Edward the Confessor

Edward III "the Confessor" was king of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the son of Aethelred "the Unready" and Emma of Normandy. His reign is considered to be a pretty peaceful one - he held back the Danish invasions of the British coast and also managed to keep both the Welsh and the Scots subdued, for the most part. The trouble began when he was too nice to the Norman side of his family (his mother was from Normandy). The English nobles didn't like the Norman nobles, so there was some tension there. Anyway, when Edward died, a dispute over the throne occurred in which Harold of England said Edward promised him the throne and William of Normandy claimed that Edward had promised him the throne. The whole mess culminated in the immensely famous Battle of Hastings in October 1066, and William - now known as "the Conqueror" - won hands down.

So, I think of Edward the Confessor as the guy whose death opened the door for the Normans to take over England which might be doing him too little credit for the other things he accomplished. He appears on the Bayeux Tapestry which is one of my favorite pieces of art in the entire world. That's him with the very fashionable forked beard:

Although Edward lived before official coats of arms came into use, his posthumous coat of arms is a yellow cross on a field of blue, so I went with yellow and blue for the outfit today. I finally got to wear my brown and gray T-straps also which I haven't worn all semester!

St. Wilfrid of Ripon

This is going to be short. I am running very behind on my updates, and I'm having a busy week!

St. Wilfrid of Ripon was a bishop in the 7th century in England. He was very well educated in both France and Rome and very well respected. He came into conflict pretty often, however, with the political powers of the time and was constantly being thrown out of his bishopric, then regaining it, then being thrown out again. He also suffered a series of shipwrecks in which he would wash up on some heathen coast, and then of course convert the heathens to Christianity. In any case, although he had trouble with political rulers, his fellow clergymen had immense respect for him, and he was much admired for his devotion to piety. He died in around 709.

I took the shipwreck stories as inspiration for my outfit today: a nautical theme! Which really means a striped shirt and my anchor necklace. I've had this shirt for years, and I refer to it as my "sailor shirt." I don't really like it very much, mostly because it is a sailor shirt and dressing for a theme makes me a little bit uncomfortable. But that's kind of the whole point of this little experiment, isn't it? And I didn't feel uncomfortable today. I think it's because the little cardigan makes it all better for me. I normally tie it around my waist, but I just let it hang and tied the ends of the belt into little knots. I think it turned out pretty well, considering.

St. Bruno

St. Bruno was the founder of the Carthusian Order of monks. He lived in the 11th century, and he was the mentor of Pope Urban II. A bishop had a vision of him and six other monks under a chaplet of seven stars, and as a result of the vision provided them with land on which they could build a monastery. As a result, Bruno is often depicted with seven stars above his head. He is also inexplicably (as far as I have been able to research, anyway) shown with a skull in his hand. I have no idea what this means. But that's how you can tell it's Bruno - he's holding a skull. Here's the statue of him in St. Peter's Basilica:

So, skulls and stars. My top today is glittery on the pattern, so that's serving as my "stars" part. And I'm wearing my memento mori earrings with the skeletons on them which are the "skulls" part. So, here's my St. Bruno outfit:

St. Maurus

St. Maurus lived in Italy in the early 6th century. He was of noble birth, and his parents sent him to be raised as a monk when he was still very young. He is considered by many to be the very first follower of St. Benedict.

The most notable story about him is that he saved the life of his fellow monk Placidus. Placidus has gone to draw water and fell into the swiftly flowing river. St. Benedict saw the boy's distress in a vision and sent Maurus to rescue him. When Maurus reached the river, he miraculously walked on top of the water and pulled the drowning Placidus to safety.

Maurus also had a powerful gift of healing as he is known to have cured a man of a gangrenous arm and restored another man's crushed leg by making the sign of the cross over them. Because of this gift, there is a blessing named after him which is still said over sick people today.

Today's outfit is inspired by Benedictine robes since Maurus was the first official Benedictine monk. Benedictine robes were black which led to the order's followers being called the "black monks." So, I'm wearing my black dress. This is a repeat from last semester, but I'm really not sure how to be creative with the "little black dress." Add a cardigan? Colored shoes? I don't know. So, here it is:

St. Jerome

St. Jerome is one of the Fathers of the Church, a prolific writer and respected theologian. I know him best for his translation of the Bible into Latin which is commonly known as the Vulgate. It's a notoriously sketchy translation, but it made the Bible accessible to pretty much the entire continent of European scholars rather than just to those few people who could read both Greek and Hebrew.

Ironically, St. Jerome would probably disapprove highly of this blog since he had rather strong views on vainglory and fashion: "Let the words be ever on your lips: 'Naked I came out of my mother's womb and naked I shall return thither,' and 'We brought nothing into this world, and certainly we can carry nothing out.' Yet today you see many women packing their wardrobes with dresses, changing their tunics every day, and even so unable to keep ahead of the moth. The more scrupulous wear one dress until it is threadbare, but yet have their boxes full of clothes" (Letter XXII, To Eustochium)

Despite his criticism, however, I have designed an outfit in remembrance of him. He is the patron saint of librarians, so I came up with this:

This is one of my favorite shirts. You can't really see the pattern on it very well in the photo, but it's really very interesting up close. I've had this skirt for years - it used to reach all the way to my mid-calf and I never, ever wore it. But I got it shortened, and it's like a having a new skirt! The earrings are a hand-me-down from my friend Erin, and they are owls. For wisdom and knowledge. And librarians, I guess. Plus I have a librarian bun in my hair. This is one of my favorite outfits - I feel great in it!

St. Gabriel the Archangel

Today is Michaelmas which is the feast of the archangels Gabriel and Michael. Since I did Michael last week, I'm just focusing on Gabriel this week.

Gabriel is commonly known as the Messenger of God. He explains visions to Daniel in Chs 8-9 of the Book of Daniel, and he's the one who announces to both Elizabeth and Mary that they will miraculously give birth to their respective children in the book of Luke. But my questions about the sainthood of angels remain the same. Although, I will admit Gabriel makes more sense to me as a saint than Michael does. Gabriel at least interacts with human beings on earth. And, if fact, if you believe that angels have the ability to communicate with God, then Gabriel is the most likely one to serve in a real intercessory way. He gives godly messages to humans, so maybe that communication works both ways. I don't know. It's an interesting thought.

OK, so just like last week, angels = white and drapey, flowy clothes. My outfit is mostly brown today, but I put on this shirt that I have had for years, but have difficulty wearing. It has a drapey kind of neck that folds around itself and looks like old paintings to me. It is perhaps a little too early to break out the tights and boots, but I did it anyway:

Good King Wenceslas

St. Wenceslaus was a Duke of Bohemia in the 10th century. He was a Christian ruler, and his relatives who wanted to be in line for the throne murdered him while he was on the way to church. On the way to church!!!! So, now he's a saint. And the patron saint of the Czech Republic. There's a huge statue of him in Wenceslaus Square in Prague that "they" say will come back to life with the Czech Republic needs the saint's aid. Here's a photo:

So, today's outfit is gray for the statue with a little splash of red just for fun: