Folklore of Wells: Being a Study of Water-Worship in East and WestMasani, Rustom Pestonji
Religion
Folklore of Wells: Being a Study of Water-Worship in East and West
Masani, Rustom Pestonji
Holy wells; Water -- Folklore; Water -- Religious aspects
In several instances such miraculous cures appear to be well
authenticated. Mr. Colin Bennett says that Jesus Well, St. Minver, and
Madron Holy Well, near Penzance, are cases in point. Bishop Hall, of
Exeter, who visited the latter well in 1640, absolutely vouches, in his
treatise on the _Invisible World_, for the cure of a man by name John
Trelille who had been lame from birth and had to crawl on all fours from
place to place. At last he decided to try the virtue of the waters of
this holy well for his complaint and, like Naaman of old, bathed himself
in the little spring, afterwards reclining for an hour and a half on a
grassy bank situated near by and known as St. Madrne’s bed while a friend
offered up simple prayers on his behalf. On the first occasion of this
treatment he got some relief, on the second he was able to stand on his
legs with the aid of a staff and on the third occasion he found himself
entirely cured. It is even said that in later life he enlisted in the
army and was eventually killed in battle, having previously done good
work for his country’s cause. Others have also been cured of the same
affliction in later times by precisely the same means. Close by this well
is the ancient oratory of St. Madrne, where on the first Sunday in May a
service is still held by the Wesleyans in commemoration of the saintly
man who once preached in that lonely spot the word of God. After the
service the Holy Well is visited by the people, some of whom, says Mr.
Bennett, “go so far as to consult it concerning futurity.”
Many springs in Macedonia are known and venerated as “sacred waters”;
dedicated to St. Friday and St. Solomoné among feminine saints, or
to St. Paul and St. Elias among their male colleagues. The water of
these springs is regarded as efficacious against diseases, especially
eye-complaints. Even so stood enclosed the “fair-flowing fountain
built by man’s hand, whence the citizens of Ithaca drew water,” and
close to it “an altar erected in honour of the Nymphs, upon which the
wayfarers offered sacrifice.” Like the Homeric “fountain of the Nymphs”
many a modern “holy spring” is overshadowed by “water-bred poplars or
broad-leaved fig-trees, and weeping willows.”[29]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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