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Still Striving For that Elusive Halo

Still Striving For that Elusive Halo

Category Archives: Ecclesiastical Buildings

Orkney Elementals – Aether – Part the 2nd

17 Friday May 2013

Posted by Kirstin in Ecclesiastical Buildings, Religion, The UK

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Italian Chapel, Orkney, St Magnus Cathedral

St Magnus Cathedral captivated me.

St Magnus Cathedral checkerboard doorway

with its checkerboard stonework

fun choir stall carvings

fun choir stall carvings – some more of which will appear as a Sunday angel.

its soaring ceiling

its soaring ceiling, somehow it was cosy and cavernous at the same time.

it's old memorial stones

it’s old memorial stones

and its magnificent West window which gave me the idea for these elemental posts.  At the top the dove is surrounded by the flame of Flotta oil terminal

and its magnificent West window to mark the 850th anniversary of the Cathedral which gave me the idea for these elemental posts and shows the history of the islands – the flame is inspired by Flotta oil terminal.

the Viking longship on the high altar made me wonder if it had ever been used as a paten.

The Cathedral; known as the ‘Light in the North’ and founded in 1137; is actually cared for by the council on behalf of the people of Orkney with the worshiping community being Church of Scotland so the answer to that thought is probably no.

The building is peaceful and warm and friendly and embraces you, the stewards were knowledgeable and unobtrusive and if you turn up on a Tuesday or Thursday, unlike us, you can climb up its tower and out onto the roof.

We actually went twice and I didn’t want to leave either time.  After our second visit we went to the St Magnus Center which has an excellent presentation about the Cathedral, only problem was I then wanted to go back again – Hubby said no!  In the center there is a Norwegian library which had this striking window.

St Magnus CenterDespite all these wonderful places under the element of Aether it is this the next and final one which we both found the most moving, atmospheric and spiritual, the Italian Chapel.

During WWII Camp 60 on Lambholm Island was the home to several hundred Italian prisoners of war who had been captured during the North African campaign.  The islands housed this large group of prisoners to work on the Churchill barriers blocking the eastern approaches to Scapa Flow.

The camp consisted of 13 cheerless huts, but soon the Italians transformed the place into an Italian square with pathways and flowers.  While new amenities were created, a theatre, a recreation hut which included a concrete billiard table and a statue of St George made of barbed wire and covered with cement.  While St George might seem a strange site on a Scottish Island for the Italians it didn’t speak of England but rather of their symbolic triumph over defeat and loneliness in captivity so far from home.

St George and The Italian ChapelThe War Office Inspector of PoW Camps urged that provision should be made for a chapel and in 1943 two Nissen huts were made available to the prisoners.  The original plan was to use one as a school and the other as a church the huts where joined together and Domenico Chiocchetti (the creator of the statue) set about making a sanctuary at one end of the furthest hut.  Using second-hand scrap and with the help of Buttapasta, a cement worker, and Palumbi, a smithy, they set about making a masterpiece of Christian art, faith and hope.  Lining the corrugated iron with pasterboard, creating the altar, altar rail and water stoop out of concrete …

Water Stoop

and of course Chiocchetti’s paintings are wonderful, the four evangelists:

Matthew and MarkLuke and Johnwhile underneath each evangelist stands an angel – note no wings:

??????????(Another of these will appear as a Sunday angel at a later date.)

Behind the altar is a representation of Madonna of the Olives by Nicolo Barabino, a copy of which Chiocchetti had carried with him all through the war. The bottom cherub on the left is holding a shield which is the heraldic badge of Moena the Italian town which Chiocchetti came from.  The centerpiece is flanked by pretend windows of St Cathrine of Siena and St Francis of Assisi with a Dove on the ceiling above (you will see that on Sunday).

The Italian ChapelThe wood for the tabernacle was obtained from a wrecked ship.  The iron candlesticks, along with the canelabra …

Italian Chapel Candelabraand Rood Screen …

Italian Chapel Rood Screenwhere made by Palumbi who took four months to make the screen.

The Chancel look so wonderful it made the rest of the building seem drab and stark so permission was granted to line and decorate the rest of the building the walls and ceiling is covered with magnificent trompe l’oeil.

Italian ChapelThe Italian ChapelHowever, while the inside of the building looked stunning …

The Italian Chapelthe outside was still just a Nissan hut, so using chicken wire and concrete Buttapasta created an impresive facade complete with belfry and Gothic pinnacles.

Outside the Italian ChapelThe Chapel wasn’t in use for long by the prisoners and over the post year wars it was a tourist curiosity and slowly started to show its age until in 1960 Chiocchetti was brought back to Orkney for three weeks to oversee the restoring of the paintwork and outstanding repairs.  On 10th April 1960 a service of rededication was held and Roman Catholic services have regularly been held int he chapel ever since, including on 9th June 1999 a Memorial Requiem Mass in Thanksgiving for the life of Domenico Chiocchetti who died on 7th May 1999.

The place is a space of calm and peace and reverence, it oozes the prayers and hopes that have been expressed within its sanctuary.  It has that quality that you can’t quite put your finger on or name, you can’t bottle or manufacture, something not quite of this world – aether.

Take thou thy shoes from off thy feet – nay more,
Bend a low knee if thou would’st enter here;
For a Real Presence lingers brooding near
This Holy of Holies on a storm lashed shore.
What prayer, what longings did these captives pour
Out to their God, when swift to calm each fear
Christ day by day stooped to His altar bier,
What time the priest the Sacred Host upbore.

Long years ago in Patmos’ lonely isle
Tarried St John expecting a far call:
Did he not pray for these in their exile?
And that dear Virgin Mother of us all -
She whose own heart had known the sword’s sharp fall -
Give them the tribute of her tears, her smile?

H Carlton S Morris

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Window of the Soul

01 Friday Mar 2013

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Architectural Features, Ecclesiastical Buildings, Glenluce Abbey, Photography

Chapter House Window Glenluce Abbey

Posted by Kirstin | Filed under Glenluce Abbey

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Sunday Angel

10 Sunday Feb 2013

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Photography, Sunday Angel

ivory and marquetery altar angel

Posted by Kirstin | Filed under Angels, Norwich Cathedral

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Sunday Angel

22 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by Kirstin in Angels, Religious Art, St Mary's Canons Ashby

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Photography, stained glass, Sunday Angel

1+1+1=1

17 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by Kirstin in Melrose Abbey

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Ecclesiastical Buildings, Photography

Set In Stone

11 Wednesday Jul 2012

Posted by Kirstin in Charles Rennie MacIntosh, Glasgow, Queens Cross Church

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Art, Ecclesiastical Buildings, Photography

He’s Behind You

06 Friday Jul 2012

Posted by Kirstin in Fountains Abbey

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Ecclesiastical Buildings, Photography

Stairs To Nowhere

16 Saturday Jun 2012

Posted by Kirstin in Inchmahone Priory, The Trossachs

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Ecclesiastical Buildings, Photography, The UK

Sunday Angel

10 Sunday Jun 2012

Posted by Kirstin in Angels, Hampshire, Religious Art, Winchester Cathedral

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Ecclesiastical Buildings, Photography, Sunday Angel

 

Inchmahome Priory

05 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by Kirstin in Inchmahone Priory, The Trossachs

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Ecclesiastical Buildings, Photography, The UK

Inchmahome Priory is situated on the Island of Inchmahome which in turn is the biggest of three islands on the only natural lake in Scotland, the Lake of Menteith.  (There are some man-made bodies of waters called lakes and those who would argue it is a loch called ‘The Lake of Menteith’.)

A trip on the cuddy boat ferry and in under 10 minutes you are on the island.  When you land right beside the Priory you can head straight to it, or do what we did and firstly take a walk all the way around the island.  It is a wonderful calm and peaceful place and rich in wildlife and an old wood full of traditional trees.

The Priory itself was founded in 1238 by the then Earl of Menteith, Walter Comyn and it is said that Mary Queen of Scots sought sanctuary in the Priory from the Black Canons of the Augustinian order in 1547 when she was still a young girl.

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