Posted on 03/07/2012 5:17:38 PM PST by ellenbrewster
Did God enlist some creep to steal a religious relic?
It wouldn’t be the first time the Almighty used an infidel to do his bidding. Pagan Cyrus of Persia released long-enslaved Jews, enabling them to return to Jerusalem in 537 BC.
The preserved 834 year-old heart of St. Laurence O’Toole (AD 1128-1180) disappeared Saturday from Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland and one has to wonder if God’s sovereignty was at work behind the scenes of that seemingly dastardly act.
The Almighty is known for His slash-and-burn attitude toward icons and idols, knowing that such lifeless items steal the affections, resources and energies of His beloved.
St. Laurence’s bones disappeared during the Reformation. But, since the 13th Century his heart was encased in a heart-shaped wooden box that sat in a metal cage bolted to a wall in Saint Lauds Chapel. Christ Church Cathedral has been a popular pilgrimage site ever since, welcoming over 500 visitors a day, those who come in reverence of its unusual relic.
(Excerpt) Read more at ellenmakkai.com ...
Christ Church Cathedral is a Protestant house of worship.
OH SNAP!
OH SNAP!
He’s not the only one to have his heart stolen :-*
How does the Almighty feel about theft?
"Christ Church Cathedral" was built 300 years before the reformation, but is currently owned and controlled by the (Anglican) Church of Ireland.
Maybe the Anglicans should give back the relics of Catholic saints, and the Catholic Cathedrals, too.
Oooh! (((MELTING!!)))
My darling, you gave your heart to me, and I gave mine to you. :-*
Yes, it is Anglican but also the seat of the Roman Catholic archbishops of Dublin.
“Maybe the Anglicans should give back the relics of Catholic saints, and the Catholic Cathedrals, too.”
Whine much? Do you go around asking the Nestorians to hand over to you the churches that their ancestors built and the bones of their forefathers too?
Only de jure, not de facto. The de facto Catholic Cathedral is St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral. The Pope has never removed the Cathedral designation from the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity ("Christ Church Cathedral").
Do you go around asking the Nestorians to hand over to you the churches that their ancestors built and the bones of their forefathers too?
Are you trying to imply that the Catholic Irish are some sort of foreign tribe which has no claim on either the Cathedral -- which was indeed built by their ancestors -- or the relics of St Laurence -- who is, indeed, their forefather? If anyone's a foreign tribe in Ireland, it's not them.
As for the Nestorians, if a Nestorian minority, enabled by a heretical monarch, seized those churches by force, they ought to give them back.
You can't very well say it's wrong for the government to steal from one group to give to another when the IRS does it on April 15, but defend it when Henry VIII and Elizabeth I do exactly the same thing on behalf of Protestants against Catholics, especially in a Catholic-majority country.
“Are you trying to imply that the Catholic Irish...”
No, but you were talking about the Anglicans in toto, and churches plural, which sounds like you mean they should hand over all their churches that used to be Catholic. I mean, that’s the usual demand that gets tossed at them by Catholics.
“You can’t very well say it’s wrong for the government to steal from one group to give to another when the IRS does it on April 15, but defend it when Henry VIII and Elizabeth I do exactly the same thing on behalf of Protestants against Catholics, especially in a Catholic-majority country.”
No, I don’t think it’s right, but I think it’s just as silly to whine about it centuries later as when the Native Americans do it over lands they lost centuries ago. History’s already been written, nobody is going to turn the clock back that far.
True enough...
How does this factor into the column? Many pilgrims who come to the beautiful cathedral are caught up in the worship of the relic. That does not diminish the church. The column is meant to remind us all to focus on the only One worthy of our devotion.
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