The 150th anniversary of St Aloysius Church Oxford

Yesterday was the 150th anniversary of the opening of
the church of St Aloysius in Oxford. On that day in 1875 Bishop William Bernard Ullathorne of Birmingham celebrated a Pontifical Mass in the newly constructed Jesuit church in the presence of Cardinal Manning. This year on the eve of the anniversary the present Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham celebrated a Pontifical Mass in Latin in the Ordinary Form in the presence of Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe OP in the church, which since 1990 has served as the Oxford Oratory.

In attendance were other bishops, a mitred abbot, canons, groups of other religious, a professed Knifht of Malta, and past parish priests both from the diocese and the Oratory. Also present were the Lord Mayor of Oxford and the Vice Chancellor of the University, representives of othe churches in the city, and, of course, many of the regular congregation

The Mass can be seen online at 150th Anniversary of the Parish – Solemn Pontifical Mass 

The liturgy was elaborate and impressive as befits such an occasion and as befits the Oratorian tradition of the beauty of holiness. 

All the signs, and certainly the hopes, are that the next century and a half will continue the ministry of the building and the Oratorian community in Oxford in the way so splendidly shown at the weekend.

The reappearance of the Florentine Diamond

A fortnight ago there was the really amazing announcement by the Imperial House of Austria that, contrary to widespread belief, one of the Habsburg family treasures, the famous yellow diamond known as the Florentine, had not been lost or stolen, nor recut, but had survived thanks to the forethought first of Bl. Emperor Charles I who reclaimed it from public display

in 1918 and took it with him into exile, and then of his widow Empress Zita who took custody of it after his death in 1922. Having kept it, and other family jewels, including a bejewelled badge of the Order of the Golden Fleece, with her in exile in Spain and then Belgium, she took then in a cardboard suitcase to Canada at the beginning of the Second World War. There she left the small suitcase in a safe deposit box with a bank. When she retuned to Europe in 1953 the jewels remained in the Canadian bank. Two of her younger sons were the only individuals to whom she confided the whereabouts of the items, asking they remain hidden until after the centenary of the Emperor’s death. Now the sons of these two Archdukes, together with the head of the Habsburgs, Archduke Karl, have reclaimed the suitcase and revealed its contents.

Quite apart from the historic interest of the Florentine and the other jewels the story is an eloquent tribute to the Empress Zita as a devout Catholic widow, who mourned her husband for almost sixty seven years, always sombrely dressed in black, and guardian of not merely what was left as a tangible inheritance following the expropriation of their assets by the Austrian and other successor states after 1918, but of the traditions and heritage of the Habsburgs. A truly remarkable woman.

I first saw the story online in The Independent at 137-carat diamond missing since 1919 revealed from in Canadian bank

A friend sent me the link to the original account from the New York Times whose journalist accompanied the Archdukes, and which may be seen at The Florentine Diamond Resurfaces After 100 Years in Hiding

Art Net also had a report on the rediscovery which is available at The Hunt: The Mysterious Fate of the Florentine Diamond

Wikipedia has a history of the diamond at Florentine Diamond, which includes the two stories of its origin. They are arguably not irreconcilable, and the idea that the jewel once belonged to Charles the Bold is an attractive one, in that it was through the marriage of his daughter and heiress Mary to Maximilian of Austria that the Habsburgs secured their prominence in European affairs.

The Emperor Karl League of Prayers - the Gebetsliga - which is in itself well worth supporting, has an online article about the rediscovery at Habsburg Florentine Diamond Reemerges

The history of the jewel and of the carat system for weighing such stones is discussed in The Ancient Secret Behind the Carats of the Florentine Diamond 

A monument well worthy of conservation in Marlborough

I came upon an online report about work to conserve and enhance a remarkable historic monument in Marlboroughin Wiltshire. The Mound, as it is known, is just that, a mound of earth now in the grounds of Marlborough School. This, however, is no ordinary garden feature, but originated as a Neolithic feature second only in size to Silbury Hill as a man-made monument. Later tradition was to identify it as the grave of Merlin. Centuries later it was repurposed as the motte of the Norman castle in Marlborough. In the Norman and Angevin eras the castle was a favoured royal residence with its nearby hunting grounds in Savernake Forest.

The article can be read at Council gives go-ahead for demolition work at historic site

Wikipedia has an introduction to the history of the town at Marlborough, Wiltshire

Two early Christian mosaics from Turkey and Israel

A regular reader of this blog very kindly sent me the link to a Daily Mail online article about two mosaic floors which have been uncovered in Turkey and Israel.

The more recent discovery is at the castle in Urfa, known at times in the past as Edessa, and the reputed birthplace of Abraham. Dated to the years 460-495 it refers to both the military commander and to the local bishop, senior priest and deacon. Those latter might suggest it was the cathedral. The integration of civil and ecclesiastical authorities is an indicator of the establishment of the administrative structures of Byzantium.

The themes in the design suggest a sense of the harmony of the created order and of Scriptural revelation that accords with later writers in the patristic and medieval centuries.

As with the references to the ecclesiastical hierarchy of this specific community these all point to an established community of worshippers, standing in an established tradition which we would recognise today.

The second mosaic featured in the article was found a few years ago under the prison in Megiddo in Israel and is dated to 230. This specifically describes Jesus as God, and is apparently the first archaeological find to do so. The very elaborate design includes the names of members of the congregation - or maybe the ‘house church’ - of the building from which it survives. Like the Urfa floor it refers to a Roman officer, in this case specifically described as the man who commissioned it. 

The online article is interesting reading, despite its somewhat melodramatic title, and can be seen at Mysterious ancient Christian mosaic reveals lost biblical secrets

Evolution and transformation in latex Roman Germany

Two recent archaeological investigations in Germany have yielded interesting information about the changes in society from the later fifth century onwards that led to the emergence of the early medieval post-Roman culture that succeeded it.

The first was at Delbrück Bentfeld near Paderborn in Westphalia and which yielded what appears to include the site of a cremation of a man who may well have served as a Roman mercenary with accoutrements from the Imperial army. The funds are outlined and discussed in an LBV article which can be seen at The Tomb of a Germanic Mercenary Who Served in the Roman Legions and an Unusual Well with Glass and Organic Remains, Found in Germany

The second site is at Bad Füssing, near Passau on the border of modern Germany and Austria in the Inn valley.

The discoveries are again related to funeral practices in a site which appears to have been used for a considerable length of time. 

The article about it from Heritage Daily can be accessed at Burials offer new insights into splendor and conflict in early medieval Bavaria

These two excavations, from distant and different regions, do suggest cultural fluidity and interchange along and across the borderlands of the Empire and Germania in these centuries.

An eighth century gold medallion from Norfolk

The discovery of an apparently eighth century Anglo-Saxon gold pendant near Swaffham in Norfolk is not only further evidence of the rich deposit of early items in the fields of the county but is also an indication of a significant cultural transition in the East Anglian kingdom. 

The pendant has motifs similar to coins, but no regnal or other inscriptions. The theory is that it was lost, and is not a burial item, as by the date it is assigned Christian burial practices were increasingly normative.  As a result the inclusion of grave goods largely disappeared, and so, in consequence, the information they can give about social conditions and ideas at the time of the interment.

The find is reported by the BBC News website at  Swaffham detectorist finds rare early 8th Century gold pendant

Conserving pillboxes from WWI

Yesterday, on Remembrance Sunday, the Sunday Telegraph had an interesting and informative article about work in Norfolk to preserve surviving pillboxes near North Walsham in Norfolk which were erected to resist a possible, indeed anticipated, German invasion during the Great War. 

As the article explains such an invasion plan did not exist, but the fear of it, fuelled by the popular war-scare fiction of the early 1900s, was for a time genuine, and considerable. Some of the contemporary quotations cited in the article are revealing.

Conserving these miniature blockhouses is certainly a worthwhile project and a way of appreciating how local communities and individuals reacted to the War and its potential impact on rural Norfolk.

The article can be read at How fear of a German invasion swept Britain in the First World War

As a personal addendum my mother and her sister-in-law both recalled going out with their family and neighbours at night to watch the Zeppelin which passed over Pontefract in, I think, 1917, and dropped its bombs harmlessly in the Park - where the racecourse is - and my mother also recalled going the next day with her brother, who was four ears older, to view the craters. Why they went out to watch the potential air-raid was not clear, as there was shelter provision used on other occasions nearby.

A Portuguese ship from 1533 Discovered in Namibia

The Indian Defence Review reports in an online article about the discovery in Namibia of the Portuguese carrack the Bom Jesus, and much of its cargo, which was lost in 1533 whilst on route to India.

What makes this discovery unusual for maritime archaeological work is that the vessel is now inland, having been carried there as sand dunes have moved inland over the intervening centuries.

The arid conditions have helped preserve materials which would have disintegrated in wet conditions, and its isolation has also contributed to its cargo of precious materials surviving. 

The article says that the plan is to create a museum in the nearest to house the remains of the vessel and its contents. This would doubtless encourage tourism and bring in investment and revenue.

The article can be viewed at 500-Year-Old Treasure Ship Found in Namib Desert With Gold, Ivory and Priceless Global Artifacts