The Churches and Modern Thought: An inquiry into the grounds of unbelief and an appeal for candourPhelips, Vivian
Religion
The Churches and Modern Thought: An inquiry into the grounds of unbelief and an appeal for candour
Phelips, Vivian
Rationalism
Diaries recounting the sights seen by a lord of high degree in 1465
were published in 1851 by the Literary Society of Stuttgart. They
include an interesting account of all the shrines and relics seen
during his travels through Western Europe. The account of the relics
which he saw in our own Canterbury Cathedral admits of no curtailment:
"First we saw the head-band of the Blessed Virgin, a piece of Christ's
garment, and three thorns from His Crown; then we saw the bedstead
of St. Thomas and his brain, and the blood of St. Thomas and of
St. John the Apostles. We saw also the sword with which St. Thomas of
Canterbury was beheaded; the hair of the Mother of God, and a part
of the Sepulchre. There was also shown to us a part of the shoulder
of the Blessed Simeon, who bore Christ in his arms; the head of the
blessed Lustrabena; one leg of St. George; a piece of the body and
the bones of St. Lawrence; a leg of the Bishop of St. Romanus; a cup
of St. Thomas, which he had been accustomed to use in administering
the Sacrament at Canterbury; a leg of the Virgin Milda; a leg of the
Virgin Eduarda. We also saw a tooth and a finger of St. Stephen the
Martyr; bones of the Virgin Catherine, and oil from her sepulchre,
which is said to flow to this day; hair of the blessed Virgin
[sic!] Magdalene; a tooth of St. Benedict; a finger of St. Urban;
the lips of one of the infants slain by Herod; bones of the blessed
Clement; bones of St. Vincent. Very many other things were also shown
to us, which are not set down by me in this place." Very many other
things have also been shown to me during my travels abroad (from
St. Anne de Beaupré in Quebec to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
in Jerusalem) which are not set down by me in this place, and I may
say that the grotesqueness of the frauds that are perpetrated is only
equalled by the gross ignorance and credulity of the worshippers. The
number of these "relics" scattered over Christendom must amount to
thousands upon thousands. To stop the traffic in them, there is now a
regulation that if you buy a relic you commit mortal sin. The relics
are still sold, however; only the price is said to be for the frame
or for the trouble, or something to that effect. For a description
of La Bottega del Papa (the Pope's shop) or La Santa Bottega (the
Holy Shop) see Dr. Robertson's book, The Roman Catholic Church in
Italy. Regarding the early Church, see Bible Myths, pp. 434-40.
P. 359, lines 7-10.--Some of our greatest divines ... condemn
obscurantism and the odium theologicum.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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