Posted on 07/26/2014 9:36:30 AM PDT by Salvation
Featured Term (selected at random:
HOLY WELL
St. Winifride's Well in North Wales. A place of pilgrimage throughout the year but especially on November 3, the saint's feast day. The legend of St. Winifride, virgin and martyr, is authenticated by two twelfth-century documents. A daughter of a Welsh chieftain, she lived in the seventh century. When St. Beuno came to her father's house, he was hospitably received and instructed Winifride in the Christian faith. So impressed was she that she determined to become a religious. Then followed a series of extraordinary events: Winifride was beheaded, miraculously restored to life, and a spring arose in a dry region where her blood had fallen. She later founded a convent on the spot, the later holy Well. She died in 660. In the twelfth century Winifride's bones were moved to Shrewsbury and later scattered during Henry VIII's reign of terror. All were lost except one finger, which was transferred to Holy Well. The shrine is the site of numerous miraculous cures, including those of well-known Protestants. The water from this well is also believed to have miraculous qualities. Though at one time forbidden, pilgrimages to her shrine continued. In recent decades conditions have improved and the number of pilgrims has increased.
All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.
Catholic Word of the Day Ping!
If you aren’t on this Catholic Word of the Day Ping list and would like to be, please send me a FReepmail.
Thanks for that reference. I’ll look it up.
http://www.amazon.com/Morbid-Taste-Bones-Chronicle-Mysteries/dp/0446400157
Looks extremely interesting.
Ellis Peters wrote a long series about Brother Cadfael, a medieval English Benedictine monk. I started reading them in high school.
There’s also a BBC tv series, which starred Derek Jacobi. They did an excellent job with the setting and most of the characters, but had difficulty compressing the complex mystery plots into 1-1/2-hour episodes.
The wells are always well visited as evidenced by flowers, coins, statuettes, rosaries, etc. left behind. Sometimes they are right beside a church (usually Church of Ireland) but sometimes they are in the middle of nowhere . . . usually the site of long gone villages or religious centers.
The enemy would like people to think these are all pagan religious sites just "christened" for use in the new faith. It turns out that explanation doesn't hold water in the overwhelming majority of cases. Most have a recent (Christian era) origin.
Thanks for the additional information.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.