The town of St. Ursanne is named for a hermit of the 600’s who had a story and attracted followers. Here are some icons of that story from the church.
Ursanne was an Irish monk, one of the many who “saved civilization “ by preserving the Gospel in writings and traveling throughout Europe to teach the pagans - both native Celts and incoming Germanic and Slavic barbarians - the Christian faith. Through them, especially, Europe became Christian.
Ursanne’s story says he came from Ireland to Switzerland - top left picture - and was given a mission to evangelize - bottom left picture- then went into the wilds where a bear ate his pack donkey, for which the displeased Ursanne compelled restitution by making the bear carry his packs - top right picture - after which Ursanne did saintly deeds, healed people (herbs are good stuff, especially mixed with spirits and prayer), and collected followers. Eventually a series of chapels, then bigger and bigger churches and a cloister were built on the spot, growing into the town.
The current church, with the remains of the cloister and pleasant Kreuzgang, is very old, in need of restoration, but still in use and the heart of the little town. Since it was pouring rain, we spent some time inside. Quite a few pictures are on my camera, so I can not show them here now, but I got some on my iPad, too, for use here.
Two postcards showing the layout.
The Kreuzgang
A peak through a window into the former monastery into a current weaving workshop.
Most of the arches have names and some dates of tourists scratched into them. Note the quality of most of the penmanship.
Note the pouring rain!
A holy water receptacle carved from a single stone.
Very dark, very old, and very fluid wall drawing.
Some of the tomb inscriptions and lists of cloister residents have dates of 1100’s and onward in them. Old graves were discovered in various building projects from hundreds of years before that.
To be continued…… now to The Enchanted Forest, in the rain.
Is it purely coincidental that the saint’s name is similar to Ursa and his story includes a bear?
ReplyDeleteIt is not. He would have had some unpronounceable Gaelic name, so got renamed with a Latin form.
ReplyDeleteInteresting story and history. Wonderful old church. 🏰
ReplyDelete