On Jeremiah the Prophet (IN VENICE?!?!) and "Marty McFly Vests"
Some people perhaps don't understand. I am still processing everything that I saw in Italy back in August. That country and what it has there has almost become a part of me. I have caught the fever. As I have continued to research on what I found and took pictures of, one "item" has been a mystery to me: a corpse in a church in Venice.
In the Chiesa di SS. Geremia e Lucia (the Church of Saints Geremia and Lucy) were the remains of Lucy of Syracuse, a virgin martyr murdered in perhaps the late third century (I do not recall exactly). I used to pray to her a lot as a Catholic kid (and was fond of how she held a chalice with eyeballs in it - the Romans gouged her eyes out before they killed her). I got to see her and took a picture or two of her (she was in a glass case in an altar, but my pictures came out awful). But there was someone else in the church with her. Geremia. Who was he?
I figured he was a martyr of some kind. Like Lucy, this mysterious Geremia rested in a glass case in his own separate altar. His corpse seemed very well-preserved (I'm sorry if this grosses you out), although certainly dried out some and brown. There was actually still hair on his head, it seemed. It was curly and black. He wore a loin cloth. But that is all I could tell from the distance I was at. I took some photographs, and they came out excellent! Crystal clear. After this, Judy and I left the church - and that was the end of it. I had seen Lucy and some other guy, perhaps an obscure martyr from the persecutions.
As time went on though, I learned more about how Mark the Evangelist was supposedly brought (really stolen) by the Venetians from Alexandria, Egypt, to Venice. Then I read in "Christian History Today" that it is probably not Mark who is entombed in the Basilica of St. Mark (and if that is the case, then I wasted some euros!!) It is proposed that Alexander the Great is actually the one in that tomb that so nicely says "Marce" on it (how disappointing if it is true). Anyway. I also heard stories about how the Prophet Jeremiah continued his ministry in Egypt, and it was there that he was stoned to death at the age of 55. Then I read somewhere, last semester, that the pagan Egyptians worshipped Jeremiah at his tomb.
The wheels in my head started to turn. "Mark", the first "bishop of Alexandria" who died in Egypt ended up in Venice. Who was this "Geremia" who was also in Venice? I began to wonder if there was some sort of connection between "Geremia" and Jeremiah. I searched, trying to find out more info about that church in Venice I went into to see Lucy - only to find nothing. I e-mailed the church, and they never responded. There was no info to be found. I had come to the possible conclusion though that I had seen the Prophet Jeremiah in Venice. But, I asked myself, if this were true, why is he so ignored? Why is the church celebrated for this virgin martyr - but not for a BIBLICAL PROPHET?!?!
As it turns out, last night, I went to the Catholic-forum online and I saw it: Jeremiah's relics were brought to Venice. Like Inspector Javert in Les Miserables, I could declare: "I KNEW IT!!!" My conclusion is this: just as the Venetians stole "Mark" from Alexandria, so too they must have grabbed the body from that location thought to be the tomb of Jeremiah, and brought it to Venice as well. If that is the case, then I stood ten feet away from one of God's Spirit-filled prophets!! A prophet to the Jews. A biblical figure and writer (or speaker, dictator to Baruch, I don't know how it works out). So that's that.
I realize that the whole thing could be a mistake or hoax or whatever, but I at least think this could be the real deal. I think it, at least.
And for the "Marty McFly vests" (don't you remember the scenes in Back to the Future where Marty is asked if he was jumping off ship (or whatever) in the first movie because he was wearing that orange life preserver/vest? It is amazing. I am seeing more and more people wearing those these days. I continue to see people wearing the blazers with jeans too. I think that looks great, but I know I would never do it. It is far too "radical" for me... ;-) I've done enough "radical" things for one year, don't you think?
In the Chiesa di SS. Geremia e Lucia (the Church of Saints Geremia and Lucy) were the remains of Lucy of Syracuse, a virgin martyr murdered in perhaps the late third century (I do not recall exactly). I used to pray to her a lot as a Catholic kid (and was fond of how she held a chalice with eyeballs in it - the Romans gouged her eyes out before they killed her). I got to see her and took a picture or two of her (she was in a glass case in an altar, but my pictures came out awful). But there was someone else in the church with her. Geremia. Who was he?
I figured he was a martyr of some kind. Like Lucy, this mysterious Geremia rested in a glass case in his own separate altar. His corpse seemed very well-preserved (I'm sorry if this grosses you out), although certainly dried out some and brown. There was actually still hair on his head, it seemed. It was curly and black. He wore a loin cloth. But that is all I could tell from the distance I was at. I took some photographs, and they came out excellent! Crystal clear. After this, Judy and I left the church - and that was the end of it. I had seen Lucy and some other guy, perhaps an obscure martyr from the persecutions.
As time went on though, I learned more about how Mark the Evangelist was supposedly brought (really stolen) by the Venetians from Alexandria, Egypt, to Venice. Then I read in "Christian History Today" that it is probably not Mark who is entombed in the Basilica of St. Mark (and if that is the case, then I wasted some euros!!) It is proposed that Alexander the Great is actually the one in that tomb that so nicely says "Marce" on it (how disappointing if it is true). Anyway. I also heard stories about how the Prophet Jeremiah continued his ministry in Egypt, and it was there that he was stoned to death at the age of 55. Then I read somewhere, last semester, that the pagan Egyptians worshipped Jeremiah at his tomb.
The wheels in my head started to turn. "Mark", the first "bishop of Alexandria" who died in Egypt ended up in Venice. Who was this "Geremia" who was also in Venice? I began to wonder if there was some sort of connection between "Geremia" and Jeremiah. I searched, trying to find out more info about that church in Venice I went into to see Lucy - only to find nothing. I e-mailed the church, and they never responded. There was no info to be found. I had come to the possible conclusion though that I had seen the Prophet Jeremiah in Venice. But, I asked myself, if this were true, why is he so ignored? Why is the church celebrated for this virgin martyr - but not for a BIBLICAL PROPHET?!?!
As it turns out, last night, I went to the Catholic-forum online and I saw it: Jeremiah's relics were brought to Venice. Like Inspector Javert in Les Miserables, I could declare: "I KNEW IT!!!" My conclusion is this: just as the Venetians stole "Mark" from Alexandria, so too they must have grabbed the body from that location thought to be the tomb of Jeremiah, and brought it to Venice as well. If that is the case, then I stood ten feet away from one of God's Spirit-filled prophets!! A prophet to the Jews. A biblical figure and writer (or speaker, dictator to Baruch, I don't know how it works out). So that's that.
I realize that the whole thing could be a mistake or hoax or whatever, but I at least think this could be the real deal. I think it, at least.
And for the "Marty McFly vests" (don't you remember the scenes in Back to the Future where Marty is asked if he was jumping off ship (or whatever) in the first movie because he was wearing that orange life preserver/vest? It is amazing. I am seeing more and more people wearing those these days. I continue to see people wearing the blazers with jeans too. I think that looks great, but I know I would never do it. It is far too "radical" for me... ;-) I've done enough "radical" things for one year, don't you think?