St Michael's Spear (part III)

Discussion

What then are we to make of the 'Spear' as a whole? It is in any case surprising how well these sanctuaries are, in fact, aligned [NB this uses the standard Mercator projection of maps that is especially useful for navigation as lines are then fixed compass positions; in contrast, if one would just go straight ahead on the curved surface of the earth one eventually makes a 'great circle']: they're all located on hills with a maximum deviation from a straight line of, apparently, 42 km (using Stella Maris, see also the previous discussion). Nevertheless, claims that the 'Sacred Line' is even perfectly aligned with the sunset on the northern hemisphere’s summer solstice cannot be true: the more north one goes, the more north the sun then sets until at the polar circle it doesn't set anymore. And so there's just one point on the line for which this is the case (a little north of the Greek sanctuary), but that doesn't have any special significance either. 

Further, the line has been connected even to (former) worship sites of the Greek god Apollo at Delos, Delphi and Athens and parallels with St Michael have been indicated (e.g. Apollo killed the Python at the Delphi oracle), but those suggestions are not really convincing. It is true however that some of the shrines of the Spear of St Michael were originally pagan sites of worship, but that cannot be all too surprising as all 7 shrines are on special hills which have always attracted pagan worship. 

Besides the straightness of the line it is impressive that the majority of shrines can present a trustworthy claim to an apparition from St Michael (of which there seem to be less than a dozen in total; in the case of the Panormitis monastery in the form of an icon, and it's also the only orthodox shrine among catholic ones?!).

To conclude this discussion, I would suggest that the 'Spear of St Michael' can be seen as a concrete representation of the special protection of this archangel, which could help us to have more trust in these difficult times. {:-)

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As an appendix, here follows the account of the one remaining important apparition (as far as I could find) and whose sanctuary I recently visited: St Michael’s Well in Cacaxtla (Tlaxcala), Mexico. The story begins on april 25, 1631 in the town of San Bernabe. It was the custom of the town to have a procession honoring St Mark on his feast day. Among those in the procession was a young man named Diego Lazaro of San Francisco. The archangel Michael appeared to him in private and told him to tell the residents of the town that they would find a well in a certain ravine nearby and that it would have miraculous waters that would have curative powers (at this time there was a smallpox epidemic in the area). Since he was but a simple Indian, thinking that no-one would believe him, he kept quiet for a while; however, he did confide in the Franciscans who gave him their support.

On the night of may 7 through the morning of may 8 that same year, young Diego Lazaro lay near death when suddenly there was a blinding light and St Michael again appeared to him. The angel carried him to the spot in the ravine where the well was to be discovered and told him that he needed to spread word of its location. His efforts were initially rebuffed by higher authorities who could not believe that St Michael would appear to a lowly Indian peasant rather than a priest or bishop. Still, faithful to the instructions given to him, Diego Lazaro along with his family members went to the site described by St Michael. They found the spot covered by a large stone that they found impossible to move. In the midst of their efforts a young man came along who told them he could help, and when he touched the stone it moved easily and rolled down the ravine. The young man then suddenly disappeared.

On november 13 (the feast of St Didacus of Alcala), the third apparition took place. St Michael once again appeared to him and berated him for not obeying him. Disturbed by this, Diego drew some water and took it to the bishop who listened to the story and grew convinced enough to give some of the water to some of the local people. Many of them were cured instantly.

PS From 1961 to 1965 four young schoolgirls had reported several apparitions of the archangel Michael in the small village of Garabandal, Spain. At Garabandal, however, the apparitions of the archangel Michael were mainly reported as announcing the arrivals of the Virgin Mary. Moreover, the Catholic Church hasn't approved (but neither condemned) the Garabandal apparitions.

For completeness follows a list of major 'ordinary' shrines dedicated to the archangel:

*Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico - a World Heritage Site

*Cathedral of the Archangel in the Moscow Kremlin - a World Heritage Site

*Cathedral of St Michael and St Gudula, in Brussels, Belgium

*St Michael's Cathedral Basilica, Toronto, Canada

*St Michael's Cathedral, Izhevsk, Russia

*St Michael's Cathedral, Qingdao, China

*St Michael's Cathedral, Coventry, UK

*St Michael's Cathedral, Belgrade, Serbia

*Cathedral of St Michael the Archangel in Gamu, Isabela, Philippines

*St Michael's Basilica, Miramichi, Canada

*Basilica of St Michael the Archangel, Pensacola, Florida, United States

*Tayabas Basilica, Tayabas, Quezon, Philippines

*Chudov Monastery in the Moscow Kremlin

*St Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery, Kyiv, Ukraine

*San Migel Aralarkoa at the top of a hill on the Aralar Range, the oldest christian building in Navarre (Spain) also harbouring Carolingian remains.

Used references: aleteia.org (mainly for the pics),  catholicexchange.com (mainly for discussion of its meaning), thecatholictravelguide.com (for the shrines' descriptions), wikipedia.org (for parts of the overview), archaeotravel.eu (for the Apollo and Armageddon references)