Friday 28 April 2017

St Catherine in the Duchy

My absence from this blog over the last few days hasn't been because of the awful events of a week ago, but because I and Ms Formerly Aldgate have been on holiday in Cornwall. That doesn't mean that what happened to Reg hasn't haunted me there and back, but there isn't much more to be said about it, for now. 

Instead, to ease us in gently - I have holy wells and museums to talk about at a future point! - here are the two representations of St Catherine I found this week. Both are Victorian stained-glass windows, and neither are particularly exciting, but nice to find, nonetheless. The first comes from Truro Cathedral:


Here, she's seated next to St Alban, and I think looks a bit sleepy. The second representation is from the parish church of Luxulyan, which glories in its dedication to SS Cyriacus & Julitta:


This window pairs Catherine with St Ursula, another virgin martyr who was often her companion, artistically speaking, in the Middle Ages. It has to be said that Truro Cathedral, a bit of Victorian vainglory, didn't delay us long, while Luxulyan church is clearly a welcomely sound place, with its lamp glimmering in front of the Blessed Sacrament and the Epiphany cypher chalked on the church door. 

No comments:

Post a Comment