In the shadows
Oh dear, poor Tony Blair.
A couple of days ago Matthew Parris went to visit the bones of St Thérèse of Lisieux which are paying a neighborly visit to Westminster Cathedral. It was all very festive.
Already there was a near-carnival atmosphere surrounding the bones. A temporary fish-and-chips stall had sprung up beside a smoothies-and-coffee tent.
And that’s not the only treat.
Next, a big notice. “The Plenary Indulgence … A plenary indulgence is the complete remission of the temporal punishment due to sin.” Apparently Pope Benedict has declared a special grant of indulgences to pilgrims to these relics at Westminster. “One plenary indulgence may be gained each day and may be applied either to a soul in Purgatory or the pilgrim himself or herself.”
Ooooooh I do like a nice bit of magic.
And then the relics. Or rather the casket containing the relics. Or rather the big arched glass box containing the ornate wooden house with little tiles, embracing the sealed alabaster box in which the bones lay. Or rather were presumed by the pilgrims to lie.
Well naturally – would you have them strain at a gnat and swallow a camel?
At the front of the cathedral, among the departing pilgrims, was a man apparently alone. It was Tony Blair. He half-acknowledged me, and walked away. Blimey. Can these relics help a man become president of Europe? This was no photo-opportunity: our former Prime Minister and warrior for Western values had not expected to see a journalist — his expression betrayed that. So he really means it. Means it not just about God, but the God to whom Catholics think they have access.
Oh lordy. Poor Tony Blair – wanting to do that, and doing it, and being caught by Matthew Parris doing it.
I just love a good relic. But I think it’s a goddamn shame that they are all sealed up. I’d want to see those little shards and stuff. Why take them around on visits if you don’t let people see them?
In Mexico they do it right. You can see the stuff, and if it’s a whole skeleton of a martyr they let you look right at it.
In other Mexican Catholic news, a Mexican friend is getting married. She learned yesterday that the going price for a wedding mass is 5500 pesos (over $500 US dollars). The priest told her “Well the churches here are all real old and the upkeep is so so so expensive. . .” And that price does not include the dispensations, spells, soul washing, head dipping, and relic preserving that they have to invest in because she is marrying (gasp) a Turkish man.
Still. A good relic show, esp if they have fish and chips AND lattes. . . you really can’t beat it.
Poor Tony Blair! It is frightening that those who govern us are so psychologically precarious. I feel sorry for Tony, but more sorry for the rest of us. Tony Blair is a character out of Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
Claire: “Still. A good relic show, esp if they have fish and chips AND lattes. . . you really can’t beat it.”
Well you can at least go close. My favourite is the tomb of some pope or other on the lower deck of St Peter’s in Rome. There, done in bronze, is the effigy of that pope lying in state, surrounded by a swarm of nubile bronze nymphs: let’s presume they are supposed to be angels, but they could be hints at the life he led here below. All set up like nothing so much as a huge bronze cake, with the bones of the said pope somewhere underneath.
Fish and chips and a cappucino while feasting one’s eyes on the scene would have been pure bliss.
I wonder what Karen Armstrong has made of all those Catholics queueing to touch the perspex case containing the reliquary.
It would be something of a stretch for her to claim the pilgrims only view the bones as being symbolic. Still, no doubt she will give it a try.
No, Karen Armstrong would argue that the idea that touching the relic might have an effect in the physical world is a modern interpretation of religion that would have not been found in the medieval period or earlier.
Human relics on display in a glass case? The very idea is nonsense upon stilts!
If TB takes his orders (as it were) from Ben16 isn’t that a disqualification for becoming President of Europe? At least it should be.
IIRC when Locke wrote about Tolerance, he didn’t include Catholics, on the basis that they had loyalty to an external power.
(Not that many of us in Europe, I think, would want such a warmonger as TB to represent us anyway.)
I loved the small print on the plenary indulgence special offer!
On Wednesday the 2nd May, 2001 the Relics of St. Thérèse visited Dublin’s, Regina Coeli hostel for women and children; which was my place of residence for nearly five years. The relics also visited Dublin’s, Pro-cathedral – where I was christened with the namesake of the saint. I can surely tell you all that I am far from being by nature a ‘Little Flower’. People invariably make remarks, when they ask me my name, such as, – “oh, that was the name of my (religious) teacher at school”. It is so synonymous with holiness. To make matters worse, when I sing, they also tell me I have a soprano voice to match my name and was I ever a nun?
Marie-Therese: Just a suggestion. You couold tell the inquisitive that you had a series of visitations from the Blessed Virgin, during which she taught you to sing. And suggested the name you might care to take.
That will either stop the conversation or take it in a new direction.
Ian, speaking of visitations’ – one woman who saw the apparition at the Marian shrine, Knock, Co mayo, named Mary Mclaughlin ((allegedly stotious drunk at the time of appearance of the holy clan) had apparently asked her apparition companion to hold on to it until she reappeared with some other witnesses. As you can surmise the holy clan waits on no-one and on her return it had mysteriously disappeared. So between the drink and the vision she had everyone flummoxed.:_)!
I do tell people that my relatives married into ancestors who ‘saw the vision at Knock’- no, not the above-mentioned, and they look at me in disbelief. They believe in the vision, alright -but not that I am connected to them who saw it – by marriage.
You’ll find it unsurprising to know that the relics also went to Knock Shrine.
I also saw relics at the Pro-Cathedral.
It is such a pity the holy clan disappeared before Mary Mac got back as they could have all gotten drunk in the Lord together and had a right holy hooley at the gable end of the chapel. ‘Tis yerself, begorrah! Haha!
Drunk in the Lord or drunk as The Lord?
It would have been most fitting if Joshua bar Joseph (aka JC) had been there to finish off the carousal with his own version of ‘The Parting Glass’; particularly the lines that go
And since it falls unto my lot/ That I should rise and you should not…
A double entendre if ever there was one, and one not encountered in versions rendered by mere mortals like Yours Truly.
http://www.sing365.com/music/Lyric.nsf/The-Parting-Glass-lyrics-Sinead-O'Connor/63FD8D356C339CDF48256C370014C2DD
I lived in a remote rural area until recently, with lots of caves, woods and rivers. A friend commented that an appearance by the BVM would have done wonders for the local economy. We thought of some kind of flashing light
of the Holy Clan for when the locals walked past, but of course there’s no
electricity, it would have been a lot of trouble and I don’t think it would have been a popular idea anyway.
Her namesake could join in with this apt rendition of the song! What do you all say to that – eh?
“Armstrong’s Goodnight”
This night is my departing night,
For here no longer must I stay;
There’s neither friend no foe of mine
But wishes me away.
What I have done through lack of wit,
I never, never can recall;
I hope you’re all my friends as yet;
Good night. And joy be with you all.
Slainte to all at B&W
Including of course yourself, Marie-Therese. Very much so.