St Michael's Spear (part II)

The Spear's 7 Sanctuaries

After this whole overview it's high time now to discuss St Michael's Spear and it's sanctuaries. It's noteworthy that, in contrast with the sanctuaries and apparitions already mentioned, these have a more local character.

★ The first is (Great) Skellig Michael, an island just off the coast of Ireland at GPS coordinates 51.77128,-10.54055 where Philip Kosloski relates that the archangel appeared to St Patrick, helping him drive out the evil creatures in the 400s. Tradition states that St Fionian founded the monastery there some time in the 6th century. The beehive-shaped cells and oratories are well preserved and provide a glimpse into what must have been a difficult way of life.

By some time in the 11th century the site had been dedicated to St Michael. Skellig Michael was abandoned sometime in the 12th or 13th century for Ballinskelligs where the monks remained until the monasteries were dissolved in 1578 under the rule of Elizabeth I. In 1996 the island became a UNESCO world heritage site and also has been a set of The Last Jedi from the Star Wars series.

★ The second is St Michael's Mount in Cornwall (UK) which the tide encompasses at GPS coordinates 50.33192,-5.47275. There it is said that the archangel frequently appeared to fishermen in the late fifth century guiding them to safety. A sanctuary dedicated to him was built and it became a site of pilgrimage. It was refounded in the reign of William the Conqueror by William earl of Moreton in imitation of Mont-St-Michel in France, also a mount enclosed by the tide. Many of the religious structures on the island were even built by monks from that mount who received the island as a gift from St Edward the Confessor, the King of England in the 11th century. It was a bulwark of defense against the anti-catholic forces of Oliver Cromwell. Today much of the monastery has become secular buildings.

★ The third sanctuary of the Spear is the already mentioned Mont-St-Michel in France at GPS coordinates 48.72281,-1.53567. Already since the times of the Gauls this place has been considered mystical. And according to Norman tradition St Aubert, bishop of Avranches, had (dream)visions of St Michael in 708 who gave instruction to build a church on the rocky islet. St Michael had to appear to him at least two more times before he took the message seriously. On the third occasion it is said that St Michael drove his finger into Aubert’s skull and ordered him once again to complete the task. The bishop finally obeyed and within a short time he sent a group of monks over to live on the island. In 960 the Duke of Normandy commissioned a Benedictine abbey on the mount to replace the former monks. Soon pilgrims from every part of Europe began traveling to Mont-St-Michel to glimpse the island and its monastery. To accommodate the increasing number of pilgrims, the monks expanded the abbey. In the eleventh century a large church was built on the summit of the rock and later additions were made in the Gothic style.

During the French Revolution the abbey was used as a prison and all religious practices were banned. In 1922 religious ceremonies were again authorized in the abbey church and since 1969 a diocesan Benedictine community of monks and nuns again uses the abbey. The atmosphere is described as "so medieval and mystical it just seeps into your bones." Every year 2-3 million pilgrims and visitors travel to the northwestern coast of France to glimpse a 'Wonder of the Western World'. The place is known as well for the spectacular tides that come in rapidly and quickly cover what was solid ground. It has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 1979.

★ The fourth sanctuary is about 1000 kilometers away, the medieval monastery at Sacra di San Michele in Val de Susa in NW Italy at GPS coordinates 45.10053,8.57466, which also offers a beautiful view. According to what seems more legend than tradition, St Michael appeared there in 983 to St Giovanni Vincenzo, a bishop who had become a hermit on the mount, and asked the hermit for a shrine dedicated to him. The construction of the abbey began around the year 1000 and new structures have been added to the original building throughout the centuries. The Benedictine monks also added an inn as the abbey was on the pilgrimsway from Mont-St-Michel to Monte Sant’Angelo (see below). Also interesting is that this monastery formed the inspiration for Umberto Eco's book In the Name of the Rose.

★ Moving another thousand kilometers along the same line one reaches the fifth sanctuary of the Spear: Monte Sant’Angelo in an inaccessible cavern in Puglia in SE Italy at GPS coordinates 42.15596,15.55901 (close to Padre Pio’s shrine in San Giovanni Rotondo). The Roman Breviary gives us the following account about its origins: A celebrated apparition of the archangel took place under the pontificate of Gelasius I (around 490) in Apulia (kingdom of Naples) on the top of mount Gargano at whose foot lies the town of Siponto. A bull belonging to a man living on the mountain had strayed from the herd; after much searching it was found hemmed fast in the mouth of a cave. One of its pursuers shot an arrow intent to rouse the animal by a wound; but the arrow rebounded and struck him that had sent it. This circumstance excited so much fear in the by-standers and in those who heard of it, that no one dared to go near the cave. The inhabitants of Siponto, therefore, consulted the bishop, San Lorenzo Maiorano who answered that they must spend three days in fasting and prayer to discover God's will. At the end of the three days, the archangel Michael told the bishop that the place was under his protection and that what had occurred was an indication of his will that God should be worshipped there in honour of himself and the angels. Thereupon the bishop went to the cave together with his people. They found it decorated like a church and began to use it for the celebration of the divine service. Many miracles afterwards happened there.

It is the only catholic building of worship that has not been consecrated by man and so earned the distinction of “the celestial basilica.” By the 8th century pilgrims arrived from as far away as England. A famous pilgrim was the emperor Otho III who, contrary to his word, had put a Roman senator Crescentius to death for rebellion. Yet he was touched with remorse and cast himself at the feet of St Romuald who made him walk barefoot on a penitential pilgrimage to this St Michael’s on mount Gargano, which he performed in 1002 as St Peter Damian relates.

The sanctuary has been visited by countless popes and saints as well: St Francis of Assisi, St Bernard of Clarvaux, St Bridget of Sweden, at least 7 popes including Pope St John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. St Francis of Assisi considered it to be so holy that he would not even enter it. The Tridentine calendar included a feast of the apparition on 8 may, the date of the 663 victory over the Greek Neapolitans that the Lombards of Manfredonia attributed to St Michael. Since 2011 the sanctuary has been a UNESCO world heritage site.

★ The sixth one is the Panormitis monastery dedicated to the archangel Michael and located in Symi, Greece at GPS coordinates 36.51521, 28.11104. This Greek orthodox monastery is believed to have been built during the years of the Turkish domination and has been reconstructed several times. It's the second largest monastery in the Dodecanese islands after St John the Theologian monastery of Patmos. Panormitis houses many paintings created by the local artists Nikitas and Michailos Karakostis, a carved screen that bears the image of the archangel, many votive offerings and a three-meter-high statue of the archangel, one of the largest in the world.

Moreover there's a large icon of St Michael that reportedly works wonders of healing, protection and assistance. For example, it is said to have protected the monastery from a muslim invasion (with the archangel even appearing before the enemy). The icon appeared miraculously and on several occasions was removed only to reappear in the same location. Its feast day of november 8 draws huge crowds each year.

★ The seventh and last sanctuary that is claimed to constitute the Spear is Stella Maris monastery on mount Carmel at GPS coordinates 32.53840, 34.84576 near Haifa, Israel and not far from Nazareth. It is one of the most significant sites in the Holy Land. During the 12th century, with crusaders occupying this area, groups of hermits chose to settle on this site in imitation of Elijah the prophet who lived here. They founded the order of the Carmelites and built a chapel there in honor of the blessed virgin Mary who was to become the patroness of the Carmelite order because of a vision of her in 1252 by a Carmelite monk, St Simon Stock at Aylesford Priory in England; in that she entrusted the brown scapular to him with the promise of special graces for those who wore it. The Carmelites also wore a brown tunic as habit. The hermits were expelled from mount Carmel in 1291 at the time of the Saracen conquest and were only able to return in the 18th century. Construction then began on the church as it is today. The feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is july 16. Interestingly, Our Lady appeared for the last time in Lourdes on july 16th. She also appeared as Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Fatima on october 13th, 1917. This was the day of the Miracle of the Sun and her last appearance there. She appeared holding the child Jesus in one hand and the brown scapular in the other hand.

However significant mount Carmel is as a holy place, its only connection to St Michael is a folk legend that states that the archangel gave Elijah the thunder he wrested from satan. Moreover, its location does not seem to coincide very well with the precise line of the Spear. Therefore, it has been suggested that Har (mount) Megiddo, which is mentioned in the Apocalypse (16:16) as the location where the forces of evil gather in the end-time (before the 7th plague from an angel?!) and which is not far from mount Carmel at coordinates 32.76758,35.20886, would make for a better end-point of the Spear.