Monstrance
A Monstrance, or Ostensorium, is a vessel
designed to hold and carry a holy object.
Both terms were originally applied to all kinds of vessels in which the
Blessed Sacrament or a relic could be stored, carried and above all seen by worshippers. The tradition of carrying holy relics around
and allowing the faithful to venerate them goes back to the very early days of
Christianity. The vessels themselves quickly
took on elaborate designs intended to convey the importance and the holiness of
the object they held. Nowadays, the term
Monstrance is mostly limited to a specific design of vessel used to hold the
Blessed Sacrament.
A sacrament is an outward sign of inward
grace; the divine energy or presence of God among us in our material
world. The outward sign itself will be
worldly and mundane, representing the earthly world in which we live. Probably the best known, and certainly the
most important sacrament of the Church, is the holy Eucharist - the very body
and blood of Christ. The mundane or
remote matter of Christ’s body is formed of bread whilst that of his blood is
of wine. In consuming the bread, we are
reinforcing our connection to the mystical body of Christ. Not the earthly body of Jesus of Nazareth,
but the divine oneness of the Godhead into which we seek to enter. In consuming the wine, we are drawn into the
spiritual life or blood of Christ which was shed for us as a gift.
A Monstrance is designed to hold a
consecrated wafer of bread that is the outward sign of the Blessed Sacrament –
the real presence of Christ amongst us.
It is likely that the custom of carrying
the Blessed Sacrament amongst worshippers dates back to around the time of the
first millennium. Initially, it appears
to have begun with the decorating of elaborate shrines in which to place the
sacrament during holy days, from which a custom began of building small
portable shrines that could be physically carried and prosessed around the
Church and community. It seems that the
Monstrance design we are familiar with today is the result of a gradual
refining of this portable shrine. By the
15th century, Monstrances had become a common feature in all large
Churches and were particularly associated with Easter and the feast of
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Early vessels
for carrying the Blessed Sacrament may have been quite simple, perhaps just a
cup to hold the communion wafers with crystal sides and a cover on top. This vessel could have been employed both
to give out the communion and in processions.
As the custom of processing the visible sacrament became more common,
so the need for a vessel designed specifically for the purpose grew. Early mediaeval Monstrances were mainly an
upright cylindrical vessel of crystal into which a large Eucharistic wafer
was placed and held in place up-right.
The central vessel would have various decorative features around it,
including niches and statues. The
Blessed Sacrament would have been visible through the |
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As time went on, this design was
adapted to allow the transparent part of the vessel to be just large enough
to show the Blessed Sacrament and focus the eye on it. The central cylinder was surrounded with
decoration to make the whole object look like a sun, with sun rays emanating
from it. This has become the standard
design of a Monstrance ever since, although other designs were used - such as
a statue of Christ with the Sacrament held in place of his heart. The sun design is intended to signify
the resurrection of Christ, his rising in glory following his earthly
death. It is a fitting symbolism for
the decoration of a vessel containing the Blessed Sacrament, into which we
are drawn into this new life. However,
it is hard not to make another association and one which has very deep
meaning.
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The first thing to bear in mind when we consider
our folk mythology regarding the sun is to remember that in Germanic culture
and language, unlike Latin, the sun is female not male. In German it is Die Sonne and in Old English
Seo Sunne. In the mythology, she rises
in the east, turning frost giants into stone, then hurtles through the sky
pulled by the two horses, Arvak and Alsvid who give off the sunlight. She is chased by the wolf Skoll (sometimes
depicted as his father Fenrir).
Sunne gives us our holy day, Sunday,
which in
We should therefore see the sun itself as
symbolic of the feminine nature of God signifying, day over night, light over
darkness and life over death. Perhaps it
is symbolic of the nurturing role of motherhood. However, two of our folk Gods are also
strongly associated with the sun as an outward and visible symbol of the birth,
death rebirth cycle. These are Ingeld
(Ing Frey) and Baldur. However, they should
not be seen as sun Gods as such because of the clear feminine nature of the
word sun. A different analysis is needed
than would be the case with say Greek or Latin mythologies where sun is seen as
male.
Baldur and Ing Frey should rather be seen
as aspects of the male nature of God that utilise (or more literally fertilise)
the nurturing power of the feminine.
Again, as with so many aspects of our folk religion, we see the joining
of the male and female principles to produce the new life – the natural cycle
of life that lies at the heart of our mythology.
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Ingeld is one of the best known and
loved Gods of the early Anglo Saxon English.
He is probably the most strongly connected God to the birth, death
rebirth cycle and is clearly associated in our folk Christianity with Christ
as the new life. There are several
myths surrounding Ingeld and his Scandinavian equivalent Freyr. However, these all have in common the theme
of life, rebirth, peace, prosperity and fertility. He is associated with the sun, summer and
good weather conducive to the growing of crops and rearing of animals. Another name for him is Skirr, which means
shining. He is not a sun God as such,
but rather the divine force that wields her energy to create life on earth. It is said that he was born on the winter
solstice – or beginning of Yuletide – the point at which the days begin to
grow longer and the sun to grow stronger.
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Baldur, is sometimes considered to be a
later aspect of Frey. There is little if
any evidence that the Anglo Saxon English knew him in the early days, though he
certainly became known following the Danish incursions towards the end of the
Anglo Saxon era. He certainly has much
in common with Ing Frey, being associated with the sun and with summer. His name means ‘bright’ and he is often
called Baldur the bright or Baldur the beautiful. However, unlike Ing Frey, he is depicted
mythologically as the son of Odin and Frigga. He is accredited with teaching
humans the wisdom of herb craft. His
mother, Frigga made all living things promise they would not harm him, but
forgot the mistletoe as it was so young she did not think it could do any
harm. Because Baldur was seen as
invincible, the Gods liked to play a game at which they hurled dangerous
objects at him knowing that he would come to no harm. However, Loki tricked Baldur’s brother, the
blind God of winter Hodur, into shooting a dart of mistletoe at Baldur which
killed him. Odin travelled into the
underworld to plead with the Goddess Hel for the return of his son. Infact Hel agreed to this on condition that
every living creature should mourn Baldur.
And all creatures did mourn him, except for Loki who had disguised
himself as the giantess Thokk. And so
Baldur remains in the
The death of Baldur at the hands of Hodur
represent s a temporary victory of death over life, the coming to an end of the
present order of things. It is important
to note that this is done at the instigation of Loki. Although, at one level of consideration we
can see Loki as an evil force who brings forth the death of the light, so we
can also see him as a necessary agent who sets in motion the chain of events
that leads to the renewal of Ragnarok.
The symbolism of this northern sun myth
is full of deep and hidden meanings. Its
similarities to the Christian resurrection story are too obvious to ignore, but
its roots go back to the very beginnings of Indo European sun religion. Balder and Ingeld, then, both represent the
Christ principle – the Logos. In these
myths, we gain more understanding about the sacrifice of Christ on the cross,
his death and rebirth. This death, which
is a form of Ragnarok, is necessary to bring about the renewal and eternal life
he promises.
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