About Jewels in Shrines and Chapels

SHRINES.--The treasures contained in the ancient Syrian temples were immense, ivory and precious stones included. That of Astarte, at Hierapolis, abounded with gold and jewels, precious stones of all colours, sardonyx, hyacinth, emerald, brought from Egypt, Aethiopia, India, Media, Armenia, and Babylon. On the brow of the goddess shone a marvellous carbuncle. Lucullus took from Armenia magnificent gemmed vases which filled a car drawn by camels. At the triumph of this general was a golden statue of Mithridates of the height of six feet; the shield of this king was covered with precious stones.

In former times shrines blazed with jewels, the propitiatory offerings of devotees, and the bequests of those who thus sought to smooth their way to heaven. Nothing was considered too precious to ornament the chapels dedicated to the Virgin and particular saints. The description of these riches by the old writers, and the inventories of church ornaments, especially at the time of the Reformation, show with what lavish profusion the shrines were endowed. I will briefly allude to a few instances in our own country and elsewhere. To begin with the shrine of the canonized Confessor at Westminster Abbey. The king was at first buried before the high altar, and then removed by Becket to a richer shrine in its neighbourhood, but after the rebuilding of the church by Henry III., that king had a sumptuous shrine made to receive the treasured remains. The tomb, which is composed of three tiers of pillars, was richly studded with stones of the most precious kind. There were numerous golden statues, such as an image of St. Edmund, king, wearing a crown set with two large sapphires, a ruby, and other jewels, etc. Among the relics connected with this shrine was the crystal-line vessel of our Saviour's blood, which had been sent by the Knights Templars from the Holy Land in 1247, as a present to Henry III., and was attested by Robert, Patriarch of Jerusalem, to have trickled from our Saviour's wounds at his Crucifixion. The famous stone, also, which was marked with the impression of the foot of Christ, as indented at His Ascension, and which had been brought to England by the Friars' Preachers, was another of the holy relics connected with the shrine, and had been given by Henry III., together with a thorn of Christ's crown, and various remains of saints, including an arm of St. Sylvester and a tooth of St. Athanasius! Here, likewise, was preserved a large piece of our Saviour's cross, richly adorned with gold, silver, and precious stones, which had been brought from Wales by Edward I. in the year 1285; and also the skull of St. Benedict, which had been given by Edward III.

When these inestimable valuables were not exposed to the awe-struck gaze of the devotee at the shrine, they were lodged in a secure repository, the site of which is now occupied by the tomb of Henry V.

There were, doubtless, many precious jewels besides those enumerated below in the Patent Rolls list. The large cameos consisted of fifty-five.

To this shrine Edward I, after his return from Scotland, gave the regalia and the chair of state in which the kings of that country had been crowned at Scone. Alphonso, his third son, gave, also, the jewels and gold coronet of Llewellyn, Prince of Wales.

The shrine of the protomartyr at St. Alban's Abbey, although by no means so rich as the one raised by kingly munificence, was a splendid monument of the pious zeal of Symon, the nineteenth abbot, at the commencement of the twelfth century. His whole time, we are told, seems to have been spent in obtaining gold, silver, and precious stones, to adorn the shrine of the saint. This was in form somewhat resembling an altar-tomb, but rising, with a lofty canopy over it supported on pillars, and was intended to represent the saint lying in great state. The inside contained a coffin enclosing his bones, and this was inserted in another case which on the two sides was overlaid with figures cast in gold and silver, showing the chief acts of Alban's life, in raised and embossed work. At the head was placed a huge crucifixion, with a figure of Mary on one side, and St. John on the other, ornamented with a row of very splendid jewels. At the feet was an image of the Virgin, holding her Son to her bosom, seated on a throne; the work of gold, highly embossed, and enriched with precious stones, and very costly bracelets. The four pillars which supported the canopy were shaped like towers, and all of plate gold, supporting a canopy, the inside of which was covered with crystal stones.

Abbot Symon also dedicated to the church "a very large cup of gold," says Matthew Paris, "than which there was none more noble or beautiful in all England. It was made of the purest gold by that renowned goldsmith, Master Baldwin, adorned with flowers and foliages of the most delicate workmanship, and set round with precious stones in the most elegant manner." Besides this, he gave a vessel to contain the eucharist "of the finest gold enriched with precious stones of inestimable value."

The most splendid shrine of which England could boast in olden times was that of Thomas a Becket, in Canterbury Cathedral, of which not a trace now remains. It was the object of countless pilgrimages; a hundred thousand devotees visited it in one year; men of every rank, even to the crowned head. Louis VII, of France, came there in 1179, in guise of a common pilgrim, and presented the famous precious stone, carbuncle, ruby, or diamond, called "the Regale of France," said to be as large as a bird's egg or a thumb-nail, which Henry VIII. set, and wore as a thumb-ring. Erasmus, who visited the shrine, tells us, "A coffin of wood, which covered a coffin of gold, was drawn up by ropes and pullies, and then an invaluable treasure was discovered; gold was the meanest thing to be seen there; all shined and glittered with the rarest and most precious jewels, of an extraordinary bigness; some were larger than the egg of a goose."

Stow says: "The timber work of this shrine, on the outside, was covered with plates of gold, damasked and embossed with wires of gold, garnished with brooches, images, chains, precious stones, and orient pearls; spoils of which shrine (in gold and jewels of inestimable value) filled two great chests, one of which six or eight strong men could do no more than convey out of the church; all of which were taken to the king's use."

When the pilgrims were assembled before the shrine, the prior, or some other great officer of the monastery, came forward, and with a white wand touched the several jewels, naming the giver of each. A list of the precious stones is given in Nichols' "Erasmus," from the inventory of 1315. A golden likeness of the head of this saint was also exhibited, richly studded with jewels.

Erasmus, in his "Colloquy upon Pilgrimages," speaks of the famous shrine at Walsingham as "the seat of the gods, so bright and shining as it is all over with jewels, gold, and silver."

Dugdale has preserved from olden days two lists of relic treasures in old St. Paul's, which fill about two pages and a half in folio, including an immense amount of precious stones, the relics being encased in reliquaries of gold and silver, studded with jewels. The pride and glory of St. Paul's was the shrine of St. Erkenwold. Here were wrought the most frequent miracles, and therefore the most lavish offerings were made. It consisted of a lofty, pyramidical structure, in the most exquisitely-decorated pointed style, with an altar-table in front, covered with jewels and articles of gold and silver. A citizen of London, Richard Preston, left his best jewel, a sapphire, to the shrine, there to remain, for curing every infirmity of the eyes. Another citizen gave a costly tablet, enriched with many precious stones and enamels.

The jewelled riches of Croyland Abbey were immense. Amongst them was a present from a King of France, a beautiful and costly sphere, constructed of various metals, according to the different planets, and adorned with such a mixture of precious stones as amazed the beholder.

Pope Leo IV gave to the abbey an altar-cloth, woven with gold and spangled all over with pearls. It had on each side a circle bounded with gold, within which the name of the donor was inscribed in precious stones.

The shrine of St. Cuthbert, in Durham Cathedral, was, for five centuries, enriched with the offerings of pilgrims. It became a blaze of gold and jewellery of extraordinary splendour.

The commissioners of Henry VIII, when examining this shrine, discovered "many worthy and goodly jewels, but especially one precious stone, which, by the estimate of those then visitors and their skilful lapidaries, was of sufficient value to a ransom a prince."

Bishop Arundel, of Ely (died February 1413-14), rebuilt the episcopal palace in Holborn, and presented to the church, among other gifts, a curious tablet of great value, full of the relics of the saints, set in large pearls, rubies, and sapphires. Arundel had purchased it of the Black Prince, Edward. It had once belonged to the King of Spain.

Henry de Blois (thirty-ninth Abbot of Glastonbury, 1126) gave to the abbey, among many rich gifts, a precious sapphire, bestowed on the church by St. David, long hid on account of the wars, none knowing the place until the abbot found it in a certain door of the church of St. Mary, and had it magnificently adorned with silver, gold, and precious stones.

In our own country, shrines, the objects of idolatrous worship, belong, happily, only to the past. The glorious light of the Reformation withered these superstitious practices. In 1537, Cromwell, the willing instrument of his royal master's will, commenced his war against them, and in the following year issued his famous admonition to the clergy:--"Such feigned images as ye know in any of your cures to be so abused with pilgrimages, or offerings of anything made there-unto, ye shall, for avoiding of that most detestable offence of idolatry, forthwith take down, and without delay."

In Roman Catholic countries abroad, however, pilgrimages are still sustained, and the shrines to the Virgin and popular saints are resplendent in costly offerings. These prevail more particularly in Italy, France, and Spain.

In Italy there are some magnificent specimens, in which enamelled work and jewels are introduced as pale or palliotti, altar fronts or coverings. Those of San Marco at Venice, of Sant' Ambrogio at Milan, of the Baptistery at Florence, and the Cathedral at Pistoia, are among the most remarkable. Many specimens of the same nature, together with votive offerings, cups, vessels, and the like, are still preserved in the sacristies of the churches.

A traveller describes the subterranean chapel under the dome of Milan Cathedral, dedicated to and enclosing the mortal remains of St. Charles Borromeo: "We descended by torchlight into a temple of an octagonal form, and of about fifteen feet diameter. The riches contained in this sepulchre seemed to exceed the ransom of kings, and although the comparison be not strictly applicable, I could not help thinking of the palaces I had read of in the 'Arabian Nights' or 'Tales of the Genii.' Here are columns of the choicest marble, with gold capitals, crimson damask embroidered with gold, and wrought to the highest perfection, while round the sepulchre are a series of bassi relievi, in solid silver, representing the birth of the saint, etc. The corpse is embalmed in a gold and crystal coffin, and completely habited in sumptuous robes. Over the golden mitre on the head of the saint is suspended a crown of precious stones; in his hands he holds his crozier, similarly enriched and costly; while an emerald cross of immense value, and an antique figure about a foot high, of massive gold, both presents from crowned heads, formed only part of the riches contained in the coffin."