Charles Eamer Kempe (1837 - 1907). Victorian Stained-Glass Designer. "If I Was Not Permitted To Minister In The Sanctuary, I Would Use My Talents To Adorn It".

Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Stained-Glass, in the West Window of the South Transept of Bristol Cathedral, featuring, from left:

King Alfred the Great; the writer, Richard Hakluyt; the Priest and Theologian, Richard Hooker;

and the playwright and poet, William Shakespeare.

Date: Circa 1905.

Source: Bristol Cathedral.

Author: Charles Eamer Kempe.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Charles Eamer Kempe, (1860).

Charles Eamer Kempe (29 June 1837 – 29 April 1907) was a Victorian Stained-Glass designer

and manufacturer. His studios produced over 4,000 windows and also designs for Altars and Altar Frontals, Furniture and Furnishings, Lichgates and Memorials, that helped to define a later

19th-Century Anglican Style. The list of English Cathedrals containing examples of his work includes: Chester, Gloucester, Hereford, Lichfield, Wells, Winchester, York.

This File: 21 July 2006.

User: The Wednesday Island.

Source: Found at [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/peter.

fairweather/docs/kempe.htm].

Author: Unknown.

(Wikipedia)

Charles Eamer Kempe (29 June 1837 – 29 April 1907) was a Victorian Stained-Glass designer and manufacturer. His studios produced over 4,000 windows and also designs for Altars and Altar Frontals, furniture and furnishings, Lichgates (Lychgates) and Memorials, that helped to define a Later-19th-Century Anglican Style. The list of English Cathedrals containing examples of his work includes: Chester, Gloucester, Hereford, Lichfield, Wells, Winchester, York.

Charles Kempe was born at Ovingdean Hall, near Brighton, West Sussex, in 1837. He was the youngest son of Nathaniel Kemp, a cousin of the Thomas Read Kemp, a politician and property developer responsible for the Kemptown area of Brighton [Note: Kemp added the final "e" to his surname in later life], and the maternal grandson of Sir John Eamer, who served as Lord Mayor of London in 1801.

Interior of Church of Saint Paul, Mirfield, West Yorkshire, England, designed by William Swinden Barber in 1881. Showing a particularly fine window on the South Wall, by Charles Eamer Kempe. The East and West Windows were there in 1881 at the Consecration ceremony, but the date of this one is unknown - possibly 1902, after the Second Boer War, since it shows war-like Mediaeval heroes, King Arthur, Saint George, and Saint Oswald (Oswald of Northumbria).

Photo: 8 April 2014.

Source: Own work.

Author: Linda Spashett Storye book.

(Wikimedia Commons)

After attending Twyford School, he attended Pembroke College, Oxford, where he was influenced by the Anglo-Catholic Tractarian revival and considered a vocation to the Priesthood. When it became clear that his severe stammer would be an impediment to preaching, Kempe decided that "if I was not permitted to Minister in the Sanctuary, I would use my talents to adorn it", and subsequently went to study architecture with the firm of a leading ecclesiastical architect, George Frederick Bodley, where he learned the aesthetic principles of Mediaeval Church Art, particularly Stained-Glass.

During the 1860s, Kempe collaborated with Bodley on the internal painting of two Churches, All Saints, Jesus Lane, in Cambridge, and Saint John’s, The Brook, in Liverpool. Later, in 1892, Bodley and Kempe would work together once more on All Saints, Danehill, East Sussex.

Altar Frontal (Antependium) designed by Charles Eamer Kempe.

Illustration: MEDIEVAL CHURCH ART

Altar Frontal (Antependium) designed by Charles Eamer Kempe.

Illustration: MEDIEVAL CHURCH ART

In 1866, he opened a studio of his own in London, supplying and creating Stained-Glass and Furnishings and Vestments. The firm prospered and by 1899 he had over fifty employees. As a trademark, the firm used a Golden Garb, or Wheat-Sheaf, taken from Kempe's own Coat-of-Arms. The Mid-Victorian period were important years in the history of the design of English Churches and Kempe’s influence is found in numerous examples, many in his home County of Sussex, which has 116 examples of his work.

The works at Saint Mark’s, Staplefield, near Horsham, West Sussex, dating from 1869, are regarded as especially important, representing the earliest of three known examples of Kempe’s Wall Painting. They contain key elements of Kempe’s figurative work. The Angels, holding the scroll, are magnificently apparelled and the borders of their cloaks are embellished with pearls, each individually highlighted, although they don’t contain a design of peacock feathers, a well-used embellishment in later works.

Interior of Church of Saint Paul, Mirfield, West Yorkshire, England,

designed by William Swinden Barber in 1881. A particularly fine window

on the South Wall,

by Charles Eamer Kempe.

Photo: 8 April 2014.

Source: Own work.

Author: Linda Spashett Storye book.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Rosalie Glynn Grylls, Lady Mander, whose home, Wightwick Manor, near Wolverhampton, contains many pieces of Kempe's Stained-Glass, wrote in 1973: "Kempe's work has a unique charm; its colours shine out from jewels, that cluster on the Mitres or the Crowns that his figures wear, and from their peacocks' feathers, while Angels, playing their instruments, are drawn with tender delicacy and scattered above the main windows informally, but making a pattern of precision. Above all, the prevailing yellow-wash is literally translucent, for it lets through the rays of the full-, or the setting-, sun . . ."

On Kempe’s death, in 1907, the firm passed to his relative, Walter Earnest Tower (1873–1955), who re-named the firm C. E Kempe and Co., who, thenceforth, used a Black Tower above the Golden Garb. A lack of orders, caused by the Great Depression, ended the firm's life in 1934.

Altar Frontal (Antependium) designed by Charles Eamer Kempe.

Illustration: MEDIEVAL CHURCH ART

Altar Frontal (Antependium) designed by Charles Eamer Kempe.

Illustration: MEDIEVAL CHURCH ART

Kempe was a rather shy person, who never married. He continued to live in Sussex most of his life and, in 1875, he bought and renovated an Elizabethan House at Lindfield, near Haywards Heath, in West Sussex. Kempe would entertain his clients and professional colleagues from his home, enjoying the role of a Country Squire.

Kempe died in 1907 and is buried in the Churchyard at Saint Wulfran's Church, Ovingdean. Unfortunately, most of Kempe's records were disposed of after the firm shut in 1934.

The East Window of Saint Mary the Virgin Church,

Baldock, Hertfordshire, England, showing Christ and the Four Evangelists.

The window was designed by Charles Eamer Kempe.

Photo: 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author. Jack1956.

(Wikipedia)

The following Text is taken from THE KEMPE SOCIETY

In 1869, dissatisfied with the quality of the work produced for him, Kempe started his own workshop at Millbrook Place, London, with the professional co-operation of Fred Leach. The idea for a design would first be drawn by Kempe, and then the full size cartoon would be produced in his studios by his chief draughtsman and a team of artists, who added the detailed decoration. The cartoon was then taken to his Millbrook works for glass cutting, painting and leading. The glass was always carefully selected, supplied by either Messrs Miller Beal and Hilder Ltd., or James Hetley and Co., at 35 Soho Square, London, who reserved a room for Kempe’s glass.

In 1888, the studios and offices moved to 28 Nottingham Place, in Central London., and by the end of the Century he employed over fifty people.

Such success and demand was bound to lead to repetition, and some of Kempe’s later work involved adapting earlier designs. But, unlike other large Victorian studios, he never allowed the quality or individuality of his work to deteriorate. The senses are always thrilled by the spirituality of his Stained-Glass.

Kempe's Family Coat-of-Arms,

"Gules three garbs within a bordure engrailed".

Pre-1895 Logo.

Usually found in the top Tracery of a window.

Illustration: KEMPE STAINED GLASS

His studios, in spite of their heavy commitment to Stained-Glass, also produced designs for Church Furniture, Reredos, Screens, Altars, and Panelling. Kempe continued to design splendid Vestments and Altar Frontals (Antependiums) that were embroidered exquisitely by the Anglican Order of Clewer Sisters.

The decade from 1895-1905 was the busiest the Kempe Glass-Works were to experience and it was to culminate in a commission to produce a window of Saint George, for Buckingham Palace. This window, the victim of wartime bombing, can now be seen in the Ely Stained-Glass Museum in Ely Cathedral, Cambridgeshire, England.

After 1895, the Shield Logo was replaced by a Single Wheatsheaf,

usually in the bottom left-hand corner of a Stained-Glass Window.

Illustration: KEMPE STAINED GLASS

Kempe kept up his business interests with great energy, busily visiting sites ("such motor journeys !" he writes in 1905); making sketches for designs and watching the effects in the Glass-Works. But for some years before Kempe’s death, John Lisle had become the ghost designer for the firm and Kempe, who still enjoyed initiating a project and making suggestions, came to rely more and more on his junior’s collaboration, eventually handing responsibility for designs to him.

From 1895, the studios used the Wheatsheaf, taken from Kempe’s Family Coat-of-Arms, to sign their work. This simplified the complete Arms of "Gules three garbs within a bordure engrailed", which had been used sparingly.

On Kempe's death in 1907, the Single Wheatsheaf Logo was replaced with the Single Golden Wheatsheaf with a Black Tower superimposed on the head. The last Stained-Glass Window of the firm's production had the Black Tower laid on its side to denote the last of its line.

Illustration: KEMPE STAINED GLASS

Saint George,

in the South Aisle,

Church of Saint Mary and Saint Helen,

Neston, Cheshire, England.

1905.

Illustration: KEMPE STAINED GLASS

Chester Cathedral. Part Six.

Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Chester Cathedral.

Cathedral Church of Christ and The Blessed Virgin Mary,

Chester, England.

The Cathedral, seen from the South-East, looking towards the Choir, right, with the Lady Chapel projecting, extreme right, and the South Transept, left. The Lady Chapel is in the Early-English

(or Lancet) Gothic Style, marked by the simple windows. The Choir is in the Late-Geometric Decorated Gothic Style. The South Transept has Flowing Decorated Windows in the Aisle,

and Perpendicular Gothic Windows in the Clerestory. The friable Red Sandstone building

was heavily restored in the 19th-Century.

Photo: May 2012.

Source: Family Album.

Author: Stephen Hamilton.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In 1910, William Hill and Son, of London, extensively rebuilt and re-voiced the Organ, replacing the Cavaillé-Coll reeds with new pipes of their own. The Choir Division of the Organ was enlarged and moved behind the Choir Stalls on the South Side. The instrument was again overhauled by Rushworth and Dreaper, of Liverpool, in 1969, when a new mechanism and some new pipework, made to a design by the organist, Roger Fisher, was installed. Since 1991, the Organ has been in the care of David Wells, of Liverpool.

English: Chester Cathedral's Nave

and North Aisle.

Deutsch: Chester, England.

Kathedrale: Mittelschiff (14./15.Jhdt.)

mit nördlichem Seitenschiff.

Photo: 13 July 2011.

Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Author: Wolfgang Sauber.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Chester suffered badly at the hands of the Parliamentary troops during the English Civil War. As a consequence, its Stained-Glass dates mainly from the 19th- and 20th-Centuries, and has representative examples of the significant trends in Stained-Glass design from the 1850s, onwards. Of the earlier, Victorian firms, William Wailes is the best represented, in the South Aisle (1862), as well as Hardman and Co., and Michael Connor.

Glass, from the High-Victorian period, is well represented by two leading London firms, Clayton and Bell and Heaton, Butler and Bayne. The Aesthetic Style is represented by Charles Eamer Kempe. Early-20th-Century windows include several commemorating those who died in World War I.

There are also several notable modern windows, the most recent being the Refectory Window of 2001 by Ros Grimshaw, which depicts The Creation. The Eight-Light Perpendicular Window, of the West End, contains Mid-20th-Century glass, representing The Holy Family and Saints, by W. T. Carter Shapland.

Three modern windows in the South Aisle, designed and made by Alan Younger, were installed to replace windows damaged in the Second World War. They were donated by the 6th Duke of Westminster to celebrate the 900th anniversary of the Cathedral, and contain the dates 1092 and 1992 to reflect the theme of "continuity and change".

English: Chester Cathedral's Nave.

Deutsch: Chester, England.

Kathedrale: Mittelschiff (14./15.Jhdt).

Photo: 13 July 2011.

Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Author: Wolfgang Sauber.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The West End of the Nave is dominated by an Eight-Light Window in the Perpendicular Gothic Style, which almost fills the upper part of the West Wall. It contains Stained-Glass designed by W. T. Carter Shapland, dating from 1961, and depicts The Holy Family in the middle Two Lights, flanked by the Northern Saints, Werburgh, Oswald, Aidan, Chad and Wilfrid, and Queen Ethelfleda.

The stone Nave Pulpit was designed by the restorer, R. C. Hussey, and the Lectern, dated 1876, is by Skidmore. The mosaic floor of the Tower Bay was designed by Dean Howson and executed by Burke and Co. The same firm installed the mosaics which decorate the wall of the North Aisle, depicting the Patriarchs and Prophets, Abraham, Moses, David and Elijah. They were designed by J. R. Clayton, of Clayton and Bell, and date from 1883 to 1886.

Monuments in the Nave include those to Roger Barnston, dated 1838, by John Blayney, to Bishop Stratford, dated 1708, to Bishop Hall, who died in 1668, to Edmund Entwistle, dated 1712, to John and Thomas Wainwright, who died, respectively, in 1686 and 1720, to Robert Bickerstaff, who died in 1841, by Blayney, to Dean Smith, who died in 1787, by Thomas Banks, and to Sir William Mainwaring, dated 1671.

The most famous feature of the Choir is the set of Choir Stalls, dating from about 1380, and described, above. The Lectern, in the form of a wooden eagle, symbol of Saint John the Evangelist, dates from the first half of the 17th-Century. The Candlesticks also date from the 17th-Century and are by Censore of Bologna, Italy, who died in 1662.

English: Chester Cathedral's Rood Screen.

Deutsch: Chester, England.

Kathedrale: Lettner.

Photo: 13 July 2011.

Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Author: Wolfgang Sauber.

(Wikimedia Commons)

With these exceptions, most of the decoration and the fittings of the Choir date from the 19th-Century and are in keeping with the Gothic Revival promoted by the Oxford Movement and by Augustus Welby Pugin. The restored Vault of the Choir is typical of the period, having been designed by Scott and decorated and gilded by Clayton and Bell.

The Choir is entered through a Screen designed by George Gilbert Scott, with Gates made by Skidmore. The Rood was designed by Scott, and was made by F. Stuflesser. The Bishop’s Throne, or “Cathedra”, was designed by Scott to complement the Choir Stalls. It was constructed by Farmer and Brindley, in 1876. The Reredos and the floor mosaic date from 1876, and were designed by J. R. Clayton. The East Window has Tracery of an elegant Decorated Gothic design, which is filled with Stained-Glass of 1884, by Heaton, Butler and Bayne.

The 13th-Century Lady Chapel contains the stone Shrine of Saint Werburgh, which dates from the 14th-Century, and which used to contain her Relics. The Shrine, of similar red sandstone as the Cathedral, has a base pierced with deep Niches. The upper part takes the form of a miniature Chapel containing Statuettes. During the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it was dismantled. Some of the parts were found during the 1873 Restoration of the Cathedral and the Shrine was re-assembled in 1888 by Blomfield.

A carving of Saint Werburgh, by Joseph Pyrz, was added in 1993. Also in the Chapel, are a Sedilia and a Piscina. The Stained-Glass, of 1859, is by William Wailes. The Chapel contains a Monument to Archdeacon Francis Wrangham, made by Hardman and Co., and dating from 1846.

Early-16th-Century Double Piscina

in the South Wall of the O'Donellan Side Chapel,

Kilconnell Friary,

County Galway, Ireland.

Photo: 16 September 2009.

Source:Own work.

Author: Andreas F. Borchert.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The North Choir Aisle has a stone Screen, by R. C. Hussey, and an iron Gate, dated 1558, that came from Guadalajara. At the East End of the Aisle, is the Chapel of Saint Werburgh, which has a Vault of Two Bays, and an East Window, depicting the Nativity, by Michael O'Connor, dated 1857. Other Stained-Glass Windows in the North Aisle are by William Wailes, by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, and by Clayton and Bell.

The Chapel contains a Piscina, dating from the 14th-Century, and Monuments to Bishop Graham, dated 1867, and to William Bispham, who died in 1685. Other Monuments in the North Aisle include a Tablet to Bishop Jacobson, dated 1887, by Boehm, to a design by Blomfield.

The small Norman Transept has Clerestory Windows, containing Stained-Glass by William Wailes, installed in 1853. The Sacristy, of 1200, has an East Window, depicting Saint Anselm, and designed by A. K. Nicholson. In the North Transept, is a free-standing Tomb-Chest Monument to Bishop Pearson, who died in 1686, designed by Arthur Blomfield and carved by Nicholas Earp, with a recumbent effigy by Matthew Noble.

Other Monuments in the Transept include one to Samuel Peploe, dating from about 1784, by Joseph Nollekens. The Wall Monuments include Cenotaphs to Members of the Cheshire (Earl of Chester's) Yeomanry, killed in the Boer War, and in the First and Second World Wars. At the corner of the Transept with the North Aisle, is a 17th-Century Tree of Jesse, carved in whale ivory. A Niche contains a rare example of a "cobweb picture", painted on the web of a caterpillar. Originating in the Austrian Tyrol, it depicts Mary and the Christ-Child, and is based on a painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery.

Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1565).

Photo: 30 September 2012.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Christ_and_

the_Woman_Taken_in_Adultery_Bruegel.jpg.

Author: Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1526 – 1569.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Grisaille (French: gris) ('grey') is a term for a painting executed entirely in monochrome or near-monochrome, usually in shades of grey. It is particularly used in large decorative schemes in imitation of sculpture. Many grisailles, in fact, include a slightly wider colour range. Paintings executed in brown are sometimes referred to by the more specific term brunaille, and paintings executed in green are sometimes called verdaille.

The Chapter House has Stained-Glass in its East Window, by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, and Grisaille Windows in the North and South Walls, dated 1882–1883, by Blomfield. It contains an oak Cope Cupboard, from the Late-13th-Century. The front of the Chapter House was rebuilt to a design by Hussey.

The South Aisle was shortened in 1870 by Scott, and given an Apsidal East End, becoming the Chapel of Saint Erasmus. The Stained-Glass in the Apse Window is dated 1872 and is by Clayton and Bell. Below this, is a mosaic designed by J. R. Clayton and made by Salviati, and a fresco painting by Clayton and Bell, dated 1874.

Elsewhere, the Stained-Glass in the Aisle is by Wailes, and by Hardman & Co., to a design by Pugin. The Aisle contains the tomb of Ranulf Higdon, a Monk at Saint Werburgh's Abbey in the 12th-Century, who wrote a major work of history, entitled Polychronicon; a Monument to Thomas Brassey (a Civil Engineering contractor who died in 1870), designed by Blomfield and made by Wagmuller; a Monument to Bishop Peploe, who died in 1752, and three painted Monuments by a member of the Randle Holme family.

English: Chester Cathedral Lectern.

Deutsch: Chester, England. Kathedrale: Lesepult.

Photo: 13 July 2011.

Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Author: Wolfgang Sauber.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The South Transept, formerly the Parish Church of Saint Oswald, contains a Piscina and a Sedilia in the South Wall. On the East Wall, are four Chapels, each with a Reredos, two of which were designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, one by Kempe and the other by his successor, W. E. Tower. The South Window is dated 1887 and was made by Heaton, Butler and Bayne to a design by R. C. Hussey.

Other Stained-Glass in the Transept is by Clayton and Bell, by C. E. Kempe and by Powell. The Monuments include those to: George Ogden, who died in 1781, by Hayward; Anne Matthews, who died in 1793, by Thomas Banks; John Philips Buchanan, who died at Waterloo in 1815; and the 1st Duke of Westminster, designed by C. J. Blomfield.

On the wall of the South-West Crossing Pier, are Monuments which include a Cenotaph to the casualties in HMS Chester, in the Battle of Jutland in 1916, who included the 16-year-old John Cornwell VC. The West Wall of the South Transept has many Memorials, including Cenotaphs to The Cheshire Regiment, The Royal Air Force and The Free Czech Forces.

The Cloisters were restored in the 20th-Century, and the Stained-Glass Windows contain the images of some 130 Saints. The Cloister Garth contains a modern sculpture, entitled "The Water of Life", by Stephen Broadbent. The Refectory Roof is dated 1939 and was designed by F. H. Crossley. The East Window, with reticulated Tracery, was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott and is dated 1913.

The Bishop's "Cathedra" (Chair),

Chester Cathedral.

Date: 25 March 2008

(original upload date).

(Original Text : 17th March 2008).

Source: Transferred from en.wikipedia.

Author: Original uploader was Joopercoopers

at en.wikipedia.

(Original Text : Joopercoopers.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Stained-Glass in the West Window, depicting The Creation, was designed by Ros Grimshaw and installed in 2001 to celebrate the Millennium. On the Refectory's West Wall, there is a Tapestry depicting Elymas being struck with blindness, which was woven at Mortlake, in the 17th-Century, from a cartoon by Raphael. The Heraldic paintings on the North Wall represent the Arms of the Earls of Chester.

A Library has been present since the time of Saint Werburgh's Abbey, and, following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it became the Cathedral Library. It continued to grow over the Centuries, but, by the 19th-Century, it had become neglected. Between 1867 and 1885, it was enlarged and, in the 1890s, new book-cases were added. A further reorganisation took place in the 1920s, but, by the 1980s, the contents were contained in five separate sites around the Cathedral. A programme of repair and re-cataloguing of the contents was instituted. During recent years, more work was carried out and the refurbished Library, housed in three rooms, opened in 2007. The Library is available for research and for organised visits by groups.

The Choral tradition at Chester is 900-years-old, dating from the foundation of the Benedictine Monastery. In 1741, Handel heard the first recital of his Messiah at Chester. There are usually eight Choral Services in the Cathedral each week. Chester has a Cathedral Choir of male Lay Clerks, Choral Scholars, and boy and girl Choristers. They rehearse in the Song School, built on the site of the former Monks' Dormitory. In addition to singing at Services, the Choir perform in concerts, tour abroad, and make recordings on CDs. There is no Choir School at Chester, so the Choristers come from local schools. There is also a Mixed Choir of adults, the Nave Choir, which sings Compline on Sunday evenings and in other services. This Choir also takes part in concerts, and undertakes tours. Having been founded during the 1860s, it is the longest-running voluntary Cathedral Choir in Britain.

Burials at Chester Cathedral include: George Clarke of Hyde, former Colonial Governor of New York, America, between 1736 to 1743; Frederick Phillips, a wealthy landowner from New York, America, who was loyal to the British Colonial Government and who was forced to quit his estates.

THIS COMPLETES THE ARTICLE ON CHESTER CATHEDRAL.

Sweet Prayer At The Feet Of Mary. Douce Prière Aux Pieds De Marie.

Sweet Prayer

at the feet of Mary.

Douce Prière

aux pieds de Marie.

Illustration: HOLY CARD HEAVEN

The Apparition Of Saint Michael The Archangel: “Who Is Like God ?”

This Article is taken from NOBILITY AND ANALOGOUS TRADITIONAL ELITES
and complements the Post, yesterday, on Saint Michael the Archangel's Feast Day.

The Sanctuary of Monte Sant’Angelo sul Gargano,
Italy, sometimes called, simply, Monte Gargano.

Well known is the Apparition of Saint Michael the Archangel, as related in the Roman Breviary, 8 May, at his renowned Sanctuary on Monte Gargano, Italy, where his original glory as Patron in war was restored to him.

To his intercession, the Lombards of Sipontum (Manfredonia) attributed their victory over the Greek Neapolitans, 8 May, 663 A.D.

Statue of Saint Michael

overlooking the main entrance at the Sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel,

Monte Sant’Angelo, Apulia, Italy.

In commemoration of this victory, the church of Sipontum instituted a special Feast in honour of the Archangel, on 8 May, which has spread over the entire Latin Church and is now called (since the time of Pope Saint Pius V) “Apparitio S. Michaelis”, although it originally did not commemorate the Apparition, but the victory.

(cfr. Catholic Encyclopedia)

Saint Michael the Archangel: “Who is like God ?”

In Hebraic, mîkâ’êl, means “Who is like God ?”

The Scriptures refer to the Archangel Saint Michael in four different passages: two of them, in Daniel’s prophesy (chap. 10, 13 and 21; and chap. 12, 1); one in Saint Jude Thaddeus (single chapter, vers. 9) and, finally, in the Revelation (chap. 12, 7-12).

In the Book of Daniel, the Saint Archangel appears as the “prince and protector of Israel”, who opposes the “prince”, or heavenly protector of the Persians.

According to Saint Jerome and other commentators, the Angel protector of Persia desired that some of the Jews would remain there to expand the knowledge of God; however, Saint Michael desired and asked the Lord that all Jews return to Palestine, to allow the Temple of the Lord to be completed in less time. The spiritual fight between the two Angels lasted twenty one days.

Saint Jude, in his Epistle, alludes to a dispute between Saint Michael and the demon over Moses’ body: the glorious Archangel – by God’s disposition – wanted Moses’ sepulcher to remain hidden; the demon, however, tried to make it known, with the objective of giving to the Jews an occasion to fall into idolatry, through the influence of the neighboring pagan peoples.

In Revelation, Saint John presents Saint Michael as commander-in-chief of the good Angels in a great fight in Heaven, against the rebel Angels, led by Satan, the dragon:

“Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his Angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his Angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world — he was thrown down to the earth, and his Angels were thrown down with him” (Revelation 12, 7-12).

The Church did not define anything in particular about Saint Michael, but has permitted that the beliefs originated from the Christian traditions about the glorious Archangel have free course in the piety of the faithful and in the writings of the theologians.

The first of these beliefs is that Saint Michael was, in the Old Testament, the defender of the chosen people, Israel – and nowadays, he is the defender of the new chosen people, the Church.

This pious belief is in accordance with what is said in Daniel: “… but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me… Michael, your prince” – that is, prince of the Jews (Dan 10, 13 e 21); and again “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people”, the people of Israel (Dan 12, 1).

Statue of St. Michael on St. Michaelskirche Church in Siegen, Germany. The left wing of the angel statue was damaged in 1944 by bomb splinters. The damage was as a reminder of the Second World War, left intentionally so, and the rest of the church was restored.

This is a very ancient belief, being also confirmed by the Shepherd of Hermas, a celebrated Christian book of the II Century, in which one can read: “The great and honorable Michael is the one who has the power over this people” (the Christians).

Additionally, this is also believed by theologians and the Church, who corroborate it in several different ways.

The second of these beliefs is that Saint Michael has the power to admit, or not, the souls in Paradise.

Statue of Archangel St. Michael at the main entrance, University of Bonn, Germany.

In the Divine Office for this holy Archangel, in the old Breviary, Saint Michael was called “Praepositus paradisi”- “Guardian of the Paradise”, to whom God addresses Himself in the following terms: “Constitui te Principem super omnes animas suscipiendas” – “I constituted you the master above all souls to be admitted”. And, in the Mass for the Dead there was the prayer: “Signifer Sanctus Michael representet eas in lucem sanctam” – “O Flag-bearer Saint Michael, lead them to the holy light”.

The third of these beliefs, or, rather, the third opinion, is that Saint Michael occupies the first place in the angelic hierarchy.

About this opinion, there are divergences amongst the theologians, but, this opinion has the support of several Greek Fathers of the Church and seems to be corroborated by the Latin Liturgy, which refers to the glorious Archangel as the“Princeps militiae coelestis quem honorificant coelorum cives” – “Prince of the celestial hosts, honored by all inhabitants of Heaven” and by the Greek liturgy, which calls him “Archistrátegos“, that is, “Mighty General”, or “Generalissimo”.

Mont St. Michel,

Normandy, France.

The great commentator of the Sacred Scriptures, Fr. Cornelius a Lapide, a Jesuit from the 16th-Century, writes:

“Many consider that Michael, due to his dignity and nature, and to his grace and glory, is the absolute first and the Prince of all Angels. And this is proved, first, by the book of Revelation (12, 7), where it is said that Michael fought against Lucifer and his Angels, resisting his arrogance with a cry full of humility: ‘Who is like God?’ Therefore, in the same way as Lucifer is the chief of the demons, Michael is the chief of the Angels, being the first among the Seraphim. Second, because the Church calls him Prince of the Heavenly Hosts, who is placed at the gates of Paradise. And it is in his name that we celebrate the Feast of All Angels. Third, because Michael is today exalted as the protector of the Church, as in olden days he was exalted as the protector of the Synagogue. Finally, four, because it is probable that Saint Michael is the Prince of all Angels and the first amongst the Seraphim, because Saint Basil says in his Homily De Angelis: ‘To you, O Michael, general of the Celestial Spirits, who, by his honor and dignity, is placed in front of all other Heavenly Spirits, to you I supplicate . . .”

The same thing is repeated by numerous other authors, Saint Robert Bellarmine included.

In the Middle Ages, Saint Michael was the special Patron of the Orders of Chivalry which defended Christendom against the Muslim danger.

The Apparition Of Saint Michael The Archangel. Feast Day 8 May.

Roman Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
Italic Text is taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

The Apparition of Saint Michael the Archangel.
Feast Day 8 May.

Greater-Double.
White Vestments.

Saint Michael the Archangel.

Artist: Guido Reni (1575–1642).

Date: Circa 1636.

Current location: Church of Santa Maria della Concezione,

Rome, Italy.

Source/Photographer: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei.

DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by

DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.

Permission: [1].

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Easter Feasts are those of Angelical Spirits, for the Resurrection "gives joy also to the Angels," says Saint Gregory, "because, in opening Heaven to us, again, it makes up for the losses which their ranks had sustained."

The Feast of the Apparition of Saint Michael, the chief of the celestial hosts, shows forth, in this Paschaltide, all the grandeur of the Saviour's triumph.

Saint Michael, himself, comes to defend us in battle (Alleluia). He came down from Heaven (Ibid) and appeared in Italy, towards 525 A,D,, under the Pontificate of Pope Gelasius I, in Apulia, on the summit of Monte Gargano, near the Adriatic and the ancient Sipontum.

He requested that a Sanctuary should be erected to him, where God should be worshipped, in memory of himself and all the Angels, and this place became celebrated on account of numerous Miracles.

Mass: Benedícite Dóminum.

English: Archangel Michael

saving Souls from Purgatory.

By Jacopo Vignali, 

17th-Century.

Italiano: Jacopo vignali.

San michele arcangelo libera le anime del purgatorio.

Source: Giovanni Piccirillo (a cura di).

La chiesa dei Santi Michele e Gaetano,

Becocci Editore, Firenze 2006.

Author: sailko.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Saint Michael the Archangel is referred to in the Old Testament and has been part of Christian teachings since the earliest times. Throughout the centuries, specific Roman Catholic traditions and views on Saint Michael have taken shape, as recently as the 19th- and 20th-Centuries.

A specific "Prayer to Saint Michael" was promoted by Pope Leo XIII in 1886 and, as recently as 1994, was reinforced by Pope John Paul II, who encouraged the Catholic Faithful to continue to Pray it, saying: "I ask everyone not to forget it and to recite it to obtain help in the battle against forces of darkness."

Saint Michael has specific roles, within Roman Catholic teachings, that range from acting as the chief opponent of Satan to saving Souls at the hour of death. Roman Catholic literature and traditions continue to point to Saint Michael in contexts as varied as the protection of the Catholic Church to the Consecration of Russia by Popes Pius XII and John Paul II.

PRAYER TO SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

added by Pope Leo XIII, in 1886, to the Leonine Prayers,

at the foot of the Altar, after Low Mass.

Pope Leo XIII,

in 1880.

Source: 1880 book on Pope Leo XIII.

Author: Karl Benzinger.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Holy Michael Archangel,

defend us in the day of battle;

be our safeguard against the wickedness

      and snares of the devil.

May God rebuke him,

we humbly Pray,

and do thou,

Prince of the Heavenly host,

by the power of God,

thrust down to Hell,

Satan and all wicked spirits,

who wander through the world

      for the ruin of Souls.

The Prayer to Saint Michael is an invocation, used mainly by Catholics, addressed to Michael the archangel.

Pope Leo XIII added it, in 1886, to the Leonine Prayers, which he had directed to be said after Low Mass, two years earlier. Pope John Paul II referred to the Saint Michael Prayer in his Regina Coeli address of 24 April 1994 as follows:

"May prayer strengthen us for the spiritual battle that the Letter to the Ephesians speaks of: 'Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might' (Ephesians 6:10). The Book of Revelation refers to this same battle, recalling before our eyes the image of Saint Michael the Archangel (cf. Revelation 12:7). Pope Leo XIII certainly had this picture in mind when, at the end of the last century, he brought in, throughout the Church, a special Prayer to Saint Michael: 'Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil...' Although this Prayer is no longer recited at the end of Mass, I ask everyone not to forget it and to recite it to obtain help in the battle against the forces of darkness and against the spirit of this world."

Missa Solemnis (Solemn High Mass) For Easter Sunday, 1940. Our Lady Of Sorrows Basilica, Chicago. Narration By, Then, Monsignor Fulton J. Sheen.

Interior of Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica

and National Shrine, Chicago, Illinois,

United States of America.

Date: 2 February 2008 (edited April 2008).

Author: Original by User:JeremyA.

Edited version by User:Capital photographer.

Permission: The required attribution is:

© 2008, Jeremy Atherton.

(Wikipedia)

A Traditional Catholic Latin Mass, filmed on Easter Sunday in 1940, at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Chicago. The film presents the Ceremonies of the Missa Solemnis, or Solemn High Mass, in full detail, with narration by, then, Mgr. Fulton J. Sheen.

Celebrated by Rev. J. R. Keane, of the Order of Servites (hence the White Habits and Cowls), the Ceremonies are accompanied by a full Polyphonic Choir, Orchestra, and fifty Gregorian Chanters.

Available on YouTube at

http://youtu.be/KXVrsFmclQM.

The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
Image: CENACLE CATHOLIC BOOKS