Monday 30 July 2007

This is Lindesfarne Priory. Henry VIII destroyed it of course. It must have been utterly stunning when it was whole, but even now it has beauty and in the gathering clouds a sort of haunting sadness. I love this place that has been visited by so many saints. St Aidan came from Iona to live here and work with King Oswald of Bamburgh Castle to give the Gospel to the Saxons and Jutes who lived there.

2 comments:

MMajor Fan said...

What I don't understand are people in the here and now who revel in his mistake.

WhiteStoneNameSeeker said...

I don't get that either and I find it rather disturbing. To be fair to most Anglicans I know they kind of ignore that Horrible Henry and his equally awful daughter Bess got the whole Church of England thing going and even though many of them attend pre-deformation churches it doesn't come up.
But I have come across Anglicans (one at Chester Cathedral springs to mind) who actually showed off about what Henry did and showed people around the once Catholic Cathedral happily admitting that Henry stole it and how good he was!!