~ Saturday, May 15, 2021 ~
The popular account of medieval cathedral labyrinths runs as follows. After Jerusalem fell to Saladin in 1187, pilgrimage to the Holy Land became impossible or dangerous for most European Christians. The Church responded by constructing symbolic substitutes — labyrinths in cathedral naves, called chemins de Jérusalem, roads to Jerusalem. Penitents walked them, sometimes on their knees, as a proxy for the actual journey. The centre represented the Holy City. The path represented the long road to get there.
This account is coherent. It has the further advantage of being emotionally satisfying in a way that makes it easy to repeat. It has one problem: it is not documented.
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~ Wednesday, April 7, 2021 ~
When Judas Iscariot left the apostolic circle — whether at the moment of the betrayal or earlier in the narrative, depending on which gospel’s chronology one follows — there was a period, however brief, during which the circle stood at eleven. The urgency with which Acts moved to correct this tells us, without ambiguity, why the number twelve was never incidental.
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~ Sunday, January 24, 2021 ~
Six cathedral labyrinths were removed from French churches between 1690 and the 1820s. In most cases, the reason given was the same: children were playing on them during services and disturbing the liturgy. This is probably true. It is also, as explanations go, worth sitting with. These objects had been in their cathedrals for four or five centuries before the canons decided they were furniture.
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