The continuing saga of the SigenaSijena murals

 The Art Newspaper reported recently on the latest falling out over the twelfth century ceiling paintings from the chapter house of the monastery at Sijena/Sigena in Aragon. This is but part of a story that could be said to begin with the painting of the ceiling around 1200, but which really becomes active with the burning of the monastery - clearly an historic monument - by fanatical anti-clerical Republicans in the summer of 1936 at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. What survived of this great cycle of paintings was transferred to Barcelona, but now there is strong pressure to relocate them in their original setting, and equally pressure to keep the surviving portions in Barcelona.

The article can be read at Barcelona museum refuse to return Sijena murals to monastery

The Wikipedia articles about the monastery and its history are not that detailed, but do show how the murals belonged to the shared artistic culture that linked Aragon to both England and Sicily in the period. This was no doubt a consequence of the diplomatic and dynastic alliances forged by King Henry II. As the article mentions the artists who worked at Sijena were, or were linked to, the artists who illuminated the Winchester Bible.

 

The articles can be viewed at Villanueva_de_Sigena

andRoyal_Monastery_of_Santa_Maria_de_Sigena

It is good to read that not only are the monastery buildings being restored but that a community of nuns has been restablished at Sigena. The story of the destruction of so much at Sigena is a continuing reminder of the forces of hatred and evil the Nationalists were fighting against in the Spanish Civil War and why we should be grateful that they prevailed.

The Paschal Candle in Milan Cathedral

The distinctive customs of the Ambrosian Rite and the usages of the cathedral in Milan include a very striking positioning of the Pascal Candle.

The Liturgical Arts Journal recently had an article about this tradition which can be accessed at The Monumental, Suspended Paschal Candlestick of the Duomo of Milan

In 2020 I wrote about the cathedral Pascal Candlestick in connection with its part in the ceremonies of Ascension Day in Milanese Ascension Spectacle

More about Papal Agnus Deis

Following on from my last post here are two more articles from the New Liturgical Movement about the rite of blessing of these wax medallions. 

The first is about the rite as used in recent centuries, and the second an earlier form from the late fifteenth century. How far back the latter form dates is not clear.

They can be accessed at The Rite of Blessing of the Agnus Deis (Part 1) and at The Rite of Blessing of the Agnus Deis (Part 2)

Rediscovering the seal of King Edward the Confessor

There is a particular nightmare that affects archivists And research as in respect of historic manuscript collections.

That is that material gets misfiled - returned to the wrong box, or the file misplaced in the stacks, whatever - and when it goes missing, no one knows when, if ever, it will come to light. The next person who wants to consult the file may not come along for a year, or for a decade, or for a century. Virtually anonymous boxes in amongst so many others that look almost identical are far less easy to monitor than books in a library store, and that is no easy matter in itself.

The phys.org website reports the happy and fortuitous rediscovery in 2021 in the Archives Nationales in Paris of the best surviving example of the seal of King Edward the Confessor. Dated to the years 1053 to 1057 and authorising a grant to the abbey of St Denis it has become detached from the original charter, and disappeared without trace into the depths of the Archives Nationales some forty years ago.

The article discusses the emergence of this, the first English Great Seal, and what it reveals about St Edward’s concept of his kingship as well as what it indicates about his chancery.

It is the prototype of all its successors as the ultimate authentication of the Sovereign’s will and authority down to that created the other year for King Charles III.

The article, which has photographs of the recovered seal, can be accessed at Lost seal of Edward the Confessor resurfaces after going missing for 40 years

The Papal Blessing of Agni Dei

  

Six years ago I wrote a post about the traditional blessing by Popes in their first Eastertide of the wax Agni Dei made from the wax of the previous year’s Paschal Candles in the churches of Rome, and their distribution as sacramentals. That article linked to one on the Liturgical Arts Journal website and can be viewed at The Paschal Blessing of the “Agnus Dei”

 

The tradition was cast aside in the wake of Vatican II, but had it survived, or been revived, last week would have witnessed the ritual being celebrated by the Pope in his first year. Maybe if he had he could have sent one to Mr Trump. 

The New Liturgical Movement website now has an article with archive film about the Agnus Dei which can be seen at Pope St John XXIII Blessing the <i>Agnus Deis</i>

The journal Catholic History has a detailed, and well illustrated, article from 2018 about the place of the Agnus Dei in the devotional life of English Catholics in the Elizabethan persecution - their import was prohibited and possessing one could cost someone their life on the scaffold - and it can be accessed at The agnus dei, Catholic devotion, and confessional politics in early modern England

It will be no surprise to my readers to add that I cannot in all conscience see why this ancient tradition was jettisoned, and would very much like to see it revived.

Remembering Evelyn Waugh

April 10th was the sixtieth anniversary of the death, on Easter Day 1966, of Evelyn Waugh.

I recall the news at the time and from what little I knew of him had a vague sense of loss of a figure in the landscape. Over succeeding years and decades I came to know his works by reading and viewing adaptations, and to appreciate his literary skill, his brilliant humour and his Catholic insight. Apart from the obvious and easily accessible ones, his is the only literary grave I have sought out and visited. In my opinion, for what it is worth, he is not only a master craftsman of the language but also the greatest English novelist of the twentieth century.

Most writers of fiction go, to some extent, out of fashion very soon after their deaths. Waugh however, who had been seen as unfashionable in his last years, was suddenly rediscovered and his reputation and popularity have continued to grow. This has been aided by the publication of his letters and diaries, by television and to a lesser extent film, but also by 

an awareness of his consummate literary skills on the printed page.

The Daily Telegraph has had two quite short articles about Waugh and his place as a Catholic literary figure which can be seen at Sixty years on, it’s time to revive Evelyn Waugh’s lost Catholic civilisation

and To understand the world today, read books from 100 years ago

Finally an impish, but also serious suggestion. I have referred before to my, shall we say, lack of appreciation of G.K.Chesterton and his extensive literary outpourings. I cannot see why anyone would want him canonised, good Catholic that he doubtless was.

Now, if people want an English man of letters who came to a deep devotion to the Catholic faith, wrote about it, and continues to provide great entertainment in his novels, as a canonised saint, then in Evelyn Waugh there is indeed a candidate. 

Never mind about youthful follies ( ask St Augustine, de Rancé, Charles de Foucauld and many others about those), scoffing the children’s bananas, the sharp tongue, but remember the loyal friend, the loving father whose own father had probably made him inhibited in expressing paternal affection, and the author of prose in the service of Catholicism. There you have a real candidate for raising to the altars. Think about it, pray about it.

Medieval Parisian Vespers

The New Liturgical Movement has an article and video on its website reporting upon the celebration of the Solemn Vespers of Easter Day - and thus the Octave of Easter Week - according to the Gallican Parisian Use. The article explains that despite its abandonment in 1871 one church, St Eugène, was given the privilege of still using this form.

The singers are from the splendid Schola Ste Cecile, whom I had the good fortune to hear a few years ago when they spent a week in Oxford whilst on a tour of England.

The report and video can be accessed at Video of Medieval Vespers of Easter in Paris

The Turin Shroud in the news again

The Holy Shroud of Turin is back in the news with the publication of a new scientific study of the DNA contaminants on its surface. The hope is that such microscopic details will help reveal where it has been and what it has been exposed to.

The results show a vast variety of material, some of which are clearly from the last five or so centuries as they are from plant varieties introduced from the New World. Other material might well suggest that the shroud was in the Middle East, or indeed that it might originate in India. It is rather a case of “you pays your money and takes your choice”.

The first report I saw was from the Vatican centred website Zenit which tends to take a favourable view of the evidence as indicative of the authenticity of the Shroud. The article can be read at New Study Reopens the Case of the Turin Shroud’s Origins: what the DNA says

The second report is from Live Science which seems very anxious to stress the results of the 1980s Carbon 14 dating to the later medieval centuries.This dating is a matter of considerable academic debate. I rather regret the way the article is written, if not indeed skewed, to support the case for the Shroud being a forgery. However, in the interests of impartiality I am giving the link, which is accessible at Shroud of Turin, claimed to be Jesus' burial cloth, contaminated with carrot and red coral DNA

As I have written before on this subject I am definitely inclined to believe the Shroud is genuine, but accept that we shall probably never know with certainty this side of Judgement Day.