Tag Archives: miracle

Gideon, the Dewy Fleece, & St. Mary Major

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This Byzantine image is another depiction of Gideon and the miracle of the angel meant to reassure Gideon that he was chosen to save Israel from their enemies. There are many more icons of this event here.
This contemporary Greek image depicts Gideon and the commander of the heavenly armies on the left; on the right is the Mother of God enthroned with Christ. Read more here.

I recently wrote about St. Mary Major and the miracle of the snow in Rome. I realized this morning how similar the story about St. Mary Major is to the story of Gideon and the miracle of the fleece in the Old Testament.

In the book of Judges (chapter 6), we read that Gideon was told by an angel that he would save the people of Israel from their enemies as they were settling the Promised Land after wandering in the desert for 40 years after the Exodus. But Gideon wants reassurance that God would fulfil this promise that he would lead the people to victory. He tells the angel,

“If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And the angel said, “I will stay till you return.”

So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.”

After Gideon wins a series of battles, the enemies of Israel gather large reinforcements and Gideon calls for more Israelites to join him. While he is hoping the Israelites will respond to his call and come to join him, we are told that

… Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.” And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.” And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.

Christian preachers always associated both the miracle of the sacrifice consumed by fire and the miracle of the fleece with the Incarnation of the Word of God in the womb of the Virgin Mary. St. Ambrose of Milan preached, “as soon as the Angel touched them with the end of the staff which he bore, fire burst forth out of the rock, and so the sacrifice which he was offering was consumed. By which it seems clear that that rock was a figure of the Body of Christ, for it is written: “They drank of that rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.” (1 Cor. 10:4)

Other early Christian writers, such as St. Proclus of Constantinople describe the Blessed Virgin as the “loom” of the incarnation and linked the miracle of the fleece with Mary: “The holy Mary has called us together, that undefiled treasure of virginity… the most pure fleece with heavenly dew, from which the Shepherd clothed the sheep… She is the awe-inspiring loom of the incarnation.”

The dew on the fleece that announces God’s choice of Gideon is remarkably similar to the snowfall that announces God’s choice of the building site for the church of St. Mary Major in Rome. Both miracles announce to the world what God has previously revealed to only a few people and both miracles are associated with the Mother of God whose consent made the incarnation possible.

Drip, drip…Blood Relics

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The blood relic of St. Januarius (San Gennaro) in the cathedral of Naples.

The blood relic of St. Januarius (San Gennaro) in the cathedral of Naples.

This year’s festival of San Gennaro in New York’s Little Italy will be held on September 10-20, 2015. The festival marks one of the three days each year when the relic of St. Januarius’ blood in Naples liquefies during its display for public veneration. It turns out that there are other saintly blood relics in that part of Italy (surrounding Naples) that liquefy on the feast day of each particular saint, the most important being those of John the Baptist and Saint Panteleimon (a popular 4th century doctor-martyr).

The blood of the saint in question (usually an early martyr) is often sopped up with a cloth at the time of the saint’s execution and then placed in a glass ampule (small vial) which is then placed in a reliquary or monstrance for display [see the photo above]. On the feast day, the reliquary is brought out and the presiding cleric tilts the reliquary to demonstrate that the relic is dry and solid. He places the reliquary on the altar and the faithful celebrate the Eucharist or offer other prayers. At the conclusion, the presiding cleric again lifts the reliquary and tilts it, demonstrating that the relic has liquefied.

The first certain date of the liquefaction of St. Januarius’ blood is 1389. Over the following two and a half centuries official reports began to appear declaring that the blood spontaneously melted, at first once a year, then twice and finally three times a year. During times of distress, the relic would be carried in procession around Naples and has been credited with saving the city from explosions and eruptions from Mount Vesuvius.

Blood has always been considered an especially potent connection to the person whose blood it is. Blood was also considered the “life” of the person or animal and so to offer a few drops of blood in a rite was to offer the whole person or beast. Blood offerings were among the most valuable gifts to be offered to a god or goddess and the more blood offered, the more the god “owed” the worshipper. The more blood offered also usually meant the more horrific the request being made of the god or the more horrible the god who was being worshipped.

Blood was also said to give a temporary sort of life back to the dead. Among the ancient Greeks, ghosts were said to be whispering, gibbering shadows but if they licked up blood they could speak and think clearly again for at least some time.

A fascinating discussion of the blood relics in and around Naples can be read here.