December 26. St Stephen's Day 2019

December 27, Christmas Day 3

December 26, St. Stephen’s Day

This is the one day of the year when we should all hear the carol about the Bohemian king Wenceslas (who was a 10^th-century duke of Bohemia) who braved the bitter winter weather and snow to distribute alms to the poor. The carol was written by the hymn writer that should be familiar to all Episcopalians since there are so many of his hymns and translations of hymns which appear in the 1982 Hymnal.  John Mason Neale wrote the lyrics before 1853 and they were set to “Tempus adest floridum” that was first published in the 1582 collections of songs, Piae Cantiones.

            

Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the Feast of Stephen,

When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even;

Brightly shone the moon that night, tho' the frost was cruel,

When a poor man came in sight, gath'ring winter fuel.         

The last two lines:

            Therefore, Christian men, be sure, wealth or rank possessing,

Ye who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing.

I had many errands to do yesterday, and never once did I hear the carol, though it was played often before Christmas Day.

St. Stephen

The story of Saint Stephen is written in the Acts of the Apostles 6.1-8.2.  He probably lived from 5-34 BCE. Though Stephen is a Greek name, he was Jewish given his lengthy speech to the Sanhedrin defending himself and outlining how Jesus fulfilled the Law, not subvert it. The Apostles gained so many converts, Jews and Greek-speaking Jews, that they were failing in their duty to care for the poor, especially widows of the Greek-speaking converts. The Acts of the Apostles states that the Hellenists (Greek-speaking Jews) complained that their widows were being slighted in favor of the Hebrew/Aramaic speaking widows. The Apostles decided to delegate what they saw as a burdensome, less worthy duty to deacons so that the Apostles could continue their preaching. 

The Apostles laid hands upon, ordained, seven deacons, of which Stephen was the first. Stephen was a very zealous and effective preacher and teacher among the Greek-speaking Jews especially in the three synagogues of the Freemen, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians.  It is not known which group of freed Jewish slaves and their descendants that comprised the Freemen. The most likely group were the Jews who were taken as slaves by General Pompey when he conquered Judea in 63 BCE who had returned to Judea.  Cyrene was a Greek-speaking town in what is now Libya. Alexandria is in Egypt. The Jews in these synagogues were exceedingly angry with Stephen. They hauled him before the Sanhedrin. They claimed that Stephen’s teachings were blasphemous against Moses and God. The trial was not completed before the inflamed mob grabbed Stephen and stoned him to death. Stephen was the first martyr to the faith that did not even have the name Christian yet.

I think there are two points in Stephen’s summary of the history of the Jews from Abraham that cause the rage of the mob to become murderous. First, he quoted Isaiah 66.1 against the Temple in Jerusalem. Acts 7.48. “Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says,”

Isaiah 66.1. Thus says the Lord: Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool;

what is the house that you would build for me, and what is my resting place?

Then Stephen immediately called his listeners. Acts 7.51-52a “‘You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are for ever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do.  Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute?’”

Saul of Tarsus witnessed Stephen’s stoning death. After Stephen’s death, his body was buried by “Godly men” who deeply mourned his death. No place of death or burial is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles.

The Feast of St. Stephen on December 26^th is from a wholly different story, and that is the finding of the bones of St. Stephen.  In 415 CE, a priest named Lucian supposedly dreamt of the locations of Stephen’s bones at Beit Jimal, an ancient small town west of Jerusalem. The relics were taken in procession to the Church of Hagia Sion on 26 December 415. Thus, the Feast of St. Stephen is the day his relics were carried (translated) to the Church of Hagia Sion, a Byzantine church built on Mount Zion. This church built by Emperor Constantine was destroyed during the Persian or Sasanian conquest of Jerusalem in 614. Stephen’s bones did not find rest but were moved several more times and distributed to many places before being taken to Rome by Pope Pelagius II (pope from 579-590). They were entombed with those of St. Lawrence in the Basilica di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura. The Golden Legend tells that the body of St. Law(u)rence rolled over so that there was enough room in the sepulcher to place the bones of St. Stephen.

There are a sizeable number of stained-glass windows retelling the story of the life of Stephen as told in the Acts of the Apostles as well as later events including the finding of his bones in the 5th century.

Photos credits. All photos are from Painton Cowen. 

Stephen entrusted with his mission. Laon Cathedral east window c.1210-1215. http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Laon/images/w1-01-576A2181.JPG

Stephen preaching. Sens Cathedral. window 102 1230-1240. http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Sens/Images/w102-A1-DSCN4184.JPG

The listeners to the preaching. Sens Cathedral. window 102 [Note the Jews’ hats] http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Sens/Images/w102-B1-DSCN4186.JPG

Stephen is denounced. Sens Cathedral. window 102. http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Sens/Images/w102-A2-DSCN4183.JPG

Stephen is imprisoned. Sens Cathedral window 102.  http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Sens/Images/w102-B2-DSCN4187.JPG

Stephen before the High Priest. Normandy 1230-1240 now in Victoria & Albert. 

Museum no. C.20-1980 [(PW) 2003]

Stephen before the Sanhedrin. Laon Cathedral. East window 1210-1215.  http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Laon/images/w1-03-576A2184.JPG

Stephen before the Sanhedrin. Chartres Cathedral. window 13. http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Chartres/images/w13-6-CAN_1879.JPG

Stephen led out to be stoned. Chartres window 13. http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Chartres/images/w13-8-CAN_1887.JPG

Stephen led out to be stoned. Laon Cathedral. East window. http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Laon/images/w1-04-576A2183.JPG

The stoning of St. Stephen appears in so many windows that I chose only two.

The stoning of Stephen. Bourges Cathedral. window 10. c.1210-1215. http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Bourges/images/w10-9-576A2439.JPG

The stoning of Stephen. Chartres Cathedral window 13. http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Chartres/images/w13-10-IMG_10670.JPG

Saul, seated, is given a garment from Stephen after the stoning. Sens Cathedral

http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Sens/Images/w102-A3-DSCN4182.JPG

Stephen is buried. Chartres Cathedral. 13th century. http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Chartres/images/w13-11-CAN_1881.JPG

 

The priest Lucian leads Bishop John to the relics of Stephen. Auxerre Cathedral. 13the century.

http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Auxerre/images/w16-1-IMG_9583.JPG

The relics are reburied with dignity and a healing rain falls on December 26, 415 CE.  Bourges Cathedral. Window 15. 1210-1215. 

http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Bourges/images/w15_8-30949.jpg

I have made no attempt to include all the different windows about the miracles associated with the relics of St. Stephen, many of which are included in the Legenda Aurea. Bishop Augustine of Hippo included miracles associated with St. Stephen in the City of God, Book XXII, Chapter VIII. Of Miracles Which Were Wrought that the World Might Believe in Christ, and Which Have Not Ceased Since the World Believed. https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/augustine-cityofgod-22-9-10.asp

As I wrote above the relics of Stephen were moved several times including within the area of Jerusalem, Jerusalem to Constantinople and then to Rome.  There is a set of six windows telling the story of the removal of the shrine of Stephen's relics from Jerusalem to Constantinople in the Cathedral of Our Lady, Chartres.

The shrine of St. Stephen is put aboard a boat.  Chartres window 13.  http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Chartres/images/w13-15_10086.jpg

The devil lets loose a storm. http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Chartres/images/w13-18-CAN_1902.JPG

The boat arrives safely thought the devil is still lurking above. 

http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Chartres/images/w13-19-CAN_1905.JPG

A crowd of the sick and infirm welcome the arrival of the boat with the relics of St, Stephen with their apparent miraculous ability to cure.

http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Chartres/images/w13-20-CAN_1897.JPG

The relics are removed from the boat. 

http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Chartres/images/w13-21-CAN_1904.JPG

The reception of the relics at Constantinople.

http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Chartres/images/w13-22-CAN_1899.JPG

   

Orders were given to transfer the relics of St. Stephen from Constantinople to Rome in order to save the Emperor Valentinian II's daughter Eudoxia. Bourges Cathedral. Window 15, panels 17 and 18.

http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Bourges/images/w15_17-30962b.jpg
http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Bourges/images/w15_18-30955b.jpg


The remains of St. Stephen moved to Rome.
Bourges Cathedral. window 15, panel 19.
http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Bourges/images/w15_19-30954.jpg

The top panel of the St. Stephen window at Chartres Cathedral, window 13 shows two angels carrying the soul of Stephen to heaven.  This ends this blog for today.

Stephen's soul carried to heaven by angels. Chartres Cathedral. window 13, top panel.

http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Chartres/images/w13-23_10076.jpg

One Dove, Three Doves, Seven Doves: Part II

Three doves

 Three doves seems to be the least common number surrounded in head of Jesus Christ in Trees of Jesse.  Saint Gatien’s Cathedral in Tours, France was rebuilt following a fire in 1166 during the 20-year sporadic war between King Henry II of England (and Normandy, Poitou, Aquitaine, Gascony, Anjou, Maine, Touraine, with control of Brittainy and Auvergne) and Henry VII of France.  Reconstruction of the cathedral started about 1170 and continued intermittently for almost 400 years.  At the east end of the church in the choir clerestory is a childhood of Christ and Jesse Tree window. (Window #202 per Painton Cowen).  The central vertical panel contains the Jesse Tree.  It was made in the third quarter of the 13^th century.

Jesse Tree and childhood of Jesus window from the Cathedral of Tours[1].  The bottom three panels are the donors.  The central panel is the Jesse Tree with a recumbent Jesse.  Above him are two kings, perhaps Kings David and Solomon, then the Virgin Mary. The kings are not identified by any symbols such as scepter or harp, for example.  Christ is seated at the top with his right hand held in blessing and his left hand holding a book, presumably the Gospels.

Detail of the Christ panel of the Jesse Tree.  Note the three doves above the head of Jesus[2]

Three doves recall the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  In addition there were other medieval stories that feature the number three referencing the Trinity. 

One such story is the Holy Rood legend(s) dating perhaps from the 11th century and found in a 12th century vernacular Old English manuscript at the Bodleian Library (Bodley 343), Oxford. [3]  The story starts with Moses finding three rods/trees in the desert after the Red Sea crossing.  He was asleep and three rods sprung up during the night.  One was at his head and one was at his right and left.  The trees are cypress, pine, and cedar.  At first, Moses is afraid of the wood.  Another version has Moses recognizing the three wands as a symbol of the Trinity.[4]  After Moses discovers that the rods have to power to sweeten bitter water, he takes the three rods with him.  David carried the trees to Jerusalem where they were placed in a pool of bitter water.  The three become one mighty tree that grew in David’s garden, and, on which, David hung 30 silver hoops.  Solomon cut down the tree to use in building the Temple but the wood was always the wrong length.  The wood would get longer or shorter than what was needed.  So the tree was put in the Temple.  The thirty silver hoops were made into thirty plates that hung in the temple.  The silver eventually came to Judas, the betrayer of Jesus, as 30 pieces of silver (Matthew 26.15).  The tree remained in the Temple in Jerusalem and many miracles were associated with it.  Eventually Caiaphas ordered that three hundred men get the tree to make the cross for Jesus.  None of the three hundred men could move the tree.  So, a section of wood was cut from the tree for the cross for Jesus.  

Three hundred years later the legend picks up with Helena, the mother on Constantine, coming to Jerusalem and finding the wood of the True Cross as well as the crosses on which the robbers were hung.  She divided the wood from the true cross, leaving some in Jerusalem.  Then she carried some of the wood to Constantinople.  When Helena entered the city, a dead man was brought to her, and he was made alive by the wood from the true cross.  The story ends with Helena making a bridle for her son from the five nails used for the crucifixion.  The bridle sped the spread of Christianity.

The Vita Adae et Evae (Life of Adam and Eve) dates from the 10^th century.^[5]  It was originally a Jewish legend.  When Adam was old and in pain, he sent Eve and his son Seth back to the gates of Paradise to beg for oil from the tree of Mercy to anoint himself and ease the pain.  The angel Michael met them and did not give them the requested oil.  Instead they were given a branch and sweet smelling spices.  Adam died and his children mourned him.  Then Seth saw the hand of God give the body of Adam to the angel Michael.  The angels Michael and Uriel buried Adam and his son Abel in Paradise.  Six days later Eve died.  Seth and his brothers and sisters mourned her for only six days because of the instruction from the angel Michael.  The story ends as Seth makes tablets, writing down the story.  Another version of this tale has Seth looking into Paradise and seeing in a large tree at the center of the garden the Virgin and infant Jesus.  Upon Seth’s reporting this sight to his dying father, Adam exclaims, “Blessed are you, O Lord, for now I know truly that a virgin will conceive a son who will die on the cross, whence we shall all be saved.”^[6]

Godfrey of Viterbo, an Italian or German cleric, diplomat, and secretary to the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarosa tells the another version of the tree woods becoming one in Pantheon or Universitalis libri qui chronici appellantur, (c.1180-90), a history of the world.^[7].  Ionitus, an apocryphal son of Moses, plucked three fruits from three trees, a cyprus, palm, and fir.  When planted they grew into one tree which David recognized as a symbol for the Trinity.  Solomon cut down the tree to use in building the temple but the wood proved unsuitable since it kept changing length.  Solomon set up the tree in the temple to be worshiped.  A sibyl saw the Messiah in the tree.  Solomon recognized that this portended the fall of Israel, and the Jewish kingdom.  He threw the tree into the Pool of Siloam.  The wood was retrieved from the pool to make the cross.  When the wood was used to make the Cross, three colors of wood could be discerned.

The Legenda Aurea (or Golden Legend) compiled about 1260 by Jacobus de Voragine is another well-known source for legends about three becoming one as a symbol of the Trinity.  The Golden Legend is a seven volume work that tells the lives of the saints (hagiographies), many of them fanciful.  It was compiled about 1260 and published about 1275.  It was another medieval “best seller” that circulated widely and was well known to those who designed and constructed Jesse trees.

The Life of Adam in Volume 1, tells a slightly different version of the death of Adam.  As he was dying, Adam sent Seth, his son, to Paradise to obtain the oil of mercy.  Instead Seth was given three grains or seeds or kernels of fruit.  Adam died and Seth placed the three seeds under his father’s tongue before Adam was buried at Hebron.  Out of these three seeds grew one tree on which Jesus Christ was crucified.[8]

“Life of Adam” in Volume 1 and the “Invention of the Holy Cross” in Volume 3 tell different stories about how Seth was given the raw material from which would come the wood of the cross.  In the Holy Cross version, the angel Michael gave Seth a branch of a tree to plant on Adam’s grave where it grew until the time of Solomon.[9]  Solomon found the tree and cut it down.  Eventually the tree was buried in a pit that was a piscina, a pool for washing sacrificial animals.  The tree floated to the top of the pool and was recovered to construct Jesus’ cross. Wood of the cross was not three types but four: palm, cypress, cedar and olive.

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[1] Painton Cowen,  <http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Tours/images/w202_comp_30224b.jpg>

[2] Painton Cowen.  <http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Tours/images/w202-ABC-6b-IMG_6478.jpg>

[3]  A. S. Napier, ed.  History of the Holy Rood-Tree : A Twelfth-century Version of the Cross-legend with Notes, EETS, OS 103 (1894) London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner.  2-32. <http://archive.org/stream/historyofholyno10300bodluoft#page/n6/mode/1up>

[4] Richard Morris. Legends of the holy rood : symbols of the passion and crosspoems : in Old English of the eleventh, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries / ed. from mss. in the British museum and Bodleian libraries (1871) London: Pub. for the Early English text society, by N. Trübner

[5] R. H. Charles. ed. Apocrypha and Pseudepigraphia of the Old Testament in English.  Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1913. <http://www.ccel.org/c/charles/otpseudepig/adamnev.htm >  See also: Brian Murdoch.  The Apocryphal Adam and Eve in Medieval Europe : Vernacular Translations and Adaptations of the Vita Adae Et Evae. (2009) Oxford, Oxford University Press. 27 ff.  See also University of Virginia’s online version of The Life of Adam and Eve at <http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/vita/english/vita.lat.html.>

[6] This interpolation is to be found in London, British Library, MS Arundel 326, said by Mozley to have derived from a manuscript of the thirteenth century, and its close copy, London, British Library, MS Sloane 289, dated to the fifteenth century. See J. H. Mozley,  Documents: The Vita Adae, Journal of Theological Studies. (1929) XXX-os, 123.  <http://jts.oxfordjournals.org/content/os-XXX/January/121.citation > Given the presumed late date, perhaps it was the Jesse Tree window design itself that was the basis for the legend.

[7] As retold in Barbara Braent and Lee Pready. A Heritage of Holy Wood : the Legend of the True Cross in Text and Image.(2004) Leiden ;Boston : Brill. 292-3.

[8] <http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/goldenlegend/GoldenLegend-Volume1.asp#Adam>

[9] <http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/goldenlegend/GoldenLegend-Volume3.asp#invention of the Holy Cross>