‘Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked … who whet their tongues like swords, who aim bitter words like arrows, shooting from ambush at the blameless’ (Psalm 64: 2-4) … a fresco in a church in Georgioupoli in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
During this season of Easter, I am reflecting each morning on the Psalms, and in this Prayer Diary on my blog each morning I am reflecting in these ways:
1, Short reflections on a psalm or psalms;
2, reading the psalm or psalms;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
Psalm 64:
Psalm 64 may be treated as a prayer for deliverance from enemies, or as a thanksgiving, or a testimony to divine judgment. In the slightly different numbering in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate, this psalm is counted as Psalm 63.
Psalm 64 is directed against the ‘wicked’ (רעע) and ‘workers of iniquity’ (פֹּעֲלֵי אָֽוֶן), whom God shall shoot with an arrow (וַיֹּרֵם אֱלֹהִים חֵץ).
The psalm is divided into either 10 or 11 verses, depending on whether the introductory לַמְנַצֵּחַ מִזְמֹור לְדָוִֽד ‘To the leader’ or ‘To the chief Musician (נצח), A Psalm of David’ is counted as a separate verse.
In verse 4, the wicked shoot arrows secretly at the righteous.
In verse 7, God shoots an arrow (arrows, plural, in some translations) at the wicked, but for some these will be saving arrows, as in verse 9: all will ‘will tell what God has brought about, and ponder what he has done.’
The arrow of God leads to a turning to God.
Verses 6-7 have been the subject of confusion in early Bible translations. The Authorised or King James Version translates these verses Hebrew as: ‘They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep. But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded.’
But in the Vulgate, Jerome, based on the Septuagint text, rendered this as: Scrutati sunt iniquitates; defecerunt scrutantes scrutinio. Accedet homo ad cor altum, et exaltabitur Deus. Sagittæ parvulorum factæ sunt plagæ eorum. This translates to ‘They have searched after iniquities: they have failed in their search. Man shall accede to a lofty heart: And God shall be exalted. The arrows of children are their wounds.’
The adjective altum in Latin has both the meanings ‘high’ and ‘deep,’ and it is here used to translate the Septuagint Greek work βαθεῖα, ‘deep,’ but it offered itself to an interpretation of an ‘exalted heart.’
The ‘arrows of children’ (Sagittæ parvulum) render the Septuagint Greek words βέλος νηπίων, although these words have no correspondence in the Hebrew text as it has been received.
They ‘whet their tongues like swords’ (Psalm 64: 3) … a ceremonial sword and mace in Kilkenny (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Psalm 64 (NRSVA):
To the leader. A Psalm of David..
1 Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;
preserve my life from the dread enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,
from the scheming of evildoers,
3 who whet their tongues like swords,
who aim bitter words like arrows,
4 shooting from ambush at the blameless;
they shoot suddenly and without fear.
5 They hold fast to their evil purpose;
they talk of laying snares secretly,
thinking, ‘Who can see us?
6 Who can search out our crimes?
We have thought out a cunningly conceived plot.’
For the human heart and mind are deep.
7 But God will shoot his arrow at them;
they will be wounded suddenly.
8 Because of their tongue he will bring them to ruin;
all who see them will shake with horror.
9 Then everyone will fear;
they will tell what God has brought about,
and ponder what he has done.
10 Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord
and take refuge in him.
Let all the upright in heart glory.
Today’s Prayer:
The theme in this week’s prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is ‘Logging in the Solomon Islands,’ and was introduced on Sunday morning by Brother Christopher John SSF, Minister General of the Society of Saint Francis.
The USPG Prayer Diary this morning (28 April 2022) invites us to pray:
We pray for those working to prevent deforestation in the Solomon Islands.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
28 April 2022
A royal love story is
told on the streets
of Stony Stratford
A gable end mural on the corner of New Street and High Street recalls the story of the Eleanor Cross in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)
Patrick Comerford
I have found images of Queen Eleanor in surprising places in Stony Stratford: on gable ends, in hangings in the local medical practice, and on display boards throughout the town telling stories of the history and heritage of Stony Stratford.
Queen Eleanor was once commemorated by the Eleanor Crosses across England, and at least two places have been identified as the site of the Eleanor Cross erected in Stony Stratford after her death in 1290.
The story of the Eleanor Cross in Stony Stratford is explained on the corner of New Street and High Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)
Legend says that as a young princess Eleanor was known as ‘La Infanta de Castilla’ and her enduring popularity led to the myth that the ‘Elephant and Castle’ – a popular heraldic emblem in mediaeval England that gave many inns their names – was derived from an English corruption of the phrase ‘La Infanta de Castilla.’
However, Eleanor of Castile never held this title. She was born in 1241, and she was only 13 when she was married to the future King Edward I, King Henry III’s eldest son, Prince Edward, in October 1254.
She first came to England in 1255, and although the marriage of Eleanor and Edward was politically motivated, it was full of love. During 36 years of marriage, Eleanor gave birth to 16 children, including the future Edward II who was born in 1284.
A plaque on High Street recalls the Eleanor Cross in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)
Queen Eleanor first became ill during the winter of 1285 and her health slowly deteriorated over the next five years. Some sources suggest that in the autumn of 1290, Edward was travelling to Scotland and that he and the Queen were separated. It is more likely that they were both at the Palace of Clipone in Sherwood Forest where parliament had been summoned and that they wanted to make a pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Hugh of Lincoln.
Eleanor had been ill at Clipstone and she did not complete the journey to Lincoln. Attended by Bishop Oliver Sutton of Lincoln, she died a few miles away in the house of Richard de Weston at Harby in Nottinghamshire on 28 November 1290. Edward was at her bedside to hear her final requests.
King Edward was grief stricken. Queen Eleanor’s body was first taken to Lincoln for embalming at Saint Catherine’s Priory. Her viscera was buried in a tomb in Lincoln Cathedral, her heart was buried at Blackfriars Priory in London and her body taken to Westminster Abbey for burial in the Chapel of Saint Edward the Confessor on 17 December 1290.
Did the Eleanor Cross in Stony Stratford stand near Nos 155 and 157 High Street, where the street widens? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)
King Edward had an ‘Eleanor Cross’ erected at each of the 12 places where her body rested on this journey from Lincoln to Westminster.
The crosses were erected to honour her memory and to encourage prayers for her soul from passers-by and pilgrims. It is thought that similar crosses erected between St Denis and Paris after the death of Louis IX, which King Edward saw, may have inspired the Eleanor Crosses.
All 12 Eleanor Crosses had three sections and followed a similar style and structure, but each had its own individuality. The lower section had the coats of arms of Castile, England and Ponthieu, the middle had statues of Queen Eleanor and the top section had decorated pinnacles.
The exact location of the Eleanor Cross in Stony Stratford is not known, although two locations claim this privilege: one is a point at Nos 155 and 157 High Street, where the street widens; the second is a little further north, close to the bridge over the Great Ouse River, linking Stony Stratford and Old Stratford and marking the border between Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire.
Did the Eleanor Cross in Stony Stratford stand near the bridge over the Great Ouse River? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)
The Eleanor Cross in Stony Stratford was designed by the master mason John of Battle. It is believed to have had a tall elegant design, triangular in plan, and similar to the cross at Geddington.
Each Eleanor Cross had a flight of steps at the base, and was built in three stages. The top and middle sections of the Stony Stratford cross were destroyed around 1646 by Parliamentarians during the English Civil War. Although the lower section survived for some time, no traces of the Cross remain today.
But Eleanor of Castile and the Eleanor Cross are remembered to this day throughout Stony Stratford, including a gable painting at the corner of High Street and New Street, hangings in the medical centre, and other surprising places throughout the town.
Hangings in the medical centre in Stony Stratford recall the love story of Queen Eleanor and King Edward (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)
Patrick Comerford
I have found images of Queen Eleanor in surprising places in Stony Stratford: on gable ends, in hangings in the local medical practice, and on display boards throughout the town telling stories of the history and heritage of Stony Stratford.
Queen Eleanor was once commemorated by the Eleanor Crosses across England, and at least two places have been identified as the site of the Eleanor Cross erected in Stony Stratford after her death in 1290.
The story of the Eleanor Cross in Stony Stratford is explained on the corner of New Street and High Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)
Legend says that as a young princess Eleanor was known as ‘La Infanta de Castilla’ and her enduring popularity led to the myth that the ‘Elephant and Castle’ – a popular heraldic emblem in mediaeval England that gave many inns their names – was derived from an English corruption of the phrase ‘La Infanta de Castilla.’
However, Eleanor of Castile never held this title. She was born in 1241, and she was only 13 when she was married to the future King Edward I, King Henry III’s eldest son, Prince Edward, in October 1254.
She first came to England in 1255, and although the marriage of Eleanor and Edward was politically motivated, it was full of love. During 36 years of marriage, Eleanor gave birth to 16 children, including the future Edward II who was born in 1284.
A plaque on High Street recalls the Eleanor Cross in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)
Queen Eleanor first became ill during the winter of 1285 and her health slowly deteriorated over the next five years. Some sources suggest that in the autumn of 1290, Edward was travelling to Scotland and that he and the Queen were separated. It is more likely that they were both at the Palace of Clipone in Sherwood Forest where parliament had been summoned and that they wanted to make a pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Hugh of Lincoln.
Eleanor had been ill at Clipstone and she did not complete the journey to Lincoln. Attended by Bishop Oliver Sutton of Lincoln, she died a few miles away in the house of Richard de Weston at Harby in Nottinghamshire on 28 November 1290. Edward was at her bedside to hear her final requests.
King Edward was grief stricken. Queen Eleanor’s body was first taken to Lincoln for embalming at Saint Catherine’s Priory. Her viscera was buried in a tomb in Lincoln Cathedral, her heart was buried at Blackfriars Priory in London and her body taken to Westminster Abbey for burial in the Chapel of Saint Edward the Confessor on 17 December 1290.
Did the Eleanor Cross in Stony Stratford stand near Nos 155 and 157 High Street, where the street widens? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)
King Edward had an ‘Eleanor Cross’ erected at each of the 12 places where her body rested on this journey from Lincoln to Westminster.
The crosses were erected to honour her memory and to encourage prayers for her soul from passers-by and pilgrims. It is thought that similar crosses erected between St Denis and Paris after the death of Louis IX, which King Edward saw, may have inspired the Eleanor Crosses.
All 12 Eleanor Crosses had three sections and followed a similar style and structure, but each had its own individuality. The lower section had the coats of arms of Castile, England and Ponthieu, the middle had statues of Queen Eleanor and the top section had decorated pinnacles.
The exact location of the Eleanor Cross in Stony Stratford is not known, although two locations claim this privilege: one is a point at Nos 155 and 157 High Street, where the street widens; the second is a little further north, close to the bridge over the Great Ouse River, linking Stony Stratford and Old Stratford and marking the border between Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire.
Did the Eleanor Cross in Stony Stratford stand near the bridge over the Great Ouse River? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)
The Eleanor Cross in Stony Stratford was designed by the master mason John of Battle. It is believed to have had a tall elegant design, triangular in plan, and similar to the cross at Geddington.
Each Eleanor Cross had a flight of steps at the base, and was built in three stages. The top and middle sections of the Stony Stratford cross were destroyed around 1646 by Parliamentarians during the English Civil War. Although the lower section survived for some time, no traces of the Cross remain today.
But Eleanor of Castile and the Eleanor Cross are remembered to this day throughout Stony Stratford, including a gable painting at the corner of High Street and New Street, hangings in the medical centre, and other surprising places throughout the town.
Hangings in the medical centre in Stony Stratford recall the love story of Queen Eleanor and King Edward (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)
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