08May

Remembering Our Mothers, and Saint Monica

In many Christian calendars, the feast day of Saint Monica nearly coincides with Mother’s Day. May 4th is commemorated as her feast day by some Lutheran bodies, the Eastern Orthodox, and The Episcopal Church USA.

Monica shines as a powerful example of maternal love and devotion. She prayed unceasingly for her wayward son as well as for the conversion of her husband. Famously, she was told by a bishop “the child of those tears shall never perish.”

Her tears paid off well, for her, for her son, and for the church. Her son repented of his previous lifestyle, converted to Christianity, and eventually became a bishop. His writings are some of the most brilliant and penetrating of his era. He is known and remembered to us as Saint Augustine of Hippo.

In Roman Catholicism Monica is regarded as a patron saint for mothers, among others.

Happy Mothers Days.

16Apr

The Icepick Cometh: A Case Study in Hubris

(Dr. Walter Freeman, left, and Dr. James W. Watts study an X ray before a psychosurgical operation, in public domain image by photographer Harry Ewing).

On a memorably pleasant spring day day some years ago I was privileged to be given a tour of an old mental health institution in the Midwest. The hulking and late Victorian era stone building (complete with mansard roof and turrets) looked like something straight out of a horror movie. Once housing thousands of patients, this facility is now home to little over a hundred severely mentally ill individuals, along with some offices and outpatient clinics. Most of the remaining space sits vacant, full of dust and memories. Of these memory-filled spaces perhaps the creepiest on the tour were the surgical suites, once used for a variety of “psychosurgeries”. The most popular and notorious of these was the prefrontal lobotomy.¹

The lobotomy is a prime example of the hubris of mid 20th century medicine. It is estimated that this technique was performed on over 40,000 Americans, mostly in the 1940s and 50s, although it persisted even into the late 1970s. A crude and imprecise surgery, the lobotomy had a high mortality rate, and caused such complications as seizures and behavior changes–it left many people drooling and docile. The procedure was sometimes performed by non-surgeons, and even by non-physicians. In that era of paternalism in medicine, informed consent was not always obtained. Often the procedure was done for what we would now say is no very good reason. A man named Howard Dully has the distinction of being among the youngest of patients to receive this procedure, when he was only twelve, essentially for being unruly and hostile toward his abusive stepmother. His story has been recounted in a book called My Lobotomy, and also in this article from The Guardian.

One aspect of the lobotomy story that has piqued my interest is the personal and professional rise and fall of the lobotomy’s most enthusiastic proponent, Dr. Walter Freeman. A Yale grad and University of Pennsylvania trained Neurologist, hailing from a prominent family, he was present at the 1930s international meeting where Portuguese Neurologist (and future Nobel Prize winner) Egas Moniz described the earliest cases of lobotomy performed on humans. Freeman soon modified the procedure so that the brain could be entered by hammering an ice pick into the medial aspect of the orbits. A natural showman, he toured the country in a van he called “the lobotomobile”; It is said that he performed 3500 lobotomies in his lifetime.

An Ohio physician, Dr. Wolfgang Baumgartel, later recounted to NPR his recollection of a 1956 visit by Walter Freeman to his facility:

As far as I remember, he probably did between 15 or 20 on that particular day. Dr. Freeman did not leave the operating room after each procedure — the patient went out, the next patient was ready to come in, had his procedure done, went out again, and then the next patient came in…

I remember that he was relaxed. He was very calm while he was operating. He made it look easy to do it. I think he had an extremely self-confident personality. He didn’t have any qualms. He wanted to prove that he was right, he was convinced that he was right. I thought, “How can a man be relaxed just going blindly into a brain ?!” But of course, I didn’t have the authority to say, “Stop that!”

Even in its heyday, the procedure was not without its detractors. His own partner, Dr. James Watts, disapproved of the new “icepick” procedure, and parted ways with him in 1950. Other physicians were appalled as well. As the Wall Street Journal reported: In 1948, one senior VA psychiatrist wrote a memo mocking Dr. Freeman for using lobotomies to treat “practically everything from delinquency to a pain in the neck.”

Dr. Freeman could be reckless. Elizabeth Day wrote, He had a buccaneering disregard for the usual medical formalities – he chewed gum while he operated and displayed impatience with what he called ‘all that germ crap’, routinely failing to sterilise his hands or wear rubber gloves.

From the earlier cited WSJ article: One patient in Iowa in 1951 died when the doctor chose an inopportune moment to stop for a photo and the surgical instrument penetrated too far into the patient’s brain, Freeman biographer Jack El-Hai wrote.

Freeman famously lobotomized Rosemary Kennedy, leaving her in a permanently infantile state. According to Lisa Waller Rogers, lobotomized patients often had to be retaught how to eat and use a toilet.

Although the discovery of Thorazine and a growing public horror of the effects of the procedure pushed the lobotomy out of vogue, Walter Freeman continued to perform them. Jack El-Hai states:

He refused to stop his support of lobotomy when common sense and medical expediency demanded that he do so. His stubborn advocacy of lobotomy during the 1950s and 1960s, and the many patients who were drawn in by his championing of the procedure, is a large part of the tragedy of the first era of psychosurgery.
(Jack El-Hai (2008), p. 138)

His personal life unravelled in tandem with his professional life, or perhaps drove his strange zeal. It is reported that he had a terrible relationship with his mother, and his marriage was troubled as well. Youngson and Schott related the following in an article for The Independent:

All emotion, all anger, and the blind, black rage that many suspected was within Freeman were turned inwards, and when they emerged, it was in strange and grotesque fashion. … Twelve years earlier, Freeman had experienced a nervous breakdown, brought on by overwork. He had been particularly scared by this experience, and ever since had taken at least three capsules of Nembutal every night to guarantee sleep. Nembutal also gave him a dreamless sleep. Freeman did not like his dreams.

Dr. Freeman was forced to retire in 1967, when his last patient died of a brain hemorrhage, and he was banned from operating. He had already become a bit of a pariah in the medical community, operating out of a private clinic because he had been pushed out of the hospitals. He remained defensive, writing bitter limericks about his professional enemies. His last years were spent touring the country on a quest to interview his former patients and revive his legacy. He died of cancer in 1972.

I used the word hubris” earlier, which well fits the good doctor Freeman’s refusal to turn aside from the procedure he loved. As the Good Book says: “Pride goeth before a fall.”

For further reading:

Mashour, Walker, and Martuza. “Psychosurgery: Past, Present, and Future”, Brain Research Reviews, 45 (2005): pp 409-419; Accessed online at Stanford University site.
Elizabeth Day (2008), “He was bad, so they put an ice pick in his brain…” accessed online at theguardian.com.
“Top Ten Fascinating and Notable Lobotomies”, at listverse.
NPR, “Walter Freeman’s Lobotomies: An Oral History”; accessed online at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5014594.
Wall Street Journal, “The Lobotomy Files”, accessed at http://projects.wsj.com/lobotomyfiles/?ch=two.
Jack El-Hai, “Lessons of the First Era of Psychosurgery.” Clinical Neurosurgery, 55 (2008): 138-139, online here.
Youngson and Schott, (1996) “Adventures With an Ice Pick”, in The Independent, available online here.

^1. In my remembrance, although the lights were off and the doors locked, these suites appeared sterile, clean, and stocked; They seemed almost as if they had just been closed up for the day, rather than abandoned decades ago. They gave an eerie impression of being ready to go back into service if needed by a new crop of doctors.

13Apr

Winning the Race

(Two athletes, Greece, 4th century BC; From decorative vase in the Kunsthistorisches museum, Vienna)

The Olympic Torch relay is the event that traditionally marks the start of the Olympic Games. Over the years, the flame has been transported in some interesting ways. For example, in 1976, the flame was sent by radio signal between Greece and Canada. The flame was detected by heat sensors in Athens, and a signal was sent to Ottawa, where it triggered a laser beam to relight the torch. You can read about some of the other interesting methods of transporting the flame here.

In ancient times, the “lampadedromia” or “torch race” was a relay race, in which several teams of athletes ran through the city, bearing aloft torches. This kind of race took place at various times in Athens, Corinth, Ceos, Byzantium, and elsewhere. Initially there were religious overtones; the first person to reach the designated altar with flame still alight was granted the honor of relighting the sacred flame. All members of the winning team were considered equally honorable, and shared the glory of the victory. More about this event can be read at Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1898); accessed online at this Tufts University site.

In some of the earliest of Christian writings, the Saint Paul the apostle borrowed from Greek culture for a metaphor of the Christian life. For example, in his first letter to the Corinthians, he urged them:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

Here and in a famous passage from 2nd Timothy, Paul emphasizes running hard, being focused on the prize, and finishing the race. In the Timothy passage he looks back upon his efforts:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

I don’t know if Paul was invoking “lampadedromia” specifically, or some other kind of race. The torch race was run in Corinth, to whose resident Christians his earlier passage was addressed. Some interesting things about that early torch race do come to mind.

1. Bearing a torch is both a joyous honor and a solemn responsibility. The sacred light that we bear aloft is no votive offering to pagan gods; in Christianity light is the symbol of God’s presence. Jesus declared himself to be the “Light of the World”. At Pentecost, as recorded in the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit manifested to the early disciples in the form of “tongues as of fire”. Even today we see that Christian literature, buildings, and denominational logos sometimes use the image of a flame to represent the Holy Spirit.

2. Being a relay race, the contest is a team effort. This isn’t a case where one guy runs and everyone else gets to sip beer and eat brats on the sidelines. We are all runners. All of us must do our part for team Christianity. We must strain and get sweaty, but we don’t do it alone. We help each other out, and we all share in the glory of the final victory.

3. As in the torch races of old, if we run well but don’t tend to the flame, allowing it to burn out, then we lose the race. May we run in such a way that we reach the end with torch alight, with God’s spirit still blazing forth in our lives. May we, with Paul, be able to say “I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”

01Mar

Textual Criticism and the Donation of Constantine

(A 13th-century fresco of Sylvester and Constantine, showing the purported Donation. Santi Quattro Coronati, Rome; public domain)

Someone at a satellite music channel has declared March to be “Bible appreciation month”. Of course, we ought to appreciate (and read and study) those remarkable writings year round. I am going to stray a bit to comment on one of the ways the Bible has been studied and scrutinized, namely the discipline of textual criticism. Textual criticism entails the careful examination and comparison of manuscripts and copies. I was recently reminded of one of the earliest examples of textual criticism, being used to demonstrate that a medieval document was a forgery.

In the western half of the Roman Empire, as the remnants of political power crumbled into the chaos of the “dark ages”, the papacy emerged as an energetic contender. The bishop of Rome had originally been one among many sources of authority within the church in the immediate post-apostolic period. His power grew over time, and the Pontiff began to claim temporal authority as well as spiritual primacy.

Pope Innocent III (1160-1216) had this humble impression of his role as not just a spiritual leader, but as one to whom kings are subject:

Just as the founder of the universe established two great lights in the firmament of heaven, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, so too He set two great dignities in the firmament of the universal church…, the greater one to rule the day, that is, souls, and the lesser to rule the night, that is, bodies. These dignities are the papal authority and the royal power. Now just as the moon derives its light from the sun and is indeed lower than it in quantity and quality, in position and in power, so too the royal power derives the splendor of its dignity from the pontifical authority…
(Letter to the prefect of Aserbius and the nobles of Tuscany, available online at this Fordham University site).

By the end of the 13th century Pope Boniface IV was claiming ultimate authority on earth. His papal bull Unam Sanctam insisted that

“We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal.”

And of course, the papacy claimed both. The document concluded:

“Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

(The text may be read here.)

I might pause and note that Boniface was unable to wield anything like the power he claimed to have. In his dispute with King Phillip IV of France, whom he excommunicated, he ultimately lost out to such an extent that mercenaries loyal to Phillip attacked his palaces at Anagni and kidnapped the pontiff, nearly killing him. Although he survived, he died just a few weeks later, in October 1303. Upon reading of the “two swords” in the Bull, one of Philip’s ministers is alleged to have remarked, “My master’s sword is steel; the Pope’s is made of words” (Ruggio 51).

One of the sources upon which this kind of papal authority and power was justified is the so-called “Donation of Constantine.” This document appears to have been “discovered” conveniently in the ninth century. The document purports to be by the emperor Constantine the Great in 315, and “donates” the western empire, including Rome and all lands to its west, to Sylvester, bishop of Rome, supposedly out of thanks for curing him of leprosy at his baptism. (Portions of the Latin and English texts may found at Hanover.edu).

The Renaissance, with its flourishing of scholarship in ancient latin texts, spelled the end of this forgery. In 1440, the priest and humanist scholar Lorenzo Valla (1407-1457), in De falso credita et ementita Constantini donatione declamatio, demonstrated that the donation was a more recent forgery (text available here). To be fair, by the time of Valla, the document was no longer as important as it had been in prior centuries.

Valla began his discourse by noting that Constantine wasn’t the sort to enter into this kind of agreement, and furthermore all of the historical evidence would suggest that he continued to reign over the western Roman Empire, while there is no evidence that Sylvester had done so. He then analyzed the language of the document, showing that terms used, such as “satrap” were not from the 3rd century, but rather much later in the 8th century. The terms “consul” and “patrician” were misused in a clumsy way that would not have happened in ancient Rome. There is reference to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, at a time when the city of Byzantium was neither the seat of a patriarchate nor even yet renamed “Constantinople.” His other arguments can be read in the site which was linked at the end of the previous paragraph.

The work of Valla did much to fuel the anti-papacy furor of the Protestant Reformers. The work was apparently read by Martin Luther in 1519. He described his reaction to discovering the truth about the forgery to his friend Spalatin:

I have at hand Lorenzo Valla’s proof (edited by Hutten) that the Donation of Constantine is a forgery. Good heavens! what a darkness and wickedness is at Rome! You wonder at the judment of God that such unauthentic, erass, impudent lies not only lived but prevailed for so many centuries, that they were incorporated in the Canon Law, and (that no degree of horror might be wanting) that they became as articles of faith. I am in such a passion that I scarecely doubt that the Pope is the Antichrist expected by the world, so closely do their acts, lives, sayings, and laws agree. (Martin Luther, Letter to Spalatin, Feb. 24, 1520., as recounted in epistole blog).

In 1534, Valla’s work was translated by William Marshall for Thomas Cranmer in England, where it was used to bolster claims of independence of the English church (Parrish, 119).

For further reading:

“Donation of Constantine” in Wikipedia
Pearse, Roger. “The Donation of Constantine”, online at his blog, Tertullian.org.
“The Donation of Constantine” in Catholic Encyclopedia, online at newadvent.org.
Lorenzo Valla,
Discourse on the Forgery
of the Alleged Donation of Constantine, In Latin and English translation by Christopher B. Coleman
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1922). Available online at Hanover College
Whitford, David. “The Papal Antichrist: Martin Luther and the Underappreciated Influence of Lorenzo Valla”, Renaissance Quarterly, 61 (2008): 26-52; abstract online here)
Lorenzo Valla, a review of his life and works online at Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

13Dec

Remembering the Sabbath…and Blue Laws

I recall from childhood one of the lingering echoes of our forebears’ attempts to establish our nation as a “city on the hill”. The now infamous “blue laws” prohibited much mercantile activity on Sundays. The original rationale was to help Christians observe their sabbath.

Roots of these laws reach deep into the spiritual fervor of colonists who arrived on the East Coast in the 17th century. Always prominent in such reflections are the Puritans of New England, but consider also the 1611 foundation laws of the Anglican colony of Virginia, which are the earliest set of English laws produced in the Western Hemisphere:

As also every man and woman shall repair in the morning to the divine service and sermons preached upon the Sabbath day in the afternoon to divine service and catechizing, upon pain for the first fault to lose their provision and allowance for the whole week following, for the second to lose the said allowance and also to be whipped, and for the third to suffer death.
(You can read this document online here).

Even after the adoption of a secular constitution, blue laws enjoyed widespread support in the U.S. Blue laws were not only supported by religious people, but were also celebrated by organized labor. An online history of the 1909 blue law in Washington state noted the following.

Some labor organizations supported the broad ban the Blue Law placed on commercial activities on Sunday, in order to preserve it as a day off for their members. For example, meat was a product that supposedly could not be sold on Sunday. This gave the butchers’ union a successful argument against merchants requiring butchers to work on that day. (from HistoryLink).

In the mid to late 20th century, there was a rush to abolish these laws. Now they linger on only in a few isolated locales. I don’t recall hearing any great rationale for this change, just something about them being old fashioned, like the spate of stately Victorian and beaux arts buildings that occasionally got slated for demolition in order to build parking lots or condos. Just one more thing for decent ordinary people to suck up–another thing that couldn’t be stopped–in the name of “progress.”

To be fair, although I may not recall them, valid arguments have actually been cited. One was that such laws amounted to discrimination against non-Christian minorities. Church-state concerns have also been raised, and have led to court battles, in which the constitutionality of blue laws has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court (for example, McGowan vs Maryland in 1961). Another reason often advanced is cash flow, an example of which we saw as recently as 2010, when New Jersey governor Chris Christie urged repeal of blue laws in order to increase revenue to the state. He cited Bergen County, one of the last last places to keep its malls closed on Sunday, as “costing” the state $65 million in potential tax revenue.

The loss of the “blue laws” has not necessarily been to everyone’s advantage. On a clearly economic basis, it is debatable whether the blue laws have actually helped or hurt localities. It may increase some economic activities and diminish others (Goos, 2005).

It has clearly harmed attendance at churches, which must now compete with shopping malls and an ever growing variety of Sunday morning activities such as youth sports. (To be clear I don’t believe that blue laws are solely to blame for emptying our churches–many other factors can be cited). In concert with declining church attendance, other social ills can be correlated with this change. One study finds that blue law repeal is associated with a decrease in measures of happiness, particularly among women, even as Sunday shopping has increased. (Cohen-Zada and Sander, 2010)

Consider also the findings of a study by economists Jonathan Gruber of MIT and Daniel Hungerman of the University of Notre Dame, published in 2008.

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) on consumption of alcohol and illegal drugs, the economists found that repealing the blue laws did lead to an increase in drinking and drug use.
What’s more, they found that individuals who had attended church and stopped after the blue laws were repealed showed the greatest increase in substance abuse, Gruber notes.(a summary with link to the journal can be found at MIT News).

A 2014 study from Dara Lee at University of Missouri Columbia indicates that opening the malls on Sunday has caused decreased graduation rates and decrease in number of years in school, along with an increase in risky behaviors (Available online here).

What does it matter? Well, I certainly don’t expect blue laws to make a comeback. Like a lot of changes that happened in the 20th century, you really can’t close the proverbial “Pandora’s Box”. As individual Christians, though, we should do our best to “remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.” We should continue to try to put God first in our lives. That means going to church and perhaps missing out on some sales. It may mean explaining to our sons why they can’t play travel ball on Sundays. Although it won’t be as easy, we should be committed to carving out a time and space for Sabbath rest within our own busy worlds, to focus on God and his purposes for us.

With respect to the larger society, we should also be more vocal and strident in insisting that society “count the costs” before making changes that affect us. We should ask that purely financial goals be weighed against the non-financial harms that might ensue.

23Mar

“Read The Fathers”

I have discovered a website that offers an intellectual discipline for those interested in early church writings. They have put together a plan of readings, which they describe as follows:

By reading seven pages a day for seven years, you can study a vast library of theology, history, liturgy, apologetics, biblical commentary, and devotion written in the first seven centuries of the Christian church. We provide a schedule of readings, the texts in English translation, and—most important—a community to discuss what you’re learning. Laypeople, clergy, seminarians, students, and Christians of all denominations will benefit from joining our community to read the church fathers.

They are in year 3 of this project, and have covered works written by such luminaries as Origen, Hippolytus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus, and Justin Martyr.

You can find more at http://readthefathers.org/

18Mar

The Lorica of Saint Patrick

The “lorica of St Patrick” is a prayer or incantation for divine protection (“lorica” meant “breastplate”). These verses have been attributed to Saint Patrick, the 5th century evangelist who is now the patron saint of Ireland, and whose feast is celebrated by Christians and non-Christians alike. It is also now a hymn, which is commonly sung on Trinity Sunday (for obvious reasons).

In honor of Saint Patrick’s feast day I offer this prayer. You may find this and prayers of other famous Christians at our website: http://www.theundergroundchurch.net/prayer/famousprayers.html

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ’s birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In preachings of the apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.

I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me;
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s hosts to save me
From snares of the devil,
From temptations of vices,
From every one who desires me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a multitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and evil,
Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul.
Christ shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that reward may come to me in abundance.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation

(St. Patrick, 387-461; This particular version is popular on the internet though I am not sure of the original translator; it is found in Alexander Carmichael, Carmina Gadelica, Lindisfarne Press, 1992, p 78. There is a truncated version posted at Beliefnet).

22Feb

Ancient penitence

A call to repent from the communion service, in the 1549 Book of Common Prayer, is here offered for your edification in honor of the season of Lent. This is the first English prayer book, penned by Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer seven years before he was burned at the stake under Queen Mary.

DERE frendes, and you especially upon whose soules I have cure and charge, on next, I do intende by Gods grace, to offre to all suche as shalbe godlye disposed, the moste comfortable Sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ, to be taken of them in the remembraunce of his moste fruitfull and glorious Passyon: by the whiche passion we have obteigned remission of our synnes, and be made partakers of the kyngdom of heaven, whereof wee bee assured and asserteigned, yf wee come to the sayde Sacrament, with hartie repentaunce for our offences, stedfast faithe in Goddes mercye, and earnest mynde to obeye Goddes will, and to offende no more. Wherefore our duetie is, to come to these holy misteries, with moste heartie thankes to bee geven to almightie GOD, for his infinite mercie and benefites geven and bestowed upon us his unworthye servauntes, for whom he hath not onely geven his body to death, and shed his bloude, but also doothe vouchesave in a Sacrament and Mistery, to geve us his sayed bodye and bloud to feede upon spiritually. The whyche Sacrament beyng so Divine and holy a thyng, and so comfortable to them whiche receyve it worthilye, and so daungerous to them that wyll presume to take the same unworthely: My duetie is to exhorte you in the meane season, to consider the greatnes of the thing, and to serche and examine your owne consciences, and that not lyghtly nor after the maner of dissimulers [dissemblers] with GOD: But as they whiche shoulde come to a moste Godly and heavenly Banket, not to come but in the mariage garment required of God in scripture, that you may (so muche as lieth in you) be founde worthie to come to suche a table. The waies and meanes thereto is,
First, that you be truly repentaunt of your former evill life, and that you confesse with an unfained hearte to almightie God, youre synnes and unkyndnes towardes his Majestie committed, either by will, worde or dede, infirmitie or ignoraunce: and that with inwarde sorowe and teares you bewaile your offences, and require of almightie God mercie and pardon, promising to him (from the botome of your hartes) thamendment of your former lyfe. And emonges all others, I am commaunded of God, especially to move and exhorte you to reconcile yourselfes to your neighbors, whom you have offended, or who hath offended you, putting out of your heartes al hatred and malice against them, and to be in love and charitie with all the worlde, and to forgeve other, as you woulde that god should forgeve you. And yf any man have doen wrong to any other: let him make satisfaccion, and due restitucion of all landes and goodes, wrongfully taken awaye or withholden, before he come to Goddes borde, or at the least be in ful minde and purpose so to do, as sone as he is able, or els let him not come to this holy table, thinking to deceyve God, who seeth all mennes hartes. For neither the absolucion of the priest, can any thing avayle them, nor the receivyng of this holy sacrament doth any thing but increase their damnacion. And yf there bee any of you, whose conscience is troubled and greved in any thing, lackyng comforte or counsaill, let him come to me, or to some other dyscrete and learned priest, taught in the law of God, and confesse and open his synne and griefe secretly, that he may receive suche ghostly counsaill, advyse, and comfort, that his conscience maye be releved, and that of us (as of the ministers of GOD and of the churche) he may receive comfort and absolucion, to the satisfaccion of his mynde, and avoyding of all scruple and doubtfulnes: requiryng suche as shalbe satisfied with a generall confession, not to be offended with them that doe use, to their further satisfiyng, the auriculer and secret confession to the Priest: nor those also whiche thinke nedefull or convenient, for the quietnes of their awne consciences, particuliarly to open their sinnes to the Priest: to bee offended with them that are satisfied, with their humble confession to GOD, and the generall confession to the churche. But in all thinges to folowe and kepe the rule of charitie, and every man to be satisfied with his owne conscience, not judgyng other mennes myndes or consciences; where as he hath no warrant of Goddes word to the same.

The images are in the public domain. You can find the entire book online at this site: http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1549/Communion_1549.htm

07Feb

St. Brigid’s Lake of Beer

Feb 1 is the feast day of St. Brigit of Kildare, Ireland (453-523). She is controversial (some scholars believe that she didn’t really exist, but is a Christianization of the pagan goddess named “Brigid”; though she is well attested by numerous sources). She is believed to have born into slavery to a druid, but was returned to her parents around age 10. She was an abbess, who founded several monasteries, including in about 480 AD the “cell dara” (Kildare), the “church of the oak hill”. This foundation became a center of learning, and eventually a cathedral city. She is said to have been generous toward the poor and to women.

There is an amusing but touching prayer attributed to St. Brigid (probably written later):

I’d like to give a lake of beer to God.
I’d love the heavenly
Host to be tippling there
For all eternity.

I’d love the men of Heaven to live with me,
To dance and sing.
If they wanted, I’d put at their disposal
Vats of suffering.

White cups of love I’d give them
With a heart and a half;
Sweet pitchers of mercy I’d offer
To every man.

I’d make Heaven a cheerful spot
Because the happy heart is true.
I’d make the men contented for their own sake.
I’d like Jesus to love me too.

I’d like the people of heaven to gather
From all the parishes around.
I’d give a special welcome to the women,
The three Marys of great renown.

I’d sit with the men, the women and God
There by the lake of beer.
We’d be drinking good health forever
And every drop would be a prayer.

I am not sure of the source but one website notes that this is from an 11^th century Irish poem attributed to St Brigit taken from a manuscript in the Burgundian Library, Brussels and edited and translated by O’Curry. From http://www.brigitsforge.co.uk/st_ffraid.htm.

Well, I agree with the sentiment. And next time I pick up a glass, I’ll think of St. Brigid and her Irish homeland.

18Jan

The Black Paternoster

I was looking at children’s prayers for bedtime, and came across something very interesting. One of the common prayers that has made it into compendiums of nursery rhymes and children’s prayers is the “Four Corners” prayer. A common form of this prayer goes something like this:

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,
Bless the bed that I lie on. Four corners to my bed,
Four angels round my head;
One to watch and one to pray
And two to bear my soul away.

The rhyme dates back to at least the 1600s in Britain, and is likely much older. A German version dates to medieval times. The first English text is found in a treatise on witchcraft, where the verse is mentioned in a negative context.

There were several “paternosters” (derived from Latin for “our father”), which were associated with colors, perhaps initially associated with colored prayer beads. These poems are thought to be corruptions of prayers that became used as magic charms. The “white Paternoster” (a version of which is found in Chaucer’s Miller’s Tale of 1387) was used for morning. The “black paternoster” was used at bedtime. A “green paternoster” was earlier condemned as blasphemous by the Bishop of Lincolon, Robert Grosseteste, 1175–1253.

Somehow, the “black paternoster” escaped the anti-witchcraft and anti-catholic sentiments of the 17th century to become a favorite children’s rhyme in England, esp in the 20th century. Perhaps this may be credited to Anglican priest, scholar and hymn-writer, Sabine Baring-Gould, 1834-1924.

He published it as part of a collection of folksongs called Songs of the West, first published in 1891 (This book is now freely available in the public domain: https://archive.org/stream/imslp-and-ballads-of-the-west-baring-gould-sabine/SIBLEY1802.20102.74b4-39087012501252score_djvu.txt)

The poem has been set to music by the composer Gustav Holst, 1874-1934 (of “the Planets” fame). Here is a snippet of a recording by the Holst Singers, under Stephen Layton.

The full version is available for sale, by Hyperion records, http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/tw.asp?w=W1077.

Sources: Images are from Wikipedia. The lovely painting is “Four corners to my bed” by Isobel Lilian Gloag (1868-1917))

Brother James’ Airs

Category: History