A rather dull start to St. Bartholomew’s Day, a day which has some weather lore associated with it:
If the twenty-fourth of August be fair and clear,
Then hope for a prosperous autumn that year.At St. Bartholomew,
There comes cold dew.All the tears that St. Swithin can cry,
St. Bartlemy’s mantle wipes them dry.
Hmm!
But although we had a threat of rain, it turned out nice in the end.
St. Bartholomew’s Day gained notoriety due to the tragic event in France in 1572, when Catholics launched a violent assault on Protestant communities, resulting in the brutal deaths of approximately 5,000 to 10,000 people within a single day. Interestingly, upon receiving word of the incident in France, the Pope in Rome responded with an unusual reaction of happiness, organizing celebratory prayers and even commissioning a fresco depicting the massacre to be painted in one of the Vatican’s chambers (a room that is presently inaccessible to visitors)1Wikipedia Contributors. 2023. ‘St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Bartholomew%27s_Day_massacre> [accessed 24 August 2023].
Despite both Catholicism and Protestantism sharing a belief in the divinity of Christ and His gospel of compassion and love, the theological disagreements and subsequent religious conflicts that spread throughout Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries escalated into violent confrontations resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Christians. The ramifications of these events continue to echo through history even to the present day.
- 1Wikipedia Contributors. 2023. ‘St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Bartholomew%27s_Day_massacre> [accessed 24 August 2023]
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