Do You Believe In Angels?

Tweet

The first apparitions of the Archangel Michael belong to the Byzantine Orient. The Christian churches of the East worshipped him already at the beginning of the 4th century. But only after 490 - 493 when St. Michael had flown to the West and appeared three times on the mountain of what is now Monte Sant’ Angelo in the South of Italy, did the cult spread across Europe big style. The Archangel had told a bishop to build a church on one of the many grottos (caves) in the limestone rock, emphasizing his wish by leaving a footprint which can still be seen. We - that is a group of German pupils visiting their partner school in Italy and their Italian hosts - went into the grotto and looked at it. Let’s say that ‘a’ footprint can be seen. And let’s not discuss why there is only ‘one’ footprint! The stories of St. Michael’s apparitions are a mixture of folklore, fairy tales and legends, very entertaining and not to be taken too seriously. Just one example: the site of the grotto was indicated by a bull which had escaped from the herd of a rich man. When his owner had found it, he was glad, but also furious because the search for it had been hard and taken a long time. He wanted to shoot it with bow and arrow, but instead of hitting the bull, he shot the arrow into his own foot. Monte St. Angelo has become one of the most famous addresses for pilgrimages in Catholic Christendom. Popes and Emperors came, Bernhard of Clairvaux, Thomas of Aquin, Birgitta of Sweden, St. Francis of Assisi. We were there on May 7th, only to learn that the Catholic Church celebrates the Archangel’s apparition on May 8th. Our hosts should have told us! But we hoped that St. Michael would hold his shield over us nevertheless. To tell you the truth, I don’t know what St. Michael’s special field is but I’m sure it can’t hurt to have him on one’s side. After looking into the castle on top of the mountain, another one built by the busy Staufen dynasty whose origin lie in Southwest Germany, the area where we live (these connections being the reason behind our exchange visit) and buying a typical product of the area offered on stalls in the streets - two wafers with almonds in between glued together with honey, very tasty! - we were ready to leave. --- Unfortunately, I couldn't find the name of the painter of this picture.