 2 has been the day of the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary — now known as the Feast of the Presentation — marking the ritual in the Temple required by Jewish law law forty days after the birth of a male child.

When the infant Jesus was brought to the Temple, Simeon spoke of him as “a light to lighten the Gentiles” (Luke 2:32) and so light is the theme of the day. Believers bring a candle to the church to be blessed; these candles are thought to possess magical powers against sickness and thunder storms. Across many cultures it is the last day of the Christmas season when all ornaments must be taken down and greenery burnt. In England the Yule log for the next Christmas was selected and set to dry; in Mexico it is the Dia de Candelaria when the image of the baby Jesus is removed from the cradle. On Candlemas, Scottish school children used to bring money to their teacher to buy candles to light the school room, a practice that turned into simply bringing gifts to the master. The boy who brought the most money (the term for this gratuity was bleeze-money) was named Candlemas King whose reign lasted six weeks and who was allowed to remit punishments.

The custom of predicting the weather based on conditions on Candlemas has turned into Groundhog Day wherein North Americans watch the emergence of particular groundhogs from their hibernation — if they see their shadows on February 2, six more weeks of winter will follow. (Americans scrutinize the reaction of the Pennsylvania groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil while Canadians observe Ontario’s Wiarton Willie or Nova Scotia’s Shubenacadie Sam. Animal rights advocates have recently demanded that these animals be replaced by robot groundhogs.)

Candlemas was also believed to be a time when the soul of Judas is temporarily allowed out of Hell to ease his torment in the sea.

1343 Unigenitus defends indulgences

Pierre Roger, a monk and Archbishop of Rouen, was elected Pope in 1342, the fourth pontiff — all Frenchmen — to reign in Avignon during the “Babylonian Captivity” when the papacy was absent from Rome. He took the regnal name of Clement VI

In 1343, Clement refused a plea by the Romans and the poet Petrarch to return to Rome but in order to lessen the sting of his refusal, issued the bull Unigenitus Dei filius, which reduced the time between jubilees (a huge boon to the Roman tourist trade) from 100 years to 50 — meaning that the city could look forward eagerly to the year 1350. In the bull the pope outlined clearly the rules governing indulgences, documents whereby the pope could remit time that the dead spent in Purgatory.

It was accepted in medieval theology that the living could help the dead move from the pains of Purgatory to the bliss of Paradise by prayer or acts of charity. In this English drawing of the 1400s we see that masses said for the deceased and alms giving draw souls out of Purgatory toward Heaven. Unfortunately the practice degenerated to the point where merely buying an indulgence was said to be sufficient.

It was this practice that Martin Luther would condemn in 1517, setting off the Protestant Reformation. In his Introduction to the 95 Theses, Luther states:

Lastly, works of piety and charity are infinitely better than indulgences, and yet they [the Roman Catholic priests] do not preach these with such display or so much zeal; nay, they keep silence about them for the sake of preaching pardons. And yet it is the first and sole duty of all bishops, that the people should learn the Gospel and Christian charity: for Christ nowhere commands that indulgences should be preached. What a dreadful thing it is then, what peril to a bishop, if, while the Gospel is passed over in silence, he permits nothing but the noisy outcry of indulgences to be spread among his people, and bestows more care on these than on the Gospel!