Mysterium Fasces - November 02, 2024


The Celtic Saints Of Britain (3) - Saints Teilo & Findchua – w_ Florian Geyer & Sven Longshanks


Episode Stats

Length

35 minutes

Words per Minute

153.53871

Word Count

5,519

Sentence Count

267

Misogynist Sentences

3

Hate Speech Sentences

35


Summary

In this episode of The Celtic Saints of Britain, we look at the life of St. Finshwa of Ireland. He was a warrior, a Christian martyr, a monk, a mystic, a scholar, a philosopher, a poet, a writer, and a healer. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in the history of British Christianity.


Transcript

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00:00:28.000 Hello and welcome to the Celtic Saints of Britain, part three.
00:00:41.860 You're listening to me, Sven Longshanks, broadcasting at RadioArian.com.
00:00:46.300 And of course, I am joined once again today by my co-host, Florian Geyer.
00:00:52.080 Florian, how are you doing today and how did you find the last episode?
00:00:56.740 I'm really grand, Sven.
00:00:58.080 Really grand.
00:00:58.640 Any opportunity to come on RadioArian and to broadcast is always a pleasure.
00:01:03.400 And I thought the last episode was really great.
00:01:05.240 I think I did a very nice job of building on the first and giving people the proper context
00:01:11.020 and insight into the lives of Irish saints and the British people's glorious Christian history.
00:01:20.960 And so I think we'll be continuing with that today.
00:01:22.740 Yeah, I just mentioned actually the monastery that St. Samson started out at, Cawley Island
00:01:30.280 Monastery, that's still there.
00:01:32.420 They do still have a monastery there.
00:01:34.420 And I do wonder if his name, St. Samson of Dole, maybe that has something to do with dolmens at all.
00:01:41.380 Maybe it does, maybe not.
00:01:42.500 But in Brittany, that is also full of dolmens and standing stones.
00:01:47.140 Brittany and South Wales particularly are covered in them.
00:01:51.560 For some reason, a lot of them are associated with these early saints,
00:01:56.380 which shows a continuity between the old beliefs, the pre-Christian beliefs and the Christian beliefs.
00:02:02.080 And again, today we're going to start with a really interesting saint, St. Finshwa of Ireland.
00:02:09.520 And St. Samson showed us that he was from royalty.
00:02:12.260 And this saint was a real warrior saint from the 6th century.
00:02:17.440 And this is just one quote from the life of St. Finshwa.
00:02:21.880 And it's actually in a book called The Book of Lismore, Lives of the Saints.
00:02:26.020 And it says,
00:02:56.020 And the host of Kiaragi,
00:03:24.700 Then set all their faces to battle and to valour,
00:03:28.280 So that of the foreigners, none escaped, without capture or without slaying,
00:03:33.120 Save only Ker Kudek.
00:03:35.240 And here it is whom Finshwa protected.
00:03:38.260 Then they, the men of Kariege, boasted of that deed,
00:03:42.000 And the miracles of God and of Finshwa were magnified,
00:03:45.540 So that no foreigner gets power therein outside his own heritage,
00:03:49.580 Provided Finshwa is remembered in delivering the battle.
00:03:53.260 And it is delivered in the name of God and of Finshwa,
00:03:56.640 And his tributes are paid to his successor after him.
00:04:00.720 And that book is actually full of all these battles that he has.
00:04:05.820 And we don't often today hear about saints that were mighty warriors.
00:04:10.660 And this guy was a mighty warrior.
00:04:12.720 He had all these battles.
00:04:14.060 Apparently he has flames shooting out of his eyes in some parts.
00:04:17.300 And when he wasn't actually fighting, he had seven special scythes made up.
00:04:22.780 And apparently he would hang himself on these scythes.
00:04:26.220 So it sort of reminds me a bit of the tale of Odin hanging himself on the tree.
00:04:31.800 He pinned himself to a tree to try and gain knowledge.
00:04:34.620 And this Finshwa did something similar with these scythes.
00:04:38.260 And there are a couple of statues of him over in Ireland.
00:04:41.300 And it's unfortunate that one of them has got this scythe.
00:04:44.660 And it does look a bit like a communist scythe, but it was nothing to do with communism.
00:04:48.740 It was all about asceticism.
00:04:50.980 He was this great ascetic.
00:04:53.160 And so long as the Irish remember his name and pay the tributes to him,
00:04:59.000 then the island can't be invaded by foreigners.
00:05:02.120 And obviously they've forgotten to pay their tributes to him.
00:05:06.320 Yeah, indeed. Very unfortunate.
00:05:08.580 Yeah, it's a bit different to, you know, this myth that we should be,
00:05:11.680 you know, turning the other cheek to invaders.
00:05:13.960 You know, if you look back at the old history of these saints,
00:05:17.540 you know, they fought the invaders, you know, with a righteous fury.
00:05:21.700 And then when they were looking at these people as their brothers,
00:05:25.840 then they went out and converted them.
00:05:28.580 But only once, you know, once there was no more need to fight them,
00:05:32.700 as far as Muslims or people of another religion were concerned,
00:05:36.200 then, you know, they had to drive them from the land.
00:05:39.000 And they would be looking to God to help them to do that.
00:05:44.880 Well, that's exactly right.
00:05:45.900 And I mean, I think that what we see in Christianity is that it is a very balanced religion
00:05:50.820 and incorporates all elements, you know, of human activity and tries to elevate them,
00:05:55.760 tries to purify and ennoble them.
00:05:58.340 Violence and warfare is one part of our fallen world that we have to deal with.
00:06:02.840 And the history of Christianity in the British Isles, I think,
00:06:06.780 is a really good example of these attitudes and how they played out in our people's history.
00:06:13.200 Because we can see that very, very clearly we'll go through.
00:06:17.440 I mean, probably come up on some of these saints,
00:06:19.420 great warrior saints, saints praying for victory in battle,
00:06:22.360 you know, saints acting as ralliers of the people and of military arms
00:06:28.340 against the predations of infidels or of foreign ethnic groups
00:06:34.720 or national subversion, these kind of issues.
00:06:39.760 But at the same time, one of the great vices of this period of late antiquity
00:06:46.560 to the early Middle Ages is inter-civil strife, inter-clan warfare,
00:06:53.400 that kind of thing, noble skirmishing.
00:06:59.320 And so the church, on the one hand, while it endorses, it defends,
00:07:04.580 it protects and it uplifts, you know, the body,
00:07:08.320 it also tries to come and to harmonize the different elements of society
00:07:11.820 to reduce the instability and the damage that's caused by, you know,
00:07:15.720 incessant civil conflict, which especially, especially in Ireland
00:07:20.860 and other places which had very deep clannish social structures
00:07:26.340 and loyalties could be a big problem, as one can imagine.
00:07:30.260 And this is what the true meaning of turn the other cheek is,
00:07:33.880 that Christ is talking exactly about this kind of thing,
00:07:36.320 is that when you're dealing with your personal enemies,
00:07:38.780 you know, inside of your own kinsmen, you know,
00:07:41.900 your own ethnicity, inside of your own religious structure,
00:07:45.480 is that in these sort of inter-civil violences,
00:07:47.880 this is where you should turn the other cheek,
00:07:49.500 you should forgive offences, you should not be quick to anger
00:07:52.880 or hatred, to do violence against your brother
00:07:55.000 over purely civil concerns, non-moral issues, non-national issues.
00:08:02.980 I think what we see is we see that these,
00:08:06.820 the internecine conflict, apart from it happening with the tribes
00:08:12.480 that weren't Christian, because obviously you had battles
00:08:14.640 between the Welsh and the Saxons, the Saxons were pagan at the time,
00:08:17.960 and then you had battles between the Christian Saxons
00:08:21.340 with the non-Christian Danes.
00:08:25.960 But up until that point, when they became Christian,
00:08:28.540 then you had peace.
00:08:29.980 So you had peace between the Welsh and the Saxons.
00:08:33.400 Once Guthrum, the Viking, became Christian,
00:08:36.300 you had peace between the Saxons and the Danes,
00:08:39.340 and you had the Danelaw.
00:08:40.680 You have stories of Alfred the Great going to fight against the Picts,
00:08:44.800 and he could have slaughtered them all, and the Picts said,
00:08:48.100 look, we are Christian brothers the same as you.
00:08:50.460 And once King Arthur knew that, then he didn't slaughter them all, basically.
00:08:56.220 And that seems to have been the story up until after the schism, basically.
00:09:01.980 And then after the schism, then you get the William and the Bastard
00:09:06.080 coming to a Christian country and invading a Christian country,
00:09:09.760 invading England and turning the Saxons into slaves.
00:09:14.760 And then after that, you get invasions of Ireland,
00:09:17.880 again, an invasion of a Christian country,
00:09:20.360 and you get Britain going to war against Christian countries on the continent.
00:09:24.680 So in the first thousand years,
00:09:26.660 it seemed to be that Christianity was a uniting factor
00:09:29.440 amongst the white nations.
00:09:32.220 And then as it gradually became more and more corrupted,
00:09:35.340 and also through Jewish influence,
00:09:38.300 because the Jews came over in 1066 with William the Bastard,
00:09:41.680 and they brought usury with them.
00:09:44.140 And as the Jews corrupted the church,
00:09:46.220 then you began to get a corruption of this,
00:09:50.120 and greed would come into it,
00:09:51.900 and people would invade other countries
00:09:53.960 just because of the wealth that they could get.
00:09:56.920 But I think we could say that.
00:10:00.020 Well, this is a bit of a reading,
00:10:03.080 Michael Hoffman's Renaissance Church of Rome,
00:10:06.200 which deals with exactly these sort of issues,
00:10:08.980 which I highly recommend to those of you who are interested
00:10:11.180 in the topic of the rise of this pagan-style morality
00:10:17.980 in Western Christianity,
00:10:19.260 and just the total domination of worldly money power,
00:10:23.840 or political forces over church life
00:10:26.940 that occurred in the high Middle Ages and in the Renaissance.
00:10:30.480 But that's obviously an aside.
00:10:32.560 But yeah, as you say, Sven,
00:10:34.240 what we see is Christianity definitely impels
00:10:36.760 towards peace between nations.
00:10:39.740 Now, of course, there are exceptions to this naturally,
00:10:41.880 and this is the thing,
00:10:42.840 is the big source of conflict
00:10:44.740 was not so much between kingdoms,
00:10:47.560 but it was between individual parties
00:10:49.680 within these kingdoms.
00:10:51.500 So these different aristocratic families,
00:10:55.380 regional warlords, this kind of thing.
00:10:58.660 And so Christianity was constantly attempting
00:11:01.540 to be a pacifying force for this civil violence, right?
00:11:06.960 You know, to unify, to uplift,
00:11:10.320 to essentially elevate these nations,
00:11:13.220 because this is one of the things,
00:11:14.460 is that there was also over time
00:11:16.740 a gradual curtailing of the practice of consanguinity,
00:11:19.700 of very close interrelations.
00:11:24.260 So traditionally in Christianity,
00:11:25.500 you have to marry at least beyond your second cousin,
00:11:29.160 which in a tribal society is not how things are conducted.
00:11:32.180 Typically marriage is contracted
00:11:33.380 between the first or second cousin
00:11:36.100 in whatever your dominant bloodline is,
00:11:39.080 whether it's patrilineal or matrilineal,
00:11:42.060 so as to maintain the integrity of the clan structure.
00:11:44.800 And so as we can even see from the lives
00:11:47.540 of some of these saints,
00:11:48.620 from, you know, St. Samson was,
00:11:50.220 I think it was a product of a marriage
00:11:52.960 of a second cousin.
00:11:53.760 There was, it's, there was periods of transition
00:11:56.560 and it's not 100%,
00:11:57.800 but over time what occurs is
00:11:59.560 the loosening of the effects
00:12:04.200 of very intense clannishness,
00:12:07.200 a very intense tribalism,
00:12:08.800 create the possibility for a greater
00:12:11.240 national consciousness, right?
00:12:15.440 Where your primary loyalty,
00:12:17.460 of course, family is still critical,
00:12:18.880 clan is still very important,
00:12:20.580 but it's not your, it's not everything.
00:12:23.180 It becomes extended to the county,
00:12:26.260 to the national, to the regnal,
00:12:27.880 the kingdom level, right?
00:12:30.300 Which is in opposition to, you know,
00:12:32.100 the classic Arab Bedouin saying,
00:12:35.820 which encapsulates the tribal mentality is
00:12:37.720 myself against my brother,
00:12:39.840 my brother and I against my cousin,
00:12:41.780 my cousin and I against my tribe,
00:12:43.740 my tribe and I against the world,
00:12:45.240 which is very much, you know,
00:12:47.500 tribal society,
00:12:48.440 the mindset where the tribe
00:12:49.600 is the foundation of everything, right?
00:12:52.660 And it's, it does not lend itself
00:12:56.120 towards the development
00:12:57.160 of very complex
00:12:58.540 and dispersed civilizations.
00:13:02.600 So all of these factors
00:13:04.240 come together in order to impel
00:13:07.040 the peoples of the British Isles
00:13:10.040 towards the development
00:13:11.640 of a broader Christian civilization.
00:13:14.840 Of course, it doesn't destroy
00:13:15.880 the ethnicities we see
00:13:17.680 from the histories
00:13:18.640 that we're getting into,
00:13:20.280 but it does promote a harmony.
00:13:24.580 This is like the start of the flowering
00:13:27.340 of a national consciousness.
00:13:29.020 There's actually a letter,
00:13:30.120 I read Bede's Ecclesiastical History
00:13:34.040 of the English People
00:13:34.980 before we started doing this series
00:13:36.600 and there's a letter in that
00:13:38.200 where he's asking about
00:13:39.240 specifically that thing
00:13:40.400 and checking that that is
00:13:42.500 what he should be advising
00:13:43.680 the Saxons,
00:13:44.860 is that they shouldn't marry
00:13:46.980 any closer than the second cousins.
00:13:49.480 So, yeah, I mean,
00:13:50.700 that confirms it
00:13:51.720 and it was all happening
00:13:52.800 round about this time.
00:13:54.540 Well, let's get on to the next saint.
00:13:56.240 The next saint is
00:13:57.100 a very famous one in Wales,
00:13:59.560 St. Tilo of Wales.
00:14:01.660 He was born at Penalli
00:14:03.340 around the year 500.
00:14:06.240 Tilo was the son of St. Issel.
00:14:09.140 So that tells us
00:14:09.960 that the saints were also married
00:14:12.560 and he was the uncle
00:14:14.220 of St. Ishmael and Udagui.
00:14:17.580 So it was sort of ran in families.
00:14:19.500 That's why I was asking about,
00:14:20.860 you know, whether they had
00:14:22.660 to have died first
00:14:23.580 before they could be made into saints
00:14:25.580 in an earlier episode.
00:14:27.720 In some modern sources,
00:14:29.000 he has accounted
00:14:29.580 the grandson of Ceredig,
00:14:31.340 son of Cunether
00:14:32.000 and thus also a member
00:14:34.000 of the royal family of Gwyneth,
00:14:36.160 which later considered
00:14:37.280 St. David among its members.
00:14:39.880 Tilo's education took place
00:14:41.480 at two institutions
00:14:42.780 directed by saints.
00:14:44.720 The first was established
00:14:45.760 by the renowned church leader
00:14:47.520 and educator Dubricius,
00:14:49.860 or Duffrig,
00:14:50.840 while the second was a school
00:14:52.100 directed by Paulinus of Wales
00:14:53.940 at Whitland,
00:14:55.100 where he met
00:14:55.820 and became a close companion
00:14:57.240 of St. David.
00:14:59.120 Like many founder bishops,
00:15:00.720 they appear to have had
00:15:01.560 experience in battle.
00:15:03.620 Along with companions
00:15:04.780 Aidan and Isfail,
00:15:06.720 he travelled to Minerva,
00:15:08.260 which is today called St. David's,
00:15:10.240 where Dewey,
00:15:11.260 that's St. David,
00:15:12.280 founded his abbey
00:15:13.200 and ousted an Irish pirate
00:15:15.220 named Booyah,
00:15:16.740 killed his cattle
00:15:17.540 and burned his fortress
00:15:18.940 to the ground.
00:15:20.120 He succeeded Dubricius
00:15:21.480 as bishop of Hlandaff
00:15:23.140 after Dubricius retired
00:15:24.780 to a hermitage
00:15:25.800 on Bardsey Island.
00:15:27.760 Tilo founded
00:15:28.400 the first church
00:15:29.260 in Hlandaff,
00:15:30.720 headed a monastic school
00:15:32.060 and became bishop
00:15:32.980 over Gluesing and Gwent.
00:15:35.700 In the 540s,
00:15:37.200 the Yellow Plague,
00:15:38.400 probably the same plague
00:15:39.820 that caused Britain
00:15:41.000 to be uninhabited
00:15:42.100 and subdued by the Saxons,
00:15:44.260 caused Tilo
00:15:44.880 with a small group of monks
00:15:46.200 to move to Dhol
00:15:47.380 in Brittany.
00:15:48.420 And of course,
00:15:49.580 that's where St. St. Samson was.
00:15:51.820 He is reported
00:15:52.380 to have stayed in Brittany
00:15:53.440 for seven years
00:15:54.340 and seven months,
00:15:55.340 so he must have left
00:15:56.240 in 556 or 557,
00:15:59.000 although some sources
00:16:00.120 imply he returned
00:16:01.520 in 554.
00:16:03.120 They travelled through
00:16:04.080 Damonia
00:16:04.620 and were reported
00:16:05.700 to have received
00:16:06.500 the confession
00:16:07.080 of King Geraint
00:16:08.240 and joined Samson
00:16:09.420 of Dhol at Dhol.
00:16:11.020 To this day,
00:16:11.840 the fruit grows
00:16:12.440 they planted
00:16:13.020 are known as the grows
00:16:14.340 of Tilo and Samson.
00:16:16.580 Legend has it
00:16:17.320 that Tilo was asked
00:16:18.240 by Boudic II
00:16:19.260 of Brittany
00:16:19.900 to subdue
00:16:20.760 a belligerent
00:16:21.740 winged dragon
00:16:22.860 which he tamed
00:16:24.220 and tied to a rock
00:16:25.840 in the sea
00:16:26.660 of Brittany.
00:16:28.040 And I wonder
00:16:28.680 if there isn't a rock
00:16:29.780 which actually looks
00:16:30.620 like a dragon
00:16:31.320 that's probably
00:16:32.480 actually off the sea
00:16:33.500 of Brittany
00:16:34.400 because a lot
00:16:35.760 of these myths
00:16:36.560 tend to tie in
00:16:38.160 with landmarks.
00:16:41.180 You know,
00:16:41.540 there are a lot
00:16:42.180 of things like this,
00:16:43.040 like St. George
00:16:43.900 and the dragon
00:16:44.400 and this one
00:16:44.900 and the dragon.
00:16:45.460 Do you find
00:16:47.700 they come up a lot?
00:16:50.060 Well,
00:16:50.120 it's interesting.
00:16:50.780 I mean,
00:16:51.000 there definitely
00:16:51.880 are myths
00:16:52.740 like this
00:16:53.180 from the lives
00:16:54.800 of saints
00:16:55.100 from every part
00:16:55.680 of the world.
00:16:56.120 You see in Ethiopia
00:16:56.720 as well,
00:16:57.660 dragon slayer saints
00:16:58.760 and these kind
00:16:59.280 of things.
00:17:00.340 Lots of dragons
00:17:01.020 in Ethiopia
00:17:01.460 apparently.
00:17:03.080 And Libya
00:17:04.560 as well.
00:17:05.640 They had the
00:17:06.740 relic
00:17:07.440 of the hand
00:17:07.860 of St. George.
00:17:08.920 Unfortunately,
00:17:09.500 when Gaddafi
00:17:10.080 was taken out,
00:17:11.400 the jihadis
00:17:13.200 destroyed the church.
00:17:14.060 And apparently
00:17:14.680 they had the hand
00:17:15.240 of St. George
00:17:15.720 there because
00:17:16.340 he destroyed
00:17:17.520 a dragon
00:17:18.000 in Libya.
00:17:20.420 Wow.
00:17:21.540 It must have
00:17:22.220 been his left hand
00:17:23.580 because his right hand,
00:17:24.540 his sword hand
00:17:25.000 is on Mount Athos
00:17:25.800 but that's
00:17:26.300 very sad to hear.
00:17:31.360 Yeah,
00:17:31.800 well,
00:17:32.060 maybe try
00:17:32.760 for his right hand
00:17:33.640 next time
00:17:34.020 and see what happens.
00:17:35.280 But,
00:17:35.560 yeah,
00:17:36.940 the dragon slaying saints
00:17:38.680 are very,
00:17:39.100 very common,
00:17:39.500 I think,
00:17:39.720 through all of
00:17:40.200 the different myths.
00:17:40.800 and I don't
00:17:42.420 want to get,
00:17:42.900 you know,
00:17:43.760 people will interpret
00:17:44.880 dragons in many
00:17:46.120 different ways.
00:17:46.840 I mean,
00:17:47.060 some local traditions
00:17:48.140 are very adamant
00:17:49.060 that no,
00:17:49.380 these are real dragons.
00:17:50.940 You know,
00:17:51.160 there are some people
00:17:51.620 that take that line
00:17:53.000 of argument
00:17:53.400 outside of the scope.
00:17:55.600 But generally speaking,
00:17:56.700 I mean,
00:17:57.320 there is,
00:17:58.300 of course,
00:17:58.580 the literal
00:17:59.280 and then there's
00:17:59.800 the figurative
00:18:00.600 that the slaying
00:18:01.460 of the dragon
00:18:02.000 is like a serpent,
00:18:03.340 the incarnation of evil.
00:18:04.300 you know,
00:18:06.460 the kind of,
00:18:08.020 you know,
00:18:09.040 the demonic forces
00:18:09.740 ultimately
00:18:10.180 is the point.
00:18:12.060 The dragon
00:18:12.600 is this poetic
00:18:13.420 fleshly manifestation
00:18:15.040 of spiritual evil
00:18:16.500 that the great warrior saint,
00:18:18.620 you know,
00:18:18.800 he is able to gain
00:18:20.280 the spiritual power
00:18:21.480 necessary to destroy
00:18:23.360 physical evil,
00:18:25.240 you know,
00:18:26.300 which has become
00:18:26.920 the embodiment
00:18:27.600 of this spiritual
00:18:29.000 degeneration,
00:18:29.720 this privation
00:18:30.300 of the good.
00:18:31.700 So,
00:18:32.280 it's,
00:18:33.300 as far as physical,
00:18:34.300 landmarks
00:18:35.020 outside of Brittany
00:18:36.260 that look like dragons.
00:18:38.320 No,
00:18:38.860 none come to my recollection.
00:18:41.300 It's like,
00:18:41.780 there's a place
00:18:42.880 in Cornwall
00:18:43.360 called the Lizard
00:18:44.040 and there's a rock formation
00:18:46.040 that looks just like
00:18:47.140 a lizard there.
00:18:48.020 But I think the origin of,
00:18:49.240 I think the origin
00:18:50.100 of the dragon slayer
00:18:51.040 goes back,
00:18:52.380 I think some of the
00:18:52.960 earliest representations
00:18:53.800 of it are in Egypt
00:18:55.120 and of course
00:18:55.680 where they had
00:18:56.020 the crocodiles there.
00:18:57.380 So,
00:18:57.780 there is something
00:18:58.540 to there being
00:18:59.340 genuine dragons.
00:19:01.900 Things like crocodiles
00:19:02.980 could have been called that
00:19:03.800 and areas
00:19:04.700 that had animals,
00:19:05.480 still had animals
00:19:06.420 like that,
00:19:07.000 giant lizards.
00:19:08.680 You know,
00:19:09.120 it could conceivably
00:19:09.900 have been killing
00:19:10.660 one of these lizards.
00:19:12.020 And then at the same time,
00:19:12.880 it's interesting.
00:19:13.520 I was speaking to
00:19:14.240 a biblical expert
00:19:16.220 the other day
00:19:16.780 and he was saying
00:19:17.860 that many of the
00:19:18.880 older interpretations
00:19:19.800 for Genesis
00:19:20.500 when
00:19:21.680 Moses
00:19:24.300 and Aaron
00:19:25.220 fight the magicians
00:19:26.480 of the Pharaoh,
00:19:28.820 you know,
00:19:28.980 it's sort of,
00:19:29.440 we're used to seeing
00:19:30.240 the staffs
00:19:31.340 turn into
00:19:31.820 serpents
00:19:32.560 to fight each other.
00:19:34.000 However,
00:19:34.380 it was his opinion
00:19:35.080 based on some ancient sources
00:19:36.300 that it's actually
00:19:37.060 they were crocodiles
00:19:38.100 and that sort of,
00:19:39.540 it was to deny
00:19:40.060 crocodiles,
00:19:40.760 the gods
00:19:41.120 and the pharaohs
00:19:42.100 sort of fighting
00:19:42.680 in the throne room.
00:19:43.900 That kind of thing.
00:19:44.820 Makes sense.
00:19:45.920 Makes sense.
00:19:47.080 Makes sense.
00:19:48.640 Well,
00:19:49.100 after his return
00:19:49.980 to Hlandalo Faur,
00:19:52.080 where he is documented
00:19:53.200 to have died
00:19:53.980 on the 9th of February,
00:19:55.300 probably around 560,
00:19:56.540 he became one of the
00:19:57.780 most venerated men
00:19:58.960 in Wales.
00:20:00.260 At his death,
00:20:00.940 Tilo's body
00:20:01.620 was said to have
00:20:02.280 miraculously become
00:20:03.440 three identical bodies,
00:20:05.720 probably because his relics
00:20:06.940 were claimed
00:20:07.520 by three churches,
00:20:09.100 Hlandaf Cathedral,
00:20:10.400 Hlandalo Faur
00:20:11.240 and Penale Abbey.
00:20:13.280 One tomb lies
00:20:14.160 to the right of the altar
00:20:15.200 of Hlandaf Cathedral
00:20:16.400 and his skull
00:20:17.340 is kept in the South Chapel
00:20:18.940 in a reliquary
00:20:19.860 which was in the possession
00:20:21.140 of the Matthew family
00:20:22.140 from 1480
00:20:23.200 to 1658
00:20:24.600 after Sir David Matthew
00:20:26.480 restored St. Tilo's shrine
00:20:28.300 in Hlandaf Cathedral
00:20:29.540 which was desecrated
00:20:31.080 by pirates.
00:20:32.520 For nearly 550 years,
00:20:34.460 the skull of St. Tilo
00:20:35.440 was held in the keeping
00:20:36.940 of two families,
00:20:38.040 the Matthews
00:20:38.660 and the Melchios.
00:20:40.000 The Matthews of Hlandaf
00:20:41.180 were descended
00:20:41.840 from Guethford Vaughan
00:20:43.720 who died about 1057
00:20:45.920 and in the course of time
00:20:47.520 they became regarded
00:20:48.420 as hereditary keepers
00:20:49.820 of the tomb of St. Tilo
00:20:51.060 in Hlandaf Cathedral.
00:20:53.140 In 1403,
00:20:54.260 the tomb was pillaged
00:20:55.200 and desecrated
00:20:56.060 by a band of ruffians.
00:20:57.940 St. Tilo has a holy well
00:20:59.520 named after him
00:21:00.580 and once St. Tilo's skull
00:21:02.500 and St. Tilo's well
00:21:03.860 had become associated,
00:21:05.520 it was inevitable
00:21:06.240 that a cultus
00:21:07.200 should grow up around them.
00:21:08.900 The water was said
00:21:09.680 to be particularly effective
00:21:11.040 in the treatment
00:21:11.800 of chest complaints
00:21:12.880 and it was doubly so
00:21:14.460 if it was drunk
00:21:15.300 out of the skull.
00:21:16.740 The height of efficacy
00:21:17.760 came when the skull
00:21:18.920 filled with well water
00:21:20.260 was handed to the sufferer
00:21:21.940 by the hands
00:21:22.600 of the hereditary keeper
00:21:23.920 himself.
00:21:25.520 The skull was still
00:21:26.340 being used by pilgrims
00:21:27.560 to the spring
00:21:28.300 up to at least 1947
00:21:30.380 but then it vanished
00:21:32.120 and the handful
00:21:32.860 of interested parties,
00:21:34.820 local historians
00:21:35.720 and superstitious people
00:21:36.940 with bad chests,
00:21:38.340 lost touch
00:21:38.940 for several years.
00:21:40.280 However,
00:21:40.700 the St. Skull
00:21:41.520 turned up again
00:21:42.320 in the 1990s
00:21:43.580 having emigrated
00:21:44.700 with the Melchior family
00:21:45.960 to Australia
00:21:46.780 for a while
00:21:47.440 and then returned
00:21:48.600 and is now back
00:21:49.540 in Hlandaf Cathedral
00:21:50.580 after over 500 years.
00:21:53.400 It is stated
00:21:53.980 that many miracles
00:21:54.860 were witnessed
00:21:55.460 around Tilo
00:21:56.300 while he was alive
00:21:57.380 and also later
00:21:58.620 at his tomb.
00:21:59.820 His relics are now
00:22:00.580 even more widely distributed
00:22:02.220 being venerated
00:22:03.400 at Hlandaleo,
00:22:05.460 Plogenek
00:22:06.060 and St. Tilo
00:22:07.640 in Cotes de Nord.
00:22:09.640 Now I find this interesting
00:22:10.640 because it's talking
00:22:12.000 about these relics here
00:22:13.040 and the miraculous properties
00:22:15.380 that they used to have
00:22:17.380 and I think
00:22:17.820 this goes back
00:22:18.660 to the woman
00:22:19.220 that was touching
00:22:20.180 Jesus' cloak
00:22:21.840 and she was healed
00:22:22.600 by that
00:22:23.160 and then in the Old Testament
00:22:24.340 there's,
00:22:25.260 I think it's Elijah's bones.
00:22:27.000 I think somebody
00:22:27.480 falls into Elijah's grave
00:22:29.140 and they touch
00:22:30.440 some of his bones
00:22:31.140 and they're healed by it
00:22:32.440 because a lot of people,
00:22:33.800 especially Protestants
00:22:35.220 or Evangelicals
00:22:36.220 will say,
00:22:36.760 well, this is all wrong,
00:22:37.760 this relic.
00:22:38.540 But there is a history to it
00:22:40.240 and, you know,
00:22:42.120 there's nothing that says,
00:22:43.040 well, you shouldn't be doing that.
00:22:44.180 I mean,
00:22:44.340 they did this in the Old Testament.
00:22:45.760 Well, absolutely.
00:22:47.040 Well, this is a direct inheritance
00:22:48.560 from the practice
00:22:49.480 of the Old Testament
00:22:50.160 and from our own,
00:22:51.140 you know,
00:22:52.420 indigenous religious customs.
00:22:54.640 I mean,
00:22:55.180 absolutely,
00:22:56.980 you know,
00:22:57.120 with the grave sites
00:22:57.960 of the prophets,
00:22:58.600 not only is it recorded
00:22:59.500 in scripture
00:22:59.940 that the bones
00:23:00.520 of the prophets
00:23:01.040 healed people,
00:23:01.820 but even in the Old Testament
00:23:03.820 people would go
00:23:04.660 to the grave sites
00:23:05.560 of prophets
00:23:06.020 to pray to them
00:23:06.800 and to venerate them
00:23:07.820 or the grave sites
00:23:08.480 of the patriarchs.
00:23:11.500 Herod,
00:23:12.200 the tyrant,
00:23:13.320 built a massive
00:23:14.640 structure
00:23:16.980 on the site
00:23:18.540 of David's tomb,
00:23:19.660 which was
00:23:20.280 near Mount Zion,
00:23:22.100 near where the apostles
00:23:23.240 went to pray
00:23:24.420 after the resurrection
00:23:25.840 of Christ
00:23:26.240 and received the Holy Spirit
00:23:27.220 on Pentecost,
00:23:28.080 which is tomorrow.
00:23:28.780 tomorrow.
00:23:30.200 And so,
00:23:30.780 the practice
00:23:32.880 of venerating
00:23:33.640 the grave sites
00:23:34.480 of the holy people
00:23:37.560 of the righteous,
00:23:38.820 of the heroic,
00:23:40.000 of venerating
00:23:41.660 their physical remains
00:23:43.200 is absolutely
00:23:45.400 an integral
00:23:46.500 and ancient part
00:23:47.260 of Christianity,
00:23:48.580 the religion of Moses
00:23:50.360 and of our own
00:23:51.480 indigenous customs
00:23:53.580 and beliefs.
00:23:54.120 and it fundamentally
00:23:55.400 returns to the fact
00:23:56.460 that man's identity
00:23:58.340 is bound up
00:23:58.960 with his body,
00:23:59.560 that his soul
00:24:00.140 and body
00:24:00.540 exist as
00:24:01.240 one person,
00:24:03.080 one
00:24:03.520 unity,
00:24:06.040 and that
00:24:06.380 the effects
00:24:07.800 of the soul,
00:24:08.480 the elevation
00:24:09.060 of the soul
00:24:10.200 flows and channels
00:24:12.520 into man's body.
00:24:14.400 And so that
00:24:14.920 if a man's soul
00:24:15.720 is sanctified,
00:24:16.540 that his body
00:24:17.040 is also sanctified
00:24:17.940 and that his body
00:24:19.600 acts as a conduit,
00:24:20.900 as the center
00:24:21.540 in some ways
00:24:22.220 of the seat
00:24:22.720 of his heart,
00:24:26.160 his spirituality.
00:24:27.360 I mean,
00:24:27.600 some of the church fathers
00:24:28.340 that even say this,
00:24:29.160 that the seat
00:24:29.900 of man's spirit,
00:24:31.780 his being of being,
00:24:33.740 is throughout
00:24:34.040 the whole of his body.
00:24:36.440 And this is why
00:24:37.100 death is considered
00:24:37.820 to be such a perversion
00:24:38.620 in the Christian religion
00:24:39.500 because man is not
00:24:40.400 meant to be separated
00:24:41.120 from his body.
00:24:42.000 He's meant to live
00:24:42.400 in his body.
00:24:43.940 And so,
00:24:44.680 the veneration
00:24:45.620 of relics
00:24:46.180 is a universal
00:24:47.020 and early practice
00:24:47.920 by Christians.
00:24:49.140 There's no way
00:24:49.800 to get around that
00:24:50.640 than by their antecedents.
00:24:53.280 And so,
00:24:54.420 some of these
00:24:55.040 obviously can get
00:24:55.880 quite elaborate,
00:24:56.720 you know,
00:24:56.880 drinking blessed water
00:24:58.520 out of the skulls
00:24:59.160 of saints.
00:24:59.660 But this is
00:25:01.020 absolutely within
00:25:02.820 the tradition
00:25:03.720 of the early church
00:25:04.960 that certain
00:25:06.080 blessed or sanctified
00:25:07.540 water,
00:25:09.080 spring,
00:25:09.440 holy water,
00:25:10.640 and the relics
00:25:11.800 of the saints
00:25:12.120 are application
00:25:12.620 right here.
00:25:13.880 But the foundation
00:25:16.020 of this all
00:25:16.540 is it's not
00:25:17.220 a sort of
00:25:17.720 magical
00:25:18.440 sort of
00:25:20.040 theurgic
00:25:20.880 manipulation
00:25:21.760 type thing.
00:25:22.540 It's because
00:25:22.920 of the faith
00:25:23.520 of the penitent
00:25:26.040 or the prayerful
00:25:26.940 that you are
00:25:27.660 praying to a saint
00:25:28.740 and you're asking
00:25:29.580 him to pray to God
00:25:30.340 for you
00:25:30.600 to have mercy
00:25:31.180 on you.
00:25:32.080 And this is why
00:25:32.900 these saints'
00:25:34.360 relics are effective.
00:25:35.580 If you are not
00:25:36.260 faithful,
00:25:37.380 then there's
00:25:39.100 nothing to say.
00:25:40.020 You know,
00:25:40.180 the saint will not
00:25:40.840 pray for you.
00:25:41.640 I mean,
00:25:41.840 sometimes they do anyway.
00:25:42.680 Sometimes there are
00:25:43.520 extraordinary miracles,
00:25:44.560 but typically not.
00:25:45.880 So an unbeliever,
00:25:48.500 if an unbeliever
00:25:49.120 was to try it,
00:25:50.260 it probably
00:25:51.540 wouldn't do anything.
00:25:53.660 Very likely not.
00:25:54.760 Although there are
00:25:55.320 some cases,
00:25:56.240 you know,
00:25:56.620 for instance,
00:25:57.340 where there are
00:25:58.600 like miracles that
00:25:59.360 happen where
00:25:59.780 unbelievers will come
00:26:00.800 and have some
00:26:02.580 sort of conversion
00:26:03.240 experience,
00:26:03.780 you know,
00:26:03.940 with the relics
00:26:04.460 of a saint
00:26:04.880 or something like this.
00:26:06.560 This is the other
00:26:07.340 thing with these
00:26:08.020 actual relics.
00:26:08.920 I mean,
00:26:09.080 a lot of these
00:26:09.560 saints,
00:26:10.100 they would put
00:26:10.980 them in the coffin
00:26:11.640 and they would
00:26:13.540 put them in the tomb.
00:26:15.060 I think they still
00:26:16.020 used dolmens
00:26:16.780 at this point.
00:26:18.400 They would still
00:26:18.820 have opened up
00:26:19.400 these dolmens,
00:26:20.160 which are various
00:26:21.780 stone uprights
00:26:22.840 with a stone cap
00:26:23.680 with soil over the top.
00:26:25.960 And they would
00:26:26.540 open them up
00:26:27.080 and a lot of the time
00:26:28.200 they would be
00:26:29.200 uncorrupted.
00:26:30.420 They would be
00:26:31.080 smelling of flowers
00:26:31.980 and the flesh
00:26:33.220 wouldn't have
00:26:33.580 gone rotten.
00:26:34.580 And they would
00:26:35.840 have them like
00:26:36.280 this for a long
00:26:36.920 time and they
00:26:37.600 would go back
00:26:38.260 in there and
00:26:38.760 check and the
00:26:39.900 body just
00:26:40.460 wouldn't rot.
00:26:42.240 I mean,
00:26:42.500 there is a lot
00:26:43.320 of famous
00:26:44.440 saints that
00:26:45.540 were like that.
00:26:47.200 Famous,
00:26:47.760 widespread,
00:26:48.400 and contemporary.
00:26:49.600 I mean,
00:26:49.860 this practice
00:26:50.320 of the incorruption
00:26:51.060 of the bodies
00:26:51.580 of the saints,
00:26:52.280 we have reports
00:26:53.120 of this in all
00:26:55.140 parts of the world
00:26:55.720 where Christianity
00:26:56.220 is practiced
00:26:56.980 from immediately
00:26:58.760 after the
00:26:59.660 resurrection of
00:27:00.420 Christ to the
00:27:01.340 current day.
00:27:02.400 I mean,
00:27:02.640 you can right now
00:27:03.500 go to
00:27:04.400 shrines all
00:27:05.460 over the world
00:27:05.960 from England
00:27:06.380 to Russia
00:27:07.080 and you can
00:27:07.700 see to America.
00:27:08.700 There's some
00:27:08.900 in America
00:27:09.280 you can go
00:27:09.820 and see.
00:27:10.880 There's these
00:27:11.340 incorrupted bodies
00:27:12.100 in the United
00:27:12.920 States even
00:27:13.540 and in all
00:27:14.040 parts of the
00:27:14.520 world.
00:27:14.900 You can go
00:27:15.120 and see them.
00:27:15.560 San Francisco
00:27:16.240 in the cathedral
00:27:18.320 there,
00:27:19.580 the body of
00:27:20.200 St. John of
00:27:20.620 Shanghai and
00:27:21.200 San Francisco
00:27:21.700 lays there
00:27:22.200 incorrupt.
00:27:22.780 You can go
00:27:23.100 visit it.
00:27:24.040 But there was
00:27:25.160 a very famous
00:27:25.740 case in Russia
00:27:27.040 where the relics
00:27:27.920 of St.
00:27:28.220 Alexander of
00:27:28.780 Sevier,
00:27:29.260 a famous
00:27:29.860 medieval
00:27:31.200 monastic
00:27:31.880 abbot
00:27:32.360 saint,
00:27:33.480 his bones
00:27:34.160 were incorrupted,
00:27:34.820 did many
00:27:35.080 miracles and
00:27:35.640 the Soviet
00:27:36.000 authorities
00:27:36.560 performed many
00:27:37.280 tests on
00:27:37.920 them in
00:27:38.620 order to
00:27:39.020 try and
00:27:39.400 discredit the
00:27:40.440 authenticity
00:27:41.000 of the
00:27:42.320 miraculous
00:27:43.020 incorruption
00:27:43.540 of his
00:27:43.780 remains.
00:27:44.120 saints and
00:27:44.860 they were
00:27:45.140 unable to
00:27:45.640 do so.
00:27:47.180 Very famously.
00:27:49.280 But this is
00:27:50.080 back to
00:27:50.440 these with
00:27:51.180 Christianity
00:27:52.240 in Ireland,
00:27:53.000 in British
00:27:54.080 Isles
00:27:54.280 generally
00:27:54.580 speaking.
00:27:56.060 You have
00:27:56.680 multitude,
00:27:57.500 you just
00:27:57.760 heaps and
00:27:58.420 heaps of
00:27:59.120 examples of
00:27:59.700 the incorrupt
00:28:00.380 saints,
00:28:00.880 of wonder
00:28:01.160 working saints,
00:28:02.360 saints of
00:28:02.720 all different
00:28:03.240 types of
00:28:03.640 varieties,
00:28:04.240 monastic
00:28:04.520 saints,
00:28:05.020 warrior
00:28:05.200 saints,
00:28:07.540 kingly
00:28:09.660 saints,
00:28:10.020 peasant
00:28:10.180 saints,
00:28:10.580 every type
00:28:10.980 of saint.
00:28:11.760 And they
00:28:11.920 have some
00:28:12.640 of the
00:28:12.860 stories about
00:28:13.360 these people's
00:28:13.820 lives.
00:28:14.640 What can
00:28:17.320 you say?
00:28:17.560 They're
00:28:17.680 amazing.
00:28:18.220 They're
00:28:18.400 highly lucid,
00:28:19.280 highly original.
00:28:20.200 They're
00:28:20.300 fantastic.
00:28:21.380 Really.
00:28:21.980 It's the
00:28:22.260 only way to
00:28:23.120 describe them.
00:28:23.720 We really
00:28:24.280 have a
00:28:24.700 genre and
00:28:25.280 a flavor
00:28:25.720 that is
00:28:26.940 all their
00:28:28.120 own and
00:28:28.940 of a
00:28:30.060 spiritual
00:28:30.940 depth and
00:28:33.060 achievement
00:28:33.420 which rivals
00:28:34.580 any of
00:28:35.540 the
00:28:35.760 hagiographies,
00:28:37.460 any of the
00:28:37.760 lives of the
00:28:38.160 saints from
00:28:38.460 any other
00:28:38.780 part of
00:28:39.080 Christendom.
00:28:40.300 I think
00:28:40.720 also the
00:28:41.580 stories of
00:28:43.820 battles of
00:28:44.560 the pagans
00:28:45.220 and also
00:28:45.800 the stories
00:28:46.540 of supernatural
00:28:48.200 occurrences in
00:28:49.380 the Hindu
00:28:50.020 stuff.
00:28:50.560 You read all
00:28:51.500 of that in
00:28:52.000 these Celtic
00:28:53.940 saints.
00:28:54.440 There was
00:28:54.820 actually a
00:28:55.740 third component
00:28:56.580 to St.
00:28:57.780 Tilo there,
00:28:59.400 as well as the
00:29:00.320 skull and the
00:29:01.260 relics.
00:29:01.680 There was the
00:29:02.160 holy well,
00:29:02.800 the sacred
00:29:03.200 well.
00:29:04.140 Britain is full
00:29:04.920 of these holy
00:29:05.480 wells and they
00:29:06.160 date back to
00:29:07.400 pre-Christian
00:29:08.620 times.
00:29:09.200 and when
00:29:10.460 the country
00:29:10.860 became Christian
00:29:11.700 they would
00:29:12.640 often build
00:29:13.280 churches by
00:29:14.460 these wells
00:29:15.020 and they would
00:29:15.860 continue to
00:29:16.360 use them.
00:29:17.180 And they even
00:29:17.740 had cursing
00:29:18.380 wells as well
00:29:19.620 because the
00:29:20.680 Christians didn't
00:29:21.300 just bless but
00:29:22.080 they would also
00:29:22.520 curse their
00:29:23.120 enemies.
00:29:23.860 These saints,
00:29:24.940 like that
00:29:25.240 Finshua,
00:29:26.140 Saint Finshua
00:29:26.760 who went to
00:29:28.120 battle against
00:29:28.680 the foreigners,
00:29:30.040 you know,
00:29:30.500 these abbots
00:29:32.360 or these monks
00:29:33.260 would be riding
00:29:33.920 into battle
00:29:34.520 cursing their
00:29:35.320 enemies.
00:29:35.620 And they
00:29:36.440 had wells
00:29:37.040 that they
00:29:37.400 would use
00:29:37.760 to curse
00:29:38.320 as well as
00:29:39.340 healing wells
00:29:40.960 and as I
00:29:42.040 say they go
00:29:42.600 back to
00:29:42.960 pre-Christian
00:29:43.520 times and
00:29:44.160 also the
00:29:44.660 dolmens that
00:29:45.880 used to be
00:29:47.220 used as well
00:29:48.000 as I was
00:29:48.280 saying that
00:29:48.580 they were
00:29:48.760 putting the
00:29:49.080 bodies in
00:29:49.560 and the
00:29:50.200 stone circles
00:29:50.960 they would
00:29:51.820 continue to
00:29:52.360 be used as
00:29:52.900 well.
00:29:53.280 There are
00:29:53.660 records of
00:29:54.440 one church
00:29:55.740 and people
00:29:56.420 would sleep
00:29:56.900 in the church
00:29:57.500 to get healed
00:29:58.520 and then the
00:29:59.400 next day they
00:29:59.940 would be carried
00:30:00.660 to the stone
00:30:01.980 circle or
00:30:02.640 dolmen or
00:30:03.180 whatever it is
00:30:03.760 and they would
00:30:04.220 be left there
00:30:04.820 and that
00:30:06.060 would heal
00:30:06.400 them and
00:30:06.760 they would
00:30:07.000 have this
00:30:07.420 holy well
00:30:08.480 as well.
00:30:09.560 And in
00:30:09.900 Bede there's
00:30:10.660 a part in
00:30:11.640 Bede where
00:30:12.960 he's talking
00:30:13.320 to the Pope
00:30:13.860 and the Pope
00:30:14.380 is saying
00:30:14.840 you know you
00:30:15.340 mustn't damage
00:30:16.320 these places
00:30:17.000 at all they
00:30:17.620 must just be
00:30:18.300 re-consecrated
00:30:19.480 to the church
00:30:20.180 that they are
00:30:20.800 holy places.
00:30:22.120 And if you
00:30:22.440 look at the
00:30:22.900 oldest churches
00:30:23.720 in Britain
00:30:24.160 they're built
00:30:24.680 in the most
00:30:25.240 beautiful places.
00:30:26.760 They weren't
00:30:27.120 sort of right
00:30:27.640 we'll build a
00:30:28.320 church here
00:30:28.780 because there's
00:30:29.380 a load of
00:30:31.880 dwellings here
00:30:32.420 already.
00:30:33.360 They would put
00:30:34.020 these churches
00:30:34.640 in the most
00:30:35.840 beautiful
00:30:36.240 most sacred
00:30:36.920 places to
00:30:38.580 the people
00:30:39.020 because they
00:30:39.480 wanted to
00:30:39.960 honour God
00:30:40.940 by building
00:30:41.580 his church
00:30:42.140 in a beautiful
00:30:43.160 place.
00:30:44.120 And a lot
00:30:44.560 of them
00:30:44.800 have
00:30:44.980 you know
00:30:45.860 the original
00:30:46.680 church has
00:30:47.300 fallen down
00:30:48.360 or two or
00:30:48.980 three churches
00:30:49.640 has fallen
00:30:50.060 down and
00:30:50.480 they've rebuilt
00:30:51.240 them all.
00:30:52.020 But sometimes
00:30:52.460 you can still
00:30:53.380 see some of
00:30:54.220 the stones
00:30:54.680 from the
00:30:55.120 original church
00:30:55.940 or the way
00:30:57.260 that it's built
00:30:57.860 they'll have
00:30:58.520 little parts
00:30:59.320 that are called
00:30:59.780 a squint
00:31:00.340 which is where
00:31:00.880 the lepers
00:31:01.320 could look
00:31:01.760 through.
00:31:02.000 So instead
00:31:02.460 of actually
00:31:02.780 going into
00:31:03.200 the church
00:31:03.640 they could
00:31:04.260 look through
00:31:04.640 this thing
00:31:05.040 that was
00:31:05.280 called a
00:31:05.620 squint
00:31:05.980 and they
00:31:07.080 could see
00:31:07.420 where the
00:31:07.740 priest was
00:31:08.320 was holding
00:31:08.920 the host
00:31:09.360 up when
00:31:09.900 he was
00:31:11.040 saying mass
00:31:12.220 and they've
00:31:12.920 still got
00:31:13.300 these squints
00:31:14.560 in a lot
00:31:15.540 of these
00:31:15.800 churches.
00:31:16.600 There's one
00:31:17.000 church that's
00:31:17.640 got a stone
00:31:18.660 circle around
00:31:19.880 it and the
00:31:21.280 church is in
00:31:21.740 the middle of
00:31:22.180 it and
00:31:22.660 actually St
00:31:23.300 David where
00:31:24.120 he was born
00:31:25.140 his mother
00:31:26.580 was a saint
00:31:27.100 as well.
00:31:27.460 She was
00:31:27.820 called St
00:31:28.300 Nun and
00:31:29.280 she gave
00:31:29.700 birth to
00:31:30.300 him in
00:31:31.000 a thunderstorm
00:31:32.180 amidst
00:31:33.220 thunder and
00:31:33.700 lightning on
00:31:34.920 the edge of
00:31:35.360 a stone
00:31:35.780 circle and
00:31:37.040 when she
00:31:37.360 gave birth
00:31:37.880 to him
00:31:38.300 apparently a
00:31:40.260 spring of
00:31:41.180 fresh water
00:31:41.880 sprung up
00:31:42.700 out of the
00:31:43.160 ground and
00:31:44.260 that is
00:31:45.000 St Nun's
00:31:46.140 holy well and
00:31:47.540 it's still there
00:31:48.480 today and
00:31:49.200 they've got a
00:31:50.160 modern monastery
00:31:50.920 near to it.
00:31:52.540 So you've got
00:31:52.900 all these
00:31:53.480 legends and
00:31:55.160 myths and a
00:31:56.420 crossover between
00:31:57.560 the pre-Christian
00:31:59.100 beliefs of the
00:31:59.980 British people,
00:32:01.000 the Celtic
00:32:01.440 people and
00:32:02.480 their Christian
00:32:03.460 beliefs and
00:32:04.420 because these
00:32:05.360 places became
00:32:06.000 Christianized they
00:32:06.920 were protected.
00:32:08.140 As I say this is
00:32:08.880 still there today
00:32:09.740 because it became
00:32:11.320 sanctified which is
00:32:12.380 what the Pope said
00:32:13.020 to do to them.
00:32:13.720 Sanctify them,
00:32:14.840 preserve them,
00:32:15.960 don't destroy
00:32:16.920 them.
00:32:18.300 Why would you
00:32:18.960 want to destroy
00:32:19.560 your old holy
00:32:21.460 places anyway?
00:32:22.660 You know it makes
00:32:23.060 no sense does it?
00:32:25.800 Right well
00:32:26.400 that's exactly
00:32:26.940 it.
00:32:27.360 I mean that is
00:32:28.840 just the general
00:32:29.380 attitude of true
00:32:31.000 authentic apostolic
00:32:32.180 Christianity and
00:32:33.240 we'll see this when
00:32:34.240 we begin to cover
00:32:34.960 some of the
00:32:35.520 apostles to the
00:32:36.880 Saxons is that
00:32:38.880 you don't,
00:32:40.220 you just,
00:32:40.600 you elevate,
00:32:41.380 which is the
00:32:41.740 whole purpose is
00:32:42.360 you go and you
00:32:42.940 take what's there
00:32:43.540 and you don't
00:32:43.900 suppress it but
00:32:45.020 you elevate it.
00:32:46.080 You try to purify
00:32:47.600 it and to perfect
00:32:48.440 it and to raise
00:32:49.200 it and it's only
00:32:49.860 the parts which
00:32:50.600 are fundamentally
00:32:51.880 incompatible or
00:32:53.660 morally
00:32:54.360 corrent that
00:32:56.620 are completely
00:32:57.200 suppressed but
00:32:58.520 to suppress
00:33:00.380 someone's culture
00:33:00.960 to suppress
00:33:01.520 everyone's ways
00:33:02.080 of being
00:33:02.500 when they're
00:33:03.960 in conformity
00:33:04.500 with natural
00:33:05.020 law and the
00:33:06.000 right expression
00:33:06.620 of that natural
00:33:07.420 law which is
00:33:07.940 ultimately Christ
00:33:08.800 his personality
00:33:10.320 incarnated in
00:33:12.220 the physical
00:33:12.640 world is to
00:33:14.100 go against the
00:33:15.660 will of God
00:33:16.160 because it's
00:33:17.380 Christ himself
00:33:17.940 who is expressed
00:33:18.740 in the folk
00:33:20.560 ways of these
00:33:21.040 people insofar as
00:33:22.120 they are in
00:33:22.520 conformity to
00:33:23.300 nature.
00:33:25.000 It was the
00:33:25.440 Saxons that were
00:33:26.100 wanting to sort
00:33:26.760 of smash things
00:33:27.340 up as well and
00:33:28.180 I think the only
00:33:28.880 things they kind
00:33:29.440 of wanted to
00:33:29.880 smash up was
00:33:30.620 their sheds
00:33:31.300 because apparently
00:33:32.440 they built wooden
00:33:33.480 sheds for the
00:33:34.660 worship of Odin
00:33:35.560 in the 150
00:33:36.680 years that they
00:33:37.940 were here for
00:33:38.680 and apparently
00:33:41.160 they did record
00:33:42.120 that they smashed
00:33:42.740 them up but
00:33:43.760 the Pope was on
00:33:44.700 record as saying
00:33:45.500 you know don't
00:33:46.100 do damage to
00:33:47.220 these holy
00:33:49.060 places just
00:33:50.780 just re-consecrate
00:33:51.980 them but I
00:33:52.540 guess you know
00:33:53.100 a shed is
00:33:54.200 nothing but a
00:33:55.260 stone circle
00:33:55.800 something that's
00:33:56.200 been there for
00:33:56.620 thousands of
00:33:57.220 years you want
00:33:58.980 to preserve that
00:33:59.640 and also don't
00:34:00.260 forget the whole
00:34:01.380 of Britain was
00:34:02.040 Christian by the
00:34:02.700 time the Saxons
00:34:03.320 came here so
00:34:04.280 what the Saxons
00:34:05.080 had done was
00:34:05.880 basically desecrate
00:34:07.180 these formerly
00:34:07.800 holy places and
00:34:09.280 they had to
00:34:09.860 re-consecrate them
00:34:11.040 to God after
00:34:12.480 they had desecrated
00:34:13.980 them so this
00:34:15.000 you know Odin
00:34:16.140 idea of you
00:34:17.820 know following
00:34:18.260 paganism it's
00:34:19.520 crazy for anyone
00:34:20.540 British to be
00:34:22.280 thinking about
00:34:22.940 that because that
00:34:24.080 really was an
00:34:24.840 alien religion in
00:34:26.220 Britain it was
00:34:27.320 not indigenous
00:34:28.100 Christianity and
00:34:29.620 Druidry were
00:34:30.720 indigenous to
00:34:32.160 Britain and they
00:34:33.380 were a part of
00:34:34.020 the British people
00:34:34.720 but Odinism was
00:34:36.740 something that was
00:34:37.380 brought in from
00:34:38.100 the outside and
00:34:39.100 discarded within
00:34:41.380 200 years basically
00:34:42.700 anyway we're going
00:34:44.020 to get into as
00:34:45.140 you say some of
00:34:45.700 the Celtic saints
00:34:46.400 and their mission
00:34:47.380 to the Saxons in
00:34:48.980 the next couple
00:34:49.500 of episodes so
00:34:50.260 thank you very
00:34:50.600 much for coming
00:34:51.060 on today
00:34:51.460 Florian thank
00:34:52.560 you very much
00:34:52.900 listeners for
00:34:53.800 listening we'll
00:34:54.560 be back tomorrow
00:34:55.320 with more of the
00:34:56.280 Celtic saints of
00:34:57.480 Britain God
00:34:58.680 bless and
00:34:59.480 hail victory
00:35:00.120 unity
00:35:17.780 we'll be back in
00:35:18.680 extremely
00:35:19.380 good
00:35:20.280 so
00:35:20.500 we track
00:35:21.160 so
00:35:21.260 and
00:35:21.620 we'll be back in
00:35:22.400 next
00:35:22.860 '?
00:35:23.060 we'll be back in
00:35:26.260 ΠΊΠ»Γ©ε›½
00:35:26.740 Thank you.