11.14.09
St Hedwig’s Beads
I was intrigued by the graphic of St Hedwig from the Paternosters site (left) that shows St Hedwig with prayer beads so I decided to look around for more graphics of St Hedwig with beads. The only luck I have had so far is the modern stained glass window to the right. Unfortunately I now can’t find where this modern window comes from. Does it look to you like those are prayer beads in her hand? Its hard to tell if its prayer beads or a handle to a bag. As a modern window it could have also been inspired by the medieval graphic of her with beads.
So who is St Hedwig? She was a born in Bavarian, 1174, and married a Henry Duke of Silesia and later Duke of Greater Poland at age 12. One of her sisters married King Andrew of Hungrey and another sister became a Benedictine abbess of Lutzingen in Franconia in medieval Germany. Hedwig and Henry had seven children, including Henry the Pious, a duke of medieval Poland, who was killed in the battle of Legnica against the Mongols two years before Hedwig’s death. After the birth and subequent early death of their seventh child, Hedwig and Henry took public vows of chastity. Duke Henry went so far as become tonsured and took the lifestyle of a lay Cisterian brother. Hedwig was renoned for helping the poor and as a patroness of the church. Hedwig and her husband Henry founded and/or supported several monsateries for Augustinians, Dominicans, Francisicans, Cistercians and even Templars. In 1202 Henry founded a Cisterician convent at Trzebinca, the first religious foundation for women in Silesia, where he was buried in 1238 and she entered a convent upon his death. Their daughter Gertrude became the first abbess there. She was only there five years before her own death in 1243. Hedwig took the dress and lifestyle of a Cistercian sister but never took her formal vows so that she kept control of her revenue to direct it to the poor. Her pious reputation was such that she was considered a saint in her lifetime. Her daughter Abbess Gertrude was the only one of her seven children to survive her. Two of her grand-daughters by Henry the Pious did eventually become abbesses at St Clara of Trebinca. St Elizabeth of Thuringia and Mechtilde of Kitzingen were her nieces. She was canonized only 24 years after her death. St Hedwig’s Cathedral in Berlin was built by Frederick the Great in 1773 and is now the cathedral for the Archdiocese of Berlin.
References: St Hedwig, Wikipedi, and St Hedwig, New Advent website.
A the most complete image of the medieavel illustration I’ve found online but I haven’t been able to find any more specific information about its medieval source. If you know any more about St Hedwig’s beads, this illustration or the stained glass window above, please post a comment.
07.28.09
Aqua blue prayer beads
Aqua blue Anglican Rosary
I particularly like this one. I think its just pretty. I don’t know that my picture does the blue justice. It really is a lovely aqua blue. The cruciform beads are, if I recall correctly, blue moon cats-eye beads, the week beads are aqua, with silver spacer beads and a celtic knot to hold the three ends together.
This is another icon cross that I particularly like. It is similar to a cursillo cross but different. It has an inscription that reads: “Ecce lignum crucis in quo salus mundi” Behold the wood of the cross on which hung our savior.” I haven’t been able to find out much about where it comes from. I thought I read somewhere that it came from an ancient painting or inscription. It is a pretty widely available cross in Catholic shops and generally inexpensive. So before you buy one in silver or bronze from somewhere like the rosary workshop, they are often available in base medal from local Catholic supply shops. They are all exactly the same design with the rough Latin inscription and the stars around his feet. I would like to know more about it, so please comment if you have any clues.
From the Rosary Workshop
Again, the celtic knot is just structural but doesn’t have a prayer assigned to it. I think this is a weak point in the Episcopal/Anglican design. You need some type of three-way bead for structural stability. Either we need cruciform beads designed with three (or four) holes so that strands will lay correctly or we need to intigrate a three-way bead/medal into the design. In diagrams the Anglican rosary looks like a nice circle of prayer but when you string it, it never comes our circular.
05.04.09
Repainting for the second wife
Triptych of Jan Des Trompes (rear of the wings), 1505
So here is the painting that Chris is talking about the comments of “Bead Spotting”.
First the beads carried by this wife look similar but the pendant is different. The first wife seems to have a cross on her beads while this one looks more like a medal, perhaps of the Madonna. It looks like there are 10 bead decades separated by gauds and the center decade has 5 beads – medal – 5 beads, so it doesn’t mark a decade. The smaller woman in the front is probably a daughter of the second wife. Interestingly, she doesn’t have beads, but a decorative sash.
Looking at the rest of the painting, I think that Chris is right about it being Mary Magdalene behind the wife. Mary Magdalene was a popular namesake in Germany, at least among my ancestors who often gave Magdalene as a middle name and sometimes as a first name. The baby Jesus appears to be holding a beaded bag and a stick that it looks like he is trying to pass to the second wife. What is that or what does it mean?
Interesting that both wives would be painted in the same triptych. Only he would want both wives like this. Its a large work 132 cm x 43 cm, almost 5 feet high. So getting this painted with the second wife covers up the entire first family, if it is kept closed. Easy to see why the third wife gave it away. Why would none of the children take it? Perhaps giving it away is a way to keep the children from fighting over it.(?)
04.05.09
Mary Magdalene Chaplet
Mary Magdalene Chaplet
This is a chaplet I’ve used during Holy Week in the past. It is themed on Mary Magdalene. This is a week that she will be very involved in and so it seems appropriate to use it during Holy Week.
The design of this chaplet is simple, following earlier Anglican chaplet designs. It has a primary cross, a small medal of Mary Magdalene, and blood red glass beads. There is a small Celtic knot serving as a three-way connector but does not have prayers assigned to it.
From Fire Mountain Gems
The style of the cross is Celtic, but more importantly it has a feminine feel to it. The lattice work is of hearts, which reminds me of love and devotion.
It is tricky to find a good medal for Mary Magdalene. There are of course many modern medals that reflect unbiblical notions like those found in the Da Vinci code. I want to completely avoid those! I really wanted something small, and the standard Catholic medal is ok, but I wanted something a little different.
Mary Magdalene
The standard Catholic medal shows Mary on her knees at the foot of the cross. One problem with these is that many of them are double sided with St Martha on the other side. Its a match that reflects the confusion between Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany. These medals are intended to honor Mary and Martha of Bethany. This is unfortunately why you very see icons or medals or any art of Mary of Bethany (without Martha), though there are a couple modern icons of Mary of Bethany from the Eastern Orthodox. The Eastern Orthodox have a standard icon of Mary Magdalene that looks like many other icons. She is usually shown in a veil and holding an ointment jar. Its an interesting difference between the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox medals. The Catholic medals all recall Good Friday, while the Eastern Orothodox medals with the ointment jar point toward Easter morning. The medal is very similar to this small icon. Mary Magdalene is holding her ointment jar and the inscription is in Russian. Its about charm bracelet size, about 5/8 inch.
The red beads are obviously because red is a color repeatedly associated with Mary Magdalene. In western iconography and painting, Mary Magdalene is usually shown with red hair and wearing red clothing, like these paintings.
Mary Magdalene, Apostle to the Apostles
Mary is shown in all of these works in red. In the painting below she also has red hair. The general idea usually proposed is that the west shows her in red because she was confused for so long with the sinful woman. However, given her association with red eggs in the East and the frequency of red in her Eastern paintings, it does make me wonder if the red isn’t because of her role as witness to both the passion and resurrection. Of course, once characteristics were established for the apostles, St Paul, Mary Magdalene and the Blessed Mother, they were repeated to allow people to easily identify figures in paintings. The color red became Mary’s signature much like wild hair became the signature of St Andrew and the color blue was associated with the Blessed Mother. As we know for the others, these attributes became established very early. The link between the Magdalene and the sinful woman came from Gregory the Great in the sixth century, but I would think that these attributes were probably set before then. It is just possible that the color red became associated with her because she is always the first person listed as a witness to the Passion.
The lamentation panel by Giotto. Mary Magdalene is the woman holding Christ's feet, all in red.
03.08.09
Earthy Prayer Beads
Earthy Prayer Beads
Of the full size sets of prayer beads I have made, this is probably the one I have used the most. It is in many ways the simplest with beads of wood and stone. I really like this squared off wooden beads, I find them easier to move through the hand. These dark wooden cube beads are available from Hobby Lobby. I like green stone beads for the cruciforms and invitatory beads, but I’m looking for some that are a better size and yet a nice green color. I’ve seen some Unakite rectangular beads that might work well, but they are not as uniformly green as I would like. These are green rounds are Russian Jade. This whole rosary can be made for about $5 and the cross is half of that (assuming you have flex wire, crimp beads, and tools on hand).
This set of prayer beads is constructed a little different than most I’ve made. It doesn’t have a three way bead. Being made with one long piece of flex wire it is more flexible and supple that most of the others, but this method will only work with beads that have largish holes because the wireis doubled in the drops and overlaps at the peak of the weeks loop.
