St. Eulalia - John William Waterhouse [1885] - The Tate Gallery, LondonThis painting earned Waterhouse, member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, his election as an Associate of the Royal Academy. Waterhouse avoids manipulation by depicting the vulnerability of the dead saint, life "going on," and the ostensible power of the state in a now-peaceful moment after her martyrdom.
Prudentius says that the body of St. Eulalia was shrouded by a miraculous fall of snow when lying exposed in the forum after her martyrdom.
"A Spanish martyr in the persecution of Diocletian (12 February, 304), patron of the cathedral and city of Barcelona, also of sailors. The Acts of her life and martyrdom were copied early in the twelfth century, and with elegant conciseness, by the learned ecclesiastic Renallus Grammaticus (Bol. acad. hist., Madrid, 1902, XLI, 253-255). Their chief historical source is a Latin hymn of the middle of the seventh century by Quiricus, Bishop of Barcelona, friend and correspondent of St. Ildephonsus of Toledo and of Tajo, Bishop of Saragossa. This hymn, identical with that of Prudentius (Peridstephanon, III) for the feast of St. Eulalia of Merida (10 December, 304), was preserved in the Visigothic Church and has reached us through the Mozarabic Liturgy.
"There is no reason to doubt the existence of two distinct saints of this name, despite the over-hasty and hypercritical doubts of some. The aforesaid Quiricus of Barcelona and Oroncius of Merida were present at the tenth council of Toledo (656). The latter had already founded (651) a convent of nuns close by the basilica of the celebrated martyr of his episcopal city, had written a rule for its guidance, and given it for abbess the noble lady Eugenia. Quiricus now did as much for the basilica and sepulchre of the martyr of Barcelona, close to whom he wished to be buried, as we read in the last lines of the hymn. The inscriptions on many Visigothic altars show that they contained relics of St. Eulalia; except in the context, however, they do not distinguish between the martyr of Barcelona and the one of Merida. On an altar in the village of Morera, Province of Badajoz, we find enumerated consecutively Sts. Fructuosus and Augurius (Tarragona), St. Eulalia (Barcelona), St. Baudillius (Nimes, and St. Paulus (Narbonne). The Visigothic archeology of Eastern Spain has been hitherto poor in hagiological remains; nevertheless, a trans-Pyrenean inscription found at Montady near Béziers mentions a basilica dedicated to the martyrs Sts. Vincentius, Iñes, and Eulalia (of Barcelona). Until 23 November, 874, the body of the Barcelona bartyr reposed outside the walls of the city in the church of Santa Maria del Mar. On that date both the body and the tomb were transferred to his cathedral by Bishop Frodoinus. In memory of this act hehe set up an inscription yet preserved in the Muséo Provincial of Barcelona (no. 864); see also volume XX of Florez, "España Sagrada", for a reproduction of the same. Not long before this the martyr, St. Eulogius, having occasion to defend the martyrs of Cordova for their spontaneous confession of the Christian Faith before the Muslim magistrates, quoted the example of St. Eulalia of Barcelona, and referred to the ancients Acts of her martyrdom. Her distinct personality is also confirmed by the existence of an ancient church and monastery in Cordova that bear the name of the Barcelona martyr; this important evidence is borne out by the Mozarabic calendars examined by the learned Dom Ferotin." -- New Advent
Her Feast Day is February 12.
18 comments:
Whew! After the first view, I need to sort of cover my eyes when I scroll past that one. A NOFS situation. Possibly even a NSFW situation.
Waterhouse sanitized the situation of St Eulalia's martyrdom; this is the Victorian version.
With your interest in the Pre-Raphaelites (congratulations is due for that alone!), I am curious as to how much Ruskin and Morris you have read and studied? What's your take on the Pre-Raphaelite "scandals"?
I ask this as an admirer of their principles and ideals, indeed, one needs to remember Tolkien himself wanted to found a modern Pre-Raphaelite order. But I do see Tolkien, in his extensive writings, doing some amazing corrections to the Pre-Raphaelite program -- one which says "yes, but here's the grace" so to speak.
Henry, I find both Ruskin and Morris fine fellows but tragic in the sense that they did not build on the firm foundation of the Catholic Church, but what they thought (like so many other Brits at that time) would be sustainable; namely, a rather ethereal, evanescent notion of the medieval. Even a sidelong glance at the work and better understanding of A. Pugin would have helped them both.
Tolkien indeed must have shook his head at C. S. Lewis's obdurate Ulstermanism more than once (as Humphrey's notes in The Inklings).
The whole Rossetti / Jane Morris scandal, while roiling William's inner peace did, at least, send him off to Iceland to learn the native language and give us even more art from the great man. (Such rivalry is par for the course in the dynamics of desire as understood in R. Girard's mimetic theory.)
One might even imagine that Tolkien had hopes of turning the Inklings into such a valorized PRB, except for Lewis's obdurate Ulsterman pig-headedness. "Mere" Christianity indeed.
See what you think of my post, The Hireling Shepherd (below).
Henry, sorry for the repeat phrases. I really must edit better.
Going back to your comment, Porthos, I find Waterhouse's depiction of the saint chaste and evocative only of a sad pity at the loneliness of the young dead girl. This may say more about my aging level of testosterone, but a now-peacefully and -- tho' partially clothed -- decidedly dead female shouldn't warrant any explanation to the nosy office work force.
Evangelism may even start after one replies, "She's dead. Murdered for her faith. The Catholic Church honors her. Quite a story, actually."
You're right. That's what I should see, of course. Nothing wrong with the painting!
Perhaps "pig-headed" was not apt in describing C. S. Lewis, whom Walker Percy considered the greatest apologist for Xty in the 20th century; granted. Who, for goodness' sake, is Athos, after all?
But one might argue that Ronald Knox, whom Lewis considered the greatest mind at Oxford, did more for the Church in fulfilling his priestly duties than Lewis did with all his talks and books. Time will tell.
But as a convert, I can truthfully say that Chesterton, Belloc, Knox, Waugh, Benson, Lunn, Tolkien,and the other British Catholics have meant far more to me than M. Lewis in coming to full communion with the Catholic Church. What ho!
Lewis is still a tremendous influence on my life and on my own conversion -- his work "On Reading Old Books" helped influence me to do so as a young undergraduate back in the early 90s. More importantly, some of his best work was a exploration of the themes he held in common with Tolkien and Barfield -- and they tend to be the ones which are most neglected by the "evangelical" types, such as the question of myth and its important role in the spreading of the Gospel. If you have never read "Till We Have Faces" I would suggest you read it; one of the best books of the kind ever, and always the most neglected of Lewis' fiction.
But it is through Tolkien that I first became introduced to the Pre-Raphaelites, first with Morris, then Ruskin, and then the rest. I always feel sorry for Morris, however; I think if it were not for all the scandal around him (and he was such a caring man), he would probably have been able to come to terms with the faith question....
Hey Henry, Princess Mononoke is also my favorite of Miyazaki's.
Apropos of nothing in particular . . .
the question of myth and its important role in the spreading of the Gospel
I have read (and reread) Till We Have Faces, Henry. As a former Jungian, the "myth became fact" in the Incarnation drove me for quite some time.
Then I came across René Girard's anthropological work, which opened up tremendous further vistas in the meaning of "myth became fact." It was as though I was in one of George MacDonald's Curdie stories about being in a cave and I happened to see a glimmer of light through a chink in the rock. And there through the opening I viewed a sunlit valley and beyond that mountains and higher mountains still beyond them.
I'll re-reread Faces if you will read Bailie's Violence Unveiled. Deal?
Again: apologies for untoward remarks re: CSL. I simply didn't want to stop at mere Xty, but moved on to the fullness of the faith in the Catholic Church.
Well, one day I will be able to have time to read beyond the dissertation work I have to do -- but when I do, I plan to be going through Girard's works because of many things I've seen/heard.
As for Mere Christianity, as far as I can tell, Lewis himself wished he never wrote it in his later years.... it's definately one of Lewis' works I like the least! But I am still an Inkling at heart, and Lewis was at the center...
Oh, and Porthos: I really like all of Miyazaki's works. Did you realize Howl was based upon a novel of Jones, who was a student of Lewis and Tolkien? Her books, more than Potter, imo are the successor to Lewis's Narnia.
BTW, Henry, both Porthos and I were heavily into Lewis and Francis Schaeffer (The God Who Is There, etc.) in our undergrad days.
My path to Rome definitely included these great Protestant men.
I remember, back in high school, reading some Francis Schaeffer and not being too impressed; however, I think he was far greater than his son "turned Orthodox." Franky is one who always gets me frustrated when I read whatever he writes.
Lewis has helped many in their conversion (the best example being Walter Hooper). I hope to read Tolkien's lengthy but unpublished criticism of Lewis one day.
I know nothing of his son, but his discussion of epistemology got me through many Psych and Religion courses without becoming either an agnostic or nihilist.
Jos. Pearce quotes Fr Hooper in C. S. Lewis and the Catholic Church as saying that, with all that has happened in the Anglican communion, he (Hooper) is certain Lewis, if he'd lived to see it, would be Catholic by today. Perhaps?
We'd better leave my undergrad days unexamined. But I was introduced to Schaeffer as a somewhat confused born again convert in my mid-late twenties. I'm sure it must have helped somehow, but my memory is a bit vague . . . Schaeffer put a big warning sign in front of Thomas Aquinas, though, and because of that I never got to the Angelic Doc until Ath pointed me to an everyman/woman's version of Summa. Schaeffer had this thing about how the fragmented modern mind started with Aquinas' grace/nature split. Now I tend to think, ah, no, that can't be quite right. Schaeffer was a good man, though.
Howl is the one Miyazaki I haven't seen yet. But it's on my list! My gold standard for fantasy is Ursula LeGuin's A Wizard of Earthsea (the first one in the series) but no-one else seems to agree with me, even fantasy fans.
Porthos,
I've not read it yet... though I am interested in what Miyazaki's son did with the Earthsea movie. I've heard Ursula was upset with what she saw....
Yeah, I've heard bad to indifferent reports. I'm not sure I'd want to watch a badly conceived Earthsea adaptation . . . It could be like Ralph Bashki doing Tolkein back in the 70s. Euwwww!
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