James Heft SM takes a break until Friday. Time for our first aside.
Next week I shall be in England in Cheshire, right on the Welsh border, in the village where my sister lives. Its church is the 15th century red sandstone St. Mary the Virgin, built on the site of an 8th century church of the same name. The county’s major city is the Roman-walled Chester, the only city in England on which one can walk entirely around the perimeter much as the Romans did.
In the heart of Chester is the ancient Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary. That’s where Mary, the Mother of God, is on the web -- something quite unique. It is a depiction of Mary, Mother and Child, painted on a caterpillar’s web.
Believe me, people, Tyroleans it is said, once did such things. Does anyone know a. of other caterpillar web paintings – or b. Mary’s image unusually captured?