Posted on 06/21/2010 9:45:25 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
Catholics have long been told there has only been one English pope - Adrian IV in the 1150s. But according to many medieval chronicles, John Anglicus - John the English - reigned from AD855 for two years, seven months and four days before the astonishing revelation that he was, in fact, a she called Joan.
Many of the medieval Books Of Popes, the principal source for the history of the papacy during the Dark Ages, record the tale of a young girl born of English missionary parents.
Raised in Germany at Fulda - the final resting place of St Boniface, who had travelled there from his native Devon to convert pagans - it is said she was clever and spent all her time in the libraries Boniface had established.
When she was 12, she was told she could not continue her studies alongside the boys in her class, but had to marry and have children.
She refused and, donning a monk's cowl and ankle-length tunic to pass herself off as a man, ran away in the company of what some chroniclers say was her teacher, others her lover.
They headed for Greece, a centre of learning, and Joan is said to have impressed all of Athens with her learning. By the 840s, she set off again - for Rome.
It was there that she caught the eye of Pope Leo IV, best remembered for building the defensive Leonine walls that still surround part of the Vatican.
Believing, like everyone else, that she was a man, he promoted her to his inner circle and, as he lay dying, recommended her as his successor.
Popes at that time were often elected by popular acclaim of Roman citizens and, thanks to Leo's patronage, Joan got the nod.
By all accounts, she was a
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
well, what’s really starnge is that one of the descriptions that is bandied about regarding this “inspection” is that the pope would be naked. If he’s naked, then why would there be a need for the chair?
The story makes no sense!
The crazy things vicious hate-mongering slanderers will unquestioningly believe!
(Sue he’s naked, but they’re not ALLOWED to look!)
This is all starting to remind me of the vacuum potty episode of MythBusters.
Most enduring myth is more like it.
But it’s TRUE — Alex says that there was a Pope Jeannie and it’s googlable, hence it must be true. Here’s to Pope Ellen and Alex for supporting the LGBT movement by revealing interesting historical FACTUAL lesbians and bisxuals like Eve, Nefertiti, Abe’s wife Sara, etc.
But it’s TRUE — Alex says that there was a Pope Jeannie and it’s googlable, hence it must be true.
Ping me when you talk about me.
Sorry about that — meant to add you in, hence the double posts.
Which of course explains the double-not-ping on top of the three-times slander.
True, that it does. I see you posted another one on the LGBT role model Pape Joan.
According to the article the chair is in the Vatican
Museum. You go look and come back and tell us if it
is there.
**Why else would the Church employ what is popularly known as the ‘ball-feeling chair’ if Joan had never existed?”**
Spuns like a potty chair to me.
Spuns like a potty chair to me.
SOUNDS like a potty chair to me.
Yes, my mistake to not add that in, sorry Alex.
Yes, there are potty chairs stored in museums dating back to the middle ages, where elder gents could sit, and they had nice little holes cut in the seats for ahem...
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