The Cross in Ritual, Architecture and Art — John Shaqi
The Cross in Ritual, Architecture and ArtTyack, Geo. S. (George Smith)
History
The Cross in Ritual, Architecture and Art
Tyack, Geo. S. (George Smith)
Crosses
In recent years something has been done to repair the losses of the past
in this respect. It has been pointed out above that several of the crosses
as we have them now, such as those at Eyam, at S. Ives, and at Lanteglos,
are the carefully rebuilt fragments of antiquity. But besides these, some
new churchyard crosses have recently been erected, proving the revival of
the ancient feeling of their fitness. Quite recently the old base of a
cross at East Brent, in Somersetshire, has been crowned with the addition
of an impressive stone crucifix, intended as a memorial of the long
incumbency of the late Archdeacon Denison. At Harburton, in Devonshire, is
a new cross, designed after the best ancient type, with a tabernacled
head surmounted by a short crocketed spire; the carvings represent, on the
four sides, the Crucifixion, the Epiphany, and S. Andrew, and S.
Bartholomew. Hickleton Churchyard, in Yorkshire, and other places, have
also had crosses re-erected in them in recent years; as at Broadwood
Widger, near Launceston, where an ancient cross has been recovered from
secular use, and placed in the churchyard.
The churchyard crosses, besides exciting the devotion of the faithful, as
they passed amid the sleeping dead to prayer, were often used as fitting
places for the performance of penances, and hence were sometimes called
"Weeping Crosses." Another name, "Palm Crosses," marks the fact that the
Palm Sunday procession in passing round the church made a station at the
churchyard cross, which was for the nonce adorned with palm-branches, or
more strictly with yew or willow, which in mediæval England generally
served as substitutes for the oriental palm.
CHAPTER V.
Public Crosses.
That "the ages of faith" considered religion foreign to no department of
life, is in nowise more strikingly shown than by the public use of the
emblem of Christianity. Our forefathers held it as the fittest of all
ornaments, not for the Church only, but for every place where Christian
men were found. Over five thousand crosses, it is said, existed at one
time in the public places of England;--in the obscure village churchyard
and the busy mart, the lonely highway and the crowded city thoroughfare.
Precisely how many of these now remain, it would be difficult to say; but
certainly only a small proportion exists in anything like the original
state. Some have survived as mere shafts, beautiful still in many cases,
but shorn of almost all meaning by the loss of the one member that gave
them a being and a name. In other cases an unsightly stump, a useless
flight of steps, a few worn stones, an ancient place-name, or a bare
tradition, keep alive the memory of the Cross, now desecrated or
destroyed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account