EARLY CATHOLIC AVIATORS, part VI: FAUST VRANCIC



Croatian Culture:

Faust Vrancic (1550-1617) was a notable scholar whose interest comprised mathematics, physics, phylosophy and technology. He spent some time at the court of the German emperor Rudolf II who was also the sovereign to the Croatians, Hungarians and Czechs... His most interesting invention was a parachute or homo volans. Faust Vrancic performed a jump with his parachute somewhere in Venice; this fact is explicitly stated in a book written by John Willkins (1614-1672), secretary of the Royal Society in London, only 30 years after the jump.

Hungarian Quarterly:

Several countries may claim Faustus Verancsics, who was born in Dalmatia, and educated in Hungary from childhood (in the Pozsony home of his uncle, Antal Verancsics, the Archbishop of Esztergom). After studying at the university in Padua, he returned to Pozsony to devote himself to the study of scientific problems. He was given the captainship of the castle of Veszprem, in western Hungary, before becoming the Emperor Rudolf's secretary for Hungarian affairs. Later he became a priest and ultimately the Bishop of Csanad. In the last one and a half decades of his life he went to Italy, where he became a monk. He lived in Rome and Venice and his writings were published there. He compiled a five-language dictionary in Latin, Italian, German, Croatian and Hungarian which was published in 1595. All his life he pursued solutions for technical problems, thus developing several new ideas and inventions. In 1616 he published Machinae Novae, which was a summary of his ideas and a significant work in the history of science. The book describes more than sixty inventions, forty-nine of them with detailed illustrations. His inventions cover a wide range: grinders, windmills, tide-mill, compacting machine, twelve variations of bridge structures, the suspension-bridge, the parachute (closer to the present paraglider), a dredger, a rope-weaving machine, a steel spring and friction brake for coaches.

See also:

Eilmer of Malmesbury
Kaspar Mohr
Bartolomeu de Gusmão
Francesco Lana de Terzi
Jan Wnek

ALTAR in HADSEL CHURCH



This altar was a gift from Princess Isabella of Burgundy. In 1515, she was travelling to Denmark to wed King Christian II of Denmark. A tempest arose that threatened to sink their ship. In gratitude to God and to the Norwegian Archbishop Erik Walkendorf (her escort on the journey) for her survival, she gave five altars to churches in Norway. These are currently in churches in Grip, Leka, Røst, Hadsel and Ørsta. Collectively, they are known as the Leka group. The photographs of the altar in Hadsel Church are from the Arkitekturguide for Nord-Norge og Svalbard.

ASCENSION of OUR LORD



The story, according to James of Voragine.

Sequence by Adam of St. Victor:

Postquam hostem et inferna
Spoliavit, ad superna
Christus redit gaudia;
Angelorum ascendenti
Sicut olim descendenti
Parantur obsequia.

Super astra sublimatur;
Non apparet, absentatur
Corporis praesentia;
Cuncta tamen moderatur,
Cujus Patri coaequatur
Honor et potentia.

Modo victor, modo tutus,
Est in coelo constitutus
Rector super omnia.
Non est rursum moriturus,
Nec per mortem mandaturus
Hominum contagia.

Semel enim incarnatus,
Semel passus, semel datus
Pro peccatis hostia,
Nullam feret ultra poenam,
Nam quietem habet plenam
Cum summa laetitia.

Cum recessit, ita dixit,
Intimavit et infixit
Talia discipulis:
"Ite, mundum circuite,
Universos erudite
Verbis et miraculis.

"Nam as Patrem meum ibo;
Sed sciatis quod redibo:
Veniet Paraclitus
Qui desertos et loquaces,
Et securos, et audaces
Faciet vos penitus.

"Super aegros et languentes
Manus vestras imponentes,
Sanitatem dabitis;
Universas res nocentes,
Inimicos et serpentes
Et morbos fugabitis.

"Qui fidelis est futurus
Et cum fide suscepturus
Baptismi remedium,
In peccatis erit purus
Et cum justis habiturus
Sempiternum gaudium." Amen.

Englished by Digby S. Wrangham:

Satan and the realms infernal
Having spoiled, to joys supernal
Christ returneth back once more:
As His upward way he wendeth,
As before, when he descendeth,
Angels set them to adore.

As above the stars He goeth,
Here no more Himself He showeth,
Bodily, to mortal sight;
But all rule to him is given,
Who is with His Sire in Heaven
One in majesty and might.

Victor now, from perils warded,
He in heaven hath been accorded
Empire over all therein:
Nevermore shall He be dying,
Nevermore through death supplying
Means to purify man's sin.

Once for all He took our nature,
Once He suffered, once, a creature,
Was for sin content to die:
Further pain shall He know never,
But, in perfect peace for ever,
Compass endless joys on high.

Thus he spake, as He ascended;
These things straitly He commanded,
And impressed upon His own:
"Go through all the world and preach ye,
Every nation therein teach ye
Both by word and wonder done.

"For I go unto my Father,
To return, as ye may gather,
Since shall come a Comforter,
Who shall make you bold and fearless,
Of all consequences careless,
Eloquent in speech and clear.

"Those laid low by sickness on them,
When ye lay your hands upon them,
Shall their former health regain:
All things hurtful and annoying,
With all deadly snakes, destroying,
Ye shall drive out plagues and pain.

"Whosoever but believeth,
And with simple faith receiveth
Baptism's sure remedy,
Shall be cleansed from all transgression,
And have with the saints possession
Of eternal joys on high!" Amen.

WEDGWOOD FAIRYLAND LUSTRE ~ DAISY MAKEIG-JONES



Wedgwood Museum:

In 1916, Susannah Margeretta (Daisy) Makeig-Jones, introduced an extensive range of some of the most extraordinary ware ever produced by Wedgwood. It was called Fairyland Lustre and adorned a large number of shapes, some of which were made especially for the purpose. Daisy’s fairies came from many cultural backgrounds and the articles they decorate often tell complex tales... Some [pieces of Fairyland Lustre] needed as many as six firings. Daisy’s Fairyland remained popular until well into the 1920s when the Wall Street crash and a change in taste saw that it was gradually discontinued. According to factory history, Daisy was asked to leave in 1930 but flatly refused to do so. She felt like a member of the family. Not long afterwards, she herself decided to leave, making the dramatic gesture of smashing her pots as she went.

Victoria & Albert Museum:

Daisy Makeig-Jones's fascination with fairies, following such illustrators as Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac and the Danish artist, Kay Nielsen, proved very popular in the 1920s. Wedgwood have always produced a huge range of styles to capture different market tastes. The cosy drawing room and nursery atmosphere of the decoration of these works, and the monumental forms, contrast sharply with the modernist works being produced at Wedgwood's in the same period.

Targeting the luxury end of the market with these pieces, they represent one of Wedgwood's most extraordinary technical achievements in the ceramic industry. The richly coloured ornament of Fairyland Lustre was extremely popular throughout the 1920s as expensive collector's pieces. But by the 1930s the appeal of lustre was waning and the collapse of the American market had a noticable effect on the demand for ornamental wares. Fairyland was gradually phased out in the 1930s as Keith Murray and Norman Wilson were taken up. Fairyland was considered too expensive and old-fashioned.

Walters Art Museum:

The Wedgwood factory gave Susannah Margaretta (Daisy) Makeig-Jones (1881-1945) her own design studio in 1915. Drawing on her early love of fairy stories, she introduced an imaginative line of decorative wares that remained popular throughout the 1920s... Engravers transferred Makeig-Jones's designs to copper plates for printing onto paper sheets known as pottery tissues. While the ink was still wet on the pottery tissues, the images were rubbed onto the ceramic surfaces. Women painters then applied the colors to these designs on the ceramics, a process that necessitated several firings, and then added the colorful glazes. The gold details were added last.

Antique Marks:

The impact of Fairyland Lustre ware on the public was phenomenal and all the best shops clamoured to obtain pieces for sale. At first, decoration featured butterflies, dragons, fish, birds and other naturalistic designs in stunning, even garish, colour schemes that were such a welcome relief from the drab war years. However, these earlier pieces should not be confused with true Fairyland Lustre, which first appeared in 1915.

By this time Daisy's imagination was beginning to run riot. Rich blues, purple, orange (her favourite colour) yellow, green and gold, were all worked together with pixies, elves and sprites in ways reminiscent of book illustrations by Edmund Dulac and Arthur Rackham.

And, like all clever, well constructed pictures, the harder you look, the more you see: elves playing leapfrog; spiders spinning evil webs; gaudy rainbows over romantic castles; ghostly woods and apparitions in the Land of Illusion. Interestingly, rather than being figments of an over active imagination, many Fairyland Lustre designs have strong links with folklore, legend and tradition, though clearly, Daisy's fairy people did things their way.

The website of M.S. Rau Antiques has many good photographs of Wedgwood Fairyland Lustre. Click on the images to navigate to their source.

TREE of JESSE & LIVING CROSS ~ SCHERNBERG PSALTER

CHARLEMAGNE CHESSMEN



These ivory chessmen receive their name from a legend that they were a coronation present to Charles from the Caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd. In the Middle Ages, they were owned by the Abbey of St. Denis.

More pictures here.

CORBELS at KILPECK



A dog and a bunny, one of 85 surviving corbels on Ss. Mary and David Church in Kilpeck, famous for its Norman carvings. Photograph by Simon Garbutt.



More architectural details on this church can be seen here, here and here.



One of the other corbels is a famous Sheela-na-gig.

ST. GREGORY the THEOLOGIAN



St. Gregory of Nazianzus:

Either teach not, or teach by thy way of life,
Lest with one hand thou draw them, and with the other repel them.
Thou wilt entreat less by speech, doing what is needed;
The painter teacheth better by his pictures.

CONSECRATIONS, ORDINATIONS and CORONATIONS

Miniatures from the 15th century Calderini Pontifical.

Consecrations, ordinations and coronations:


of a porter


of a lector


of an exorcist


of an acolyte


of a deacon


of a priest


of a bishop


of a pope


of an emperor


monastic tonsure


of an empress


of a monk


of a novice


of an abbot


of an abbot


of an abbess


of a deaconess


of a virgin


of a widow

See also Blessing of Liturgical Things.

THOMAS AQUINAS INVENTED the LIMERICK

A. N. Wilkins:

Among those identified by the ingenious as authors of prelimericks are Aristophanes, Robert Herrick and Shakespeare. Surely, though, the person whom one would least expect to find in this brotherhood is St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor, the Universal Doctor, the official philosopher of the Catholic Church. His contribution occurs, of all places, in the Breviary. Since the particular item is a prayer of thanksgiving to be recited by a priest after Mass, it is not surprising that the fan of the limerick who identified it was Msgr. Ronald A. Knox. He called attention to it in a review of Langford Reed’s The Complete Limerick Book published in English Life, February 1925:

Sit vitiorum meorum evacuatio
Concupiscentae et libidinis exterminatio,
Caritatis et patientiae,
Humilitatis et obedientiae,
Omniumque virtutum augmentatio.
Seeing such lurid words as concupiscentiae and libidinis, one longs for a translation... Ms. Irene Blase, who taught Latin at the high school I attended more than 40 years ago, provides the following:

Let it be for the elimination for my sins,
For the expulsion of desire and lust,
And for the increase of charity and patience,
Humility and obedience,
As well as all the virtues.
Thus, even if St. Thomas wrote what six or seven centuries later would be called a limerick and though he used words like desire and lust, he didn’t tarnish his halo.

Proposed rhymed translations by R. J. Winkler:

Extinguish concupiscent fires,
Eliminate lustful desires;
Give patience and love,
A plentitude of
What humble obeying requires.

O strengthen my efforts to rule
My passions and help me to cool
Attractions to sin,
Then help me begin
Considering virtue a jewel.

Oh Lord, I can prove intellectual,
A Doctor, profoundly effectual,
Whose teachings are sure
If Thou keepest me pure
With thoughts that are wholly asexual.