WESTMINSTER ABBEY CONSECRATED | Dec. 28, 1065

Edward the Confessor (last of the great Anglo-Saxon kings)
directs construction of the Abbey. Drawing by Richard
Caton Woodville of Baltimore, Maryland, or his son.

December 28, 2019 – Westminster Abbey is today 954 years old.

The abbey church is formally called the Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster.

It is known as Westminster Abbey but is officially neither an abbey nor a cathedral. 

Elizabeth I made it a Royal Peculiar in 1560, which means that the church's dean and chapter report directly to the monarch. 

Henry III began building the present church in 1245. He  selected the site for his burial.

An abbey has existed on the site since around 1060, and the English Congregation of Benedictine monks occupied the area from  about 970.

King Edward the Confessor began building an abbey in 1042. On December 28, 1065, the abbey church was consecrated, a week before he died.

His successor Harold II was probably crowned there, but nobody much cares because he wasn't king very long. Harold was defeated and killed by William the Conqueror at Hastings. William was crowned on December 25, 1066 at the abbey.

Since then every English and British monarch has been crowned at the Abbey. Many royal weddings and funerals have been held there. Other notable people buried there include 16 monarchs, eight Prime Ministers and famous writers, actors, scientists and military leaders.

The Art. The impressive art showing Edward the Confessor directing construction in a manner that might ordinarily be better associated with leading a country into war, is signed by Richard Caton Woodville, although the History Today article that included the article says that the artists is "Unknown". Possibly the artist is Woodville's son, who had the same name and was also an artist and the "Jr." may have been stylized. See 

https://www.historytoday.com/archive/consecration-westminster-abbey, retrieved January 4, 2020. 

Your blogger has notified History Today that Richard Caton Woodville's name appears in the lower left of the art and he is a distinguished artist from Baltimore, Maryland. Baltimore's greatest 19th-century artist, Woodville was from a prominent family in the city. He was probably considered a black sheep for becoming an artist rather than a doctor or businessman, by marrying his first wife against their wishes, and then by divorcing and getting remarried to a fellow artist at the Düsseldorf Arts Academy in Germany, where he studied. He died in London in 1855, at just 30 years old, leaving behind only a few dozen works. His 16 known paintings were in a 2013 exhibition, “New Eyes on America: The Genius of Richard Caton Woodville,” at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. He died of a morphine overdose, and no one knows why, said Joy Peterson Heyrman, who curated the exhibition. 

Woodville was survived by his second wife, Antoinette Marie Schnitzler and their two children, one of whom was artist Richard Caton Woodville Jr.  He became a famous British battle scene painter. Woodville also fathered two children by his first wife. See the story by Philip Kennicott in the Washington Post, March 8, 2013.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/walters-art-museum-exhibits-baltimore-artist-woodville/2013/03/07/99cecf22-85dc-11e2-98a3-b3db6b9ac586_story.html.

Benedictines, Franciscans, Jesuits - 2

After the white smoke and the announcement of Pope Francis I's papal name, early commentators confidently asserted that the Pope was thinking of Francis Xavier, co-founder with Ignatius of Loyola of the Society of Jesus. This would have been much less interesting, because the new pope is a Jesuit, the first Jesuit pope. 

They say about the biblical scribes that they pursued the principle of lectio difficilior potior – the reading that is harder to understand is the more powerful (interesting) – and is also more likely to be dismissed by an unimaginative scribe. Calling himself after Francis Xavier would have been a sectarian assertion.

It turns out that Pope Francis named himself after St. Francis of Assisi, who with his follower St. Anthony of Padua created the Franciscans to minister to the poor and get back in touch with the natural world. This is much more interesting, and is in line what we know about the life of Pope Francis. That a Jesuit named himself after the founder of a less worldly order speaks doubly for inclusion – both of other points of view and of the least powerful.

The Capuchin (as in cappuccino coffee) friars are super-Franciscans who reformed the reformers. It is said that Archbishop Sean Patrick O'Malley, the sole Capuchin in the College of Cardinals, decided to bring together the various orders for some silo-breaking. The facilitator of the conference was a well-known TV personality who arrived in a Bentley.

A Benedictine at the conference reportedly turned to a Franciscan next to him and asked him humorously: "How many novenas would you imagine it would take for a struggling monastery to acquire a Bentley?" The Franciscan looked at him blankly and asked, "What's a Bentley?" The Jesuit next to him asked, "What's a novena?"

Later on, the auditorium lights suddenly went off. The Benedictine in attendance started singing "Salve Regina" to ask Mary to intercede to get the lights on again. The Franciscan went outside and led others in singing "If I had a hammer" and other inspiring folk songs. The Jesuit took out a flashlight, checked the circuit-breaker, examined the wires, found the bad connection, repaired it, then switched the breaker back to "ON". Voilà!

HOLY ORDERS | Benedictines, Franciscans, Jesuits

Nowhere have I seen anyone note the sudden juxtaposition of three orders–the Benedictines, the Franciscans and the Jesuits–in Rome as Pope Benedict retired and Pope Francis was installed.

Pope Benedict XVI was named for St. Benedict, who founded the earliest of the three orders. The Franciscans were next, as St. Francis broke away from the Benedictines to form a simpler order; he was followed by St. Anthony of Padua and they ministered to the poor. The Jesuits were founded in Spain, in response to the Reformation, by Ignatius of Loyola and St. Francis Xavier.

It is significant that Pope Francis I is named for the original St. Francis, the poor friar, not the Francis who co-founded his own order, the Society of Jesus, the more scholarly and worldly missionaries. He is the first Pope Francis, which suggests the controversies that surrounded both the Xavier and Assisi Francises.

Often, the fastest way to understand the practical differences among the many different orders is to pay attention to the jokes they tell one another. Here are two about Benedictines, Franciscans and Jesuits. (Full disclosure: I spent three years at a Benedictine school in Yorkshire, England, and three years at a Benedictine school in Rhode Island. I am proud of the education I received.)

• Three priests die the same week and they are ushered in to meet God for the first time. One is a Benedictine, one a Franciscan and the third is a Jesuit. God asks if they are comfortable and if there is anything they would want to return to earth for. The Benedictine says: "I miss singing Gregorian chant. I would like to go back and pick up some of the music and bring it back." The Franciscan says: "I have thought of another reason why rich people should share their wealth.  When they get here, they will have to learn how to make do without it. It's very hard for some, and sharing more on earth would be good practice. I would like to go back and tell people that." The Jesuit said: "If I could return to earth, I would find a better doctor."
• A Franciscan and a Jesuit were killed in the same accident and were in line together before St. Peter. The Franciscan humbly lets the Jesuit ahead of him. The Jesuit is met with a trumpet player, a Bentley with driver, and a choir of angels with flowers; he is shown a picture of his new oceanside home with its own golf course attached, and off they go. The Franciscan takes it all in. When it comes to his turn, St. Peter gives him a map of Heaven and the keys to his third-floor walk-up. The Franciscan pauses and says: "Could you just check that the names are correct? I let the Jesuit in ahead of me and maybe there was a mixup." St. Peter's eyes narrow. "We don't make mistakes here, father. What you may need to know is that the Franciscans are everywhere up here and it's been a long time since the last Jesuit made it.