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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Blue439" data-source="post: 826349" data-attributes="member: 53455">[Sorry for the long historical caption, I hope some of you will find it of interest.]The sarcophagus of a saintWe are in the city of Poitiers, capital of the old province of Poitou in western central France.In this area of the city, a first church was built in the 500s by Radegonde, Queen of the Franks. It was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It was renamed in honor of Radegonde herself in 587 after she was sanctified. She had been interred within, and after her sanctification, her remains were, as was the custom, exhumed and moved to a stone sarcophagus, which is the one you can still see today. Imagine how old that thing is: made in Year 587! The sarcophagus was placed in the crypt underneath the choir with those of two other saints (see below). Then, in 1012, her sarcophagus was moved and placed in a recessed space called a “confession” (Lat. confessio), slightly below the elevated choir, but still more easily accessible.Why? Because between 587 and 1012, Saint Radegonde had made quite a name for herself in terms of performing miracles for the faithful who came to pray by her side and touch her sarcophagus; and those faithful grew ever more numerous, so that Abbess Béliarde, who ruled the women’s abbey under the ægis of which the Saint Radegonde church was then placed, had to find a way for the sacred bones to be more easily accessible to those crowds. Hence the creation of the confessio, which is but a few steps down from the church nave floor level.As an aside, note that the church also served as a “funerary basilica” (read: burial place) for the nuns of the aforementioned Holy Cross Abbey, indeed the first abbey for women ever created in Gaul, founded by the same Radegonde and headed by Béliarde around Year 1000.During the early Middle Ages, churches and other buildings often perished by fire: candles and oil lamps were the only way to light buildings that were often quite dark, therefore a number of them were needed —and of course, the opus Dei went on after sunset and before sunrise, and candles were needed for that, too. So, at any time, a number of open flame devices were live, and there were many items of wood and cloth inside. Also, most churches were then timber-roofed... You can imagine the rest: accidents happened often. The Saint Radegonde church fell victim to such a fire and was rebuilt in the late 1000s, having been consecrated in 1099. It was then a collegiate church, the prior being appointed by the abbess of Holy Cross Abbey. In those times, it was not unusual to have a woman rule over a group of men; indeed, the early monasteries founded under the Rule of Saint Colomban were often dual, with two separate communities of men and women sharing the same enclosure and the abbess having the final say over the abbot. And of course, nuns still needed men for daily liturgy, as women could not be ordained and only priests and deacons could perform Mass, hear confessions and administer sacraments.From that old Romanesque church consecrated in 1099, the lower part of the bell tower, as well as the whole eastern end (choir and apse) have survived. The nave is 13th century Romanesque, and was re-vaulted in Gothic style in the 1300s.The photo shows the genuine 6th century sarcophagus where Saint Radegonde was buried after she was “elevated” (such is the word) from her earthly grave. It is still venerated to this day by pilgrims, even though it is now empty of bones, having been desecrated (like many others) by mindless vandals during the French Revolution of 1789. While it was in the crypt between 587 and 1012, the sarcophagus was next to those of two other female saints, Agnes (also abbess of the Holy Cross Abbey) and Disciole. The latter two are still down there and still the subject of devotion to this day, I have watched it myself.The splendid stone table, lusciously sculpted with archaic and rebellious-looking Pagan motifs, is from the 11th century. My guess is that it was placed under the sarcophagus by Béliarde when she had it relocated to the confessio. The three supporting piles underneath are from the 15th century.The short columns on the perimeter have been remodeled in the 19th century and look quite recent indeed.There is precious little light in the confessio and I had to pose for 20 seconds (plus another 20 for the noise reduction job) to get this image shot at ƒ/11. Focusing the lens took some time as well!Nikon Z7 II, Micro-Nikkor 45mm, ƒ/2.8 PC-E tilt-shift lens, manual focus, FTZ II adapter. Gitzo tripod, Benro geared head. Natural light, single exposure.[ATTACH=full]412381[/ATTACH]</blockquote>

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