Monday, January 31, 2011

The Regicide of Charles the Martyr

Charles I executed 362 years ago yesterday. He remains the only formally canonized saint of the Church of England.

7 comments:

  1. I've heard of poodle skirts, but is His late sainted Majesty wearing poodle slippers?

    Bill, tGf

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  2. Better than the pumps one typically sees in the portraiture of Louis XIV.

    In ICXC
    John

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  3. The first metrosexuals!
    Angela

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  4. I've always wondered what's going to happen with St. ("St."?) Charles Stuart in the Ordinariate. Does he become recognized throughout the Catholic Church as a martyr? Do Anglicans crossing the Tiber have to suppress his cult? Does the Church allow the Ordinariate members to quietly continue to consider him a saint while the Catholic Church at large ignores or even undermines his status as a saint?

    It is a somewhat awkward thing to suggest that a man who was never formally in communion with the Catholic Church or one of the Orthodox jurisdictions could be recognized as a saint, but he did take a number of steps to try and align the Church of England closer to Rome liturgically, hierarchically, and doctrinally, for which reason (among others) he was condemned to death, so that's got to count for something.

    But the RCC has so politicized and regimented the whole canonization process it seems bizarre to let this Protestant slip through unquestioned...

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  5. Charles I is not and will not be recognised as a saint by the Catholic Church. A cultus will not be entertained in the Ordinariates, though no one will be prevented from privately venerating him.

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  6. Well, when the Ukranian Orthodox who became the Byzantine Rite Catholics were reunited to the Church, they were allowed to preserve Sts. Photius and Gregory Palamas on their calendars, so it would hardly be unprecedented for the Anglican rite to have its own saints acquired during the period of schism. Indeed, if Rome can tolerate the idea of Catholics venerating Photius, I can hardly see that Charles I should catch in anyone's gorge.

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  7. The Anglicans would have a better chance of pushing through a King Charles cult if they had a more cohesive ethnic identity, but that won't happen anytime soon. Self-haters who beg for Unia status have their tails between their legs.

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