Monday, September 15, 2008

I am currently...

visiting the Isle of Wight, which is extraordinarily lovely in September sunshine. Mass yesterday evening here - lovely church with an interesting history.

2 comments:

PJA said...

While here, and if time allows, a visit to the church of Our Lady and S Radegund at Whitwell is worth the effort. Dating from the C12, there are scallop shell motifs suggesting that this church served as a "station" for pilgrims en-route to Santiago. There is also an ancient holy well (from which the village derives its name) and which is "dressed" during the summer.

Nearby, is another wonderful old church, in the village of Godshill. Tradition holds that it was rebuilt by angels atop a small hill, when the village people attempted its construction at the foot of the hill.

Inside, there is a beautiful medieval wall painting of our Lord crucified on a lilly, which celebrates the years when Good Friday and Lady Day occur on the same day. It is believed that this is the only Lilly Cross to have survived in the British Isles following the Reformation.

Hope you enjoy your visit.

Niall Mor said...

I recognized the melody playing on the church's website as "God's Blessing Sends Us Forth." The title and words for "Jesus the Fairest were totally unfamiliar to me, but I must say, were a distinct improvement over what I usually associate with this hymn. I think an unfortunate side-effect of Vatican II was that many hymn writers appropriated old melodies and wrote new words for them in an effort to make them more "relevant" or even (shudder) more "inclusive."