- He set a little child in the midst of them
Mathew 18:1 - 3 - Jesus being ministered to by an angel
Luke 22:43 - The Rich fool
Jesus says it shall be so with all those who set their minds upon storing up riches in this world, rather than laying up treasures in heaven by pleasing God and working in His service. Death will come when they least expect it, and they will have to leave all their earthly riches, and go where no treasure has been laid up for them. - Entrance court to La Grande Chartreuse
"La vie d'un bon Chartreux doit être Une oraison presque continuelle." [The life of a good Chartreux must be an almost continuous oration.] The above is the legend that is painted on the door of every cell occupied by a monk of the silent Order of Carthusians. To pray always for those who never pray; to pray for those who have done you wrong; to pray for those who sin every hour of their lives; to pray for all sorts and conditions of men, no matter what their colour, no matter what their creed; to pray that God will remove doubt and scepticism from the world, and open all human eyes to the way of faith and salvation. Such is the chief duty of the Chartreux. - Exaltation of the cross (September 14)
Exaltation of the cross (September 14) - Christmas Eve - Christmas Day
Christmas Eve - Christmas Day - Carthusian Fathers singing
In the Chapel at daybreak - A Monks Cell
A Monks Cell in Carthusian monastery The Grand Chartreuse - Carthusian Father going to midnight office
This strange community of Carthusians is divided into categories of "Fathers" and "Brothers." The former wear robes of white wool, cinctured with a girdle of white leather. Their heads and faces are closely shaven, and the head is generally enveloped in a cowl, which is attached to the robe. They are all ordained priests, and it is to them the rule of silence, solitude, and fasting, more particularly applies. The fasting is represented by the daily bill of fare I have given, and it never varies all the year round, except on Fridays and certain days in Lent, when, poor as it is, it is still further reduced. The solitude consists of many hours spent in prayer in the loneliness of the cell, and the silence imposed is only broken by monosyllabic answers to questions addressed to them. Sustained conversation is a fault, and would be severely punished. Aspirants for the Fatherhood have to submit to a most trying novitiate, which lasts for five full years. After that they are ordained, and from that moment they renounce the world, with all its luring temptations and its sin. Their lives henceforth must be strictly holy in accordance with the tenets of their religion. The Brothers are the manual labourers, the hewers of wood and drawers of water. They do everything that is required in the way of domestic service. They wear sandals on their bare feet, and their bodies are clothed in a long, loose, brown robe, fastened at the waist by a rope girdle. On both branches of the Order the same severe régime is compulsory, but on Fridays the Brothers only get a morsel of black bread and a cup of cold water. The attention to spiritual duties is all-absorbing, and under no circumstances must it be relaxed. Matins commence in the chapel at twelve o'clock at night, and continue until about two o'clock. - The Recording Angel and Star of Redemption
The Recording Angel and Star of Redemption - St. Antony's Lean Persecutor
St. Antony's Lean Persecutor - Devil
Depiction of the devil - New Testament
New Testament - The Church Of The Hotel Des Invalides
- Devil
Devil - Chapel of St. Bruno
Before leaving the neighbourhood I paid a visit to the Chapelle de St. Bruno, which is within half an hour's walk of the monastery. It is erected in a very wild spot, said to be the site of the saint's original hermitage. There is nothing particularly interesting in the chapel, which is in a state of dilapidation. But it is curious to speculate that here dwelt, in what was little more than a cavern, the man who, by the austerity of his life and his gloomy views, was able to found a religious Order which has endured for many ages, and is one of the few that escaped destruction during the revolutions and upheavals of the last century. The situation of the Chapelle is one of singular loneliness and desolation, and for eight months of the year at least it is buried in snow. - Devil
Devil - Devil
Devil - 3 Wise men
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem - Devil
Devil - Devil
Devil - Devils chasing a rabbit
Devils chasing a rabbit - Jesus carrying the cross
Jesus carrying his cross - The wonderful draught of fishes
" And they let down the net into the sea, but it enclosed so great a multitude of fishes that they could not draw them up; and the net brake. Then Simon beckoned to his partners, James and John, who were in the other boat, that they should come and help them. And they came and filled both boats with the fishes, so that they began to sink. - Agni
Agni - Carthusian Brothers in the Kitchen
Carthusian Brothers in the Kitchen of The Grand Chartreuse - St Mary
St Mary - Indian Gods—Krishna, Kali, Ganesa
Indian Gods—Krishna, Kali, Ganesa - Adam and Eve driven out of the garden of Eden
Gen. 3:23, 24 - Menorah
Menorah - The Rama Chandra Avatara
The Rama Chandra Avatara - The Vamana Avatara
The Vamana Avatara - Surya
Surya - The Sarcophagus; The Tomb Of Napoleon Bonaparte In The Church Of The Hotel Des Invalides
- Durga, and other deities
Durga, and other deities - The Parasurama Avatara
The Parasurama Avatara - The Egg of Creation
The Egg of Creation, encompassed with the Agathodaimon, or Good Genius - Burning of the City of Rome
The first persecution, in the primitive ages if the church, was begun by that cruel tyrant Nero Domitius, the sixth emperor of Rome. This monarch reigned , for the space of five years, with tolerable credit to himself, but then gave way to the greatest extravagane of temper, and to the most atrocious barbarities. Among other diabolical outrages, he ordered that the city of Rome should be set on fire, which was done by his officers, guards, and servants. - Ignatius
Ignatius (died in the year 111) Trajan commanded the martyrdom of Ignatius, bishop of Antioch. He boldly vindicated the faith of Christ before the emperor. for which, being cast into prison, he was tormented in a most cruel manner; for after being dreadfully scourged, he was compelled to hold fire in his hands, and at the same time, papers dipped in oil were putto his sides, and set on light. His flesh was then torn with red hot pincers, and at last he was despatched, being torn to pieces by wild beasts. - The Old North Church
Dawes was soon making his way across Boston Neck, while Paul Revere went home and put on his riding suit for his long night-ride. Then, leaving orders for a lantern-signal to be hung in the belfry of the Old North Church, to indicate by which route the British forces were advancing, "one if by land and two if by sea," he rowed across the Charles River, passing near the British war-vessels lying at anchor. - Varuna
Varuna - Laindon Church, Essex
At the west end of Laindon Church, Essex, there is a unique erection of timber, of which we here give a representation. It has been modernised in appearance by the insertion of windows and doors; and there are no architectural details of a character to reveal with certainty its date, but in its mode of construction—the massive timbers being placed close together—and in its general appearance, there is an air of considerable antiquity. It is improbable that a house would be erected in such a situation after the Reformation, and it accords generally with the descriptions of a recluse house. - Crucifixion of Christ
Trial proof of the key block of center sheet of The Crucifixion, after Tintoretto. National Gallery of Art (Rosenwald Collection). - Christ on the Mount of Olives
Trial proof of the key block of Christ on the Mount of Olives, after Bassano. National Gallery of Art - IHS
From Pugin's "Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament" - Devil
The Devil - Three Angels
Three Angels - Leper giving thanks
Luke 17 15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. - Jesus Christ
- Vayu
Vayu - Saint Bernard
When about twenty years of age he entered the monastery at Citeaux with five of his brothers. His genius might have secured ecclesiastical preferment, but he chose to dig ditches, plant fields and govern a monastery. He entered the cloister at Citeaux because the monks were few and poor, and when it became crowded because of his fame, and its rule became lax because of the crowds, he left the cloister to found a home of his own. The abbot selected twelve monks, following the number of apostles, and at their head placed young Bernard. He led the twelve to the valley of Wormwood, and there, in a cheerless forest, he established the monastery of Clairvaux, or Clear Valley. His rule was fiercely severe because he himself loved hardships and rough fare. "It in no way befits religion," he writes, "to seek remedies for the body, nor is it good for health either. You may now and then take some cheap herb,--such as poor men may,--and this is done sometimes. But to buy drugs, to hunt up doctors, to take doses, is unbecoming to religion and hostile to purity." His success in winning men to the monastic life was almost phenomenal. It was said that "mothers hid their sons, wives their husbands, and companions their friends, lest they be persuaded by his eloquent message to enter the cloister." "He was avoided like a plague," says one. - Cyprian
Cypran, bishop of Carthage, was an eminent prelate, and a pious ornament of the church. The brightness of his genius was tempered by the solidarity of his judgement; and with all the accomplishmments of the gentleman he blended the virtues of the Christian.yprian - Justin Martyr
Justin Martyr was a native of Neapolis, in Samaria, and was born A.D. 103. Died in the year 139 Being commanded as usual to deny their faith, and sacrifice to the pagan idols, they absolutely refused to do eeither. On their refusal, they were condemned to be first scourged and then beheaded; which sentence was executed with all imagined severity. - Saint Dominic
Dominic de Guzman, 1170-1221 A.D. Half-way between Osma and Aranda in Old Castile, Spain, is a little village known as "the fortunate Calahorra." Here was the castle of the Guzmans, where Dominic was born. His family was of high `rank` and character, a noble house of warriors, statesmen and saints. If we accept the legends, his greatness was foreshadowed. Before his birth, his mother dreamed she saw her son under the figure of a black-and-white dog, with a torch in his mouth. "A true dream," says Milman, "for he will scent out heresy and apply the torch to the faggots;" but, as will be seen later, this observation does not rest on undisputed evidence. - Ancient Serpent Idol
Finding it difficult to fasten their thoughts on invisible, intangible beings, men, at the beginning. probably sought to aid their worship be selecting some object to represent the being worshiped. - The Church of St Etienne at Murray Bay
At the end of the bay stands the Far Village church in all her kindly, simple seriousness. Her bells ring out the angelus over the waters of the bay, along the shores, and back into the uplands, proclaiming that she is ready, like a hen gathering her chickens under her wings, to receive and comfort all the faithful. - Polycarpus
Polycarpus, died in the year 170 Polycarpus, hearing that he was sought after, escaped, but was dicovered by a child. From this circumstance, and having dreamed that his bed suddenly became on fire, and was consumed in a moment, he concluded that it was God's will that he should seal his faith with martyrdom. - Truth
The four figures in the Vignette are intended to represent the chief protestant reformers; Luther in the centre, Cranmer on his right hand, Knox on his left, and Calvin on his extreme right; each holding in his hand a manuscript or printed copy of the Word of God. the Rock on which they are standing, is intended to denote the Truth of the doctrine of the Divine Oracle, on which, as on an immutable Rock, the Reformers rested all their claims, in labouring to restore pure Christianity. Around the Rock of Truth, the waves of Error and Superstition are seen dashing. - Ignatius de Loyola
Ignatius de Loyola, 1491-1556 A.D. Inigo Lopez de Recalde, or Loyola, as he is commonly known, was born at Guipuzcoa, in Spain, in 1491. He was educated as a page in the court of Ferdinand the Catholic. He afterwards became a soldier and led a very wild life until his twenty-ninth year. During the siege of Pamplona, in 1521, he was severely wounded, and while convalescing he was given lives of Christ and of the saints to read. His perusal of these stories of spiritual combat inspired a determination to imitate the glorious achievements of the saints. - A Benedictine Abbot
The convent is the name especially appropriate to the body of individuals who composed a religious community. The whole convent was under the government of the abbot, who, however, was bound to govern according to the rule of the order. Sometimes he was elected by the convent; sometimes the king or some patron had a share in the election. Frequently there were estates attached to the office, distinct from those of the convent; sometimes the abbot had only an allowance out of the convent estates; but always he had great power over the property of the convent, and bad abbots are frequently accused of wasting the property of the house, and enriching their relatives and friends out of it.