Today we went to Holywell and for me, well, it didn't feel particularly holy. If you are into saints and miracles and pilgrimages and such you can find the story of St. Winefride HERE. The short version is that a prince tried to rape poor Winefride and when she tried to escape she ran away. Well, he got mad and chased her, chopped her head off, and then her uncle came running out, killed the guy, put her head back on, and she lived happily ever after, with just a faint scar around her neck.
The water runs from the site where she was re-headed (would that be the opposite term for beheaded?!) as a spring of healing, and the church was built in the early 15th century up and over the well. The water is said to have healing properties and the picture below of the crutches is from people who left them after being healed at the site.
Well...with copper excavation (I think??) in the early 20th century the people in the town got a little too greedy, caused problems, and the well dried up. What to do, what to do? Well, never fear, they've found ANOTHER spring across the street and down a bit, they've dug a tunnel, and miracles continue to happen. Or something like that. Oh, and supposedly St. Winefride's blood lived on eternally through moss in the well...again, until the 20th century. At that time someone got the bright idea that they needed to add chlorine. Yeah, after 500+ years of holy moss, there is holy moss no more. A tragedy, I know.
Why did I feel so cynical about the visit? Judy and I talked about it and tried to figure it out. I can read lots of stuff in scripture, take Noah and the flood for example, and not be at all bothered with the literal technicality of whether or not the event actually happened. If you want to take scripture literally, then great, that's fine. For me, I don't always have to believe something actually happened just the way it was written down (take the creation of the eareth in 7 days...) for the story to still have huge spiritual meaning for me.
Well, the problem for me is that at Holywell, Jesus was more-or-less missing. God wasn't really talked about. All praise and thanks for the miracles that have happened over the years is credited to Winefride, and I have a hard time buying into that sort of a focus. Could Winefride have experienced a miraculous healing? Stranger things have happened so yes, maybe so. But to me, as a (yes Susan, very Protestant) Christian, the praise goes to GOD for that. Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now. Yesterday at Pennant Melanchell I was a pilgrim on a journey seeking (and finding) a sense of God's presence in a powerful way. Today I was a tourist with a camera taking just enough pictures to be able to post it on here and talk about my struggle with it!
Am I crazy? Maybe. But hey, it's my blog and if you disagree then you don't have to read any more :) Okay, so on to some pictures...the first is of the window in St. Winefride's Chapel. There is the little cross near the top, but the rest of the window is all about St. Winefride (notice her BEheading in the window on the top right...). Henry VII makes more of an appearance than Jesus. But that's just my take on it.
It was still cool to see all the architecture - these pictures are from the chapel, not the main church. For some reason the main church architecture was totally different - Baroque maybe? Can't remember my art history well enough. I refrained from taking a picture of the beheaded statue in the church. Apparently she WOULD have had a head in stone but some bloke probably knocked it off during the Reformation. Apparently there was a lot of that :)
And here's the well. Part of it is actually covered and you can go in and walk around, light candles, pray, etc. The problem for me was that all of the little personal notes and stuff never mentioned God (or Jesus) - St. Winefride got all the credit and I just have a hard time with that.
That said, there are two people in this picture. The gentleman in his boxers had come all the way from the Philippines (via London) to bathe in the (very cold) well. For him it was a spritual experience and for that I am glad. I DO pray that he found whatever healing he needed. The woman on the right is in our group and it was a spiritual experience for her as well. After hearing some of her own story this week, I pray the time was a time of healing and comfort for her as well. It just wasn't for me.
Keep reading below...my afternoon got much better!
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