Tuesday, February 26, 2008

A Catholic-Calvinist Connection?

Really interesting Telegraph article regarding Augustus Toplady, author of the famous hymn "Rock of Ages". Excerpt:

And this is what is so strange about Toplady's devotion to the wounds of Christ, the real subject of his hymn. They (standing for Christ's one sacrifice in his suffering and death) have saving power. The hymn writer wants to "hide himself" in them - at face value a grisly desire. Yet it is one that medieval mystics expressed too - Julian of Norwich springs to mind.

The notion is also expressed in a prayer that dates from the 14th century, which later became a favourite of Ignatius Loyola's in the 16th, and remains popular today. It is generally known as the Anima Christi, after the words with which it begins in Latin. In English it goes: "Soul of Christ, sanctify me./Body of Christ, save me./Blood of Christ, inebriate me./Water from Christ's side, wash me./Passion of Christ, strengthen me./O good Jesus, hear me./Within Thy wounds hide me./Suffer me not to be separated from Thee."

Nothing in this would have disgusted Toplady. There would, I think, be difficulty in the way that the medieval devotion connects with the Eucharist. Obviously, Toplady believed in a link between the service of Holy Communion and the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus. He'd have been less happy about the connection between the wounds of Christ and the sacrifice of Masses. Devotion to the five wounds of Christ reached its height at the time of the Reformation, during John Calvin's lifetime. The image of Christ's wounds would appear in popular prayerbooks, accompanied by suitable prayers, partly designed to encourage empathy with the suffering Saviour, but also emblematic of the objective redemption of mankind by the death of Christ.

It would seem appropriate to me that any connection between the separated churches would be via the wounds of Jesus Christ. It's something to think about for Lent, something I'm always conscious of being that my the members on my family are serious Calvinists and I'm a Papist.

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