AMLWCH METHODIST CHURCH
Wesley Street, Amlwch, North Wales

Calvaires in Brittany

 

Some years ago, we visited Brittany for the first time.   We stayed in a cottage in Finisterre and travelled around to discover the various aspects of the region.   As we drove around, we came across a number of calvaires.   These were located outside parish churches and ranged from simple crucifixes in stone to very elaborate versions full of sculptured images of Biblical scenes, predominantly telling stories based on the crucifixion of Jesus.

Some of these were amazing to see.   They portrayed images from the gospels in a unique fashion.   The most impressive was at enclos-paroissial-de-guimiliau.   This was one of the Breton parish closes a traveller can visit.   There were at least 200 figures depicted on this elaborate artwork.   The surprising thing was that the figures were shown wearing medieval clothes.   This is not uncommon.   Think of the religious paintings you have seen and how many of them show people in costumes not of 2,000 years ago.   The same applies to these calvaires.   The image above shows a picture including the calvaire.

Close to where I live there is a medieval church, St Elian.   If you venture inside you will see a lovely rood screen with a remaining picture in the centre.   There are a number of panels which were painted originally but the images have deteriorated.   This central panel still shows a skeleton with cloven feet and an inscription, “Colyn Angau yw Pechod”.   The English translation from Welsh is “Sin is the sting of death”.   It was placed there to remind former congregations who were illiterate of the need o avoid sin.

The calvaires are there for the same reason except that they are placed outside the churches to be viewed by the Breton illiterate worshippers of the day as they turn up for the church service.   Words may be found in the Bible but there was a time when the people relied on their priests to tell the stories because they neither possessed nor could read a Bible.

Today we see many things in life which are not written in words to communicate with us.   In Brittany there are also what archaeologists call alignments.   They are very long lines of standing stones for which we have no explanation.   But, in their day, they meant something that the population could understand.   There are so many ways to communicate.

I have been reading a book called “The Badly Behaved Bible” and it makes the point that taking all that is written literally is to misunderstand it.   If you think of the Bible as full of stories you will understand what it is saying.   As a child in Sunday School I used to sing “God has given a book full of stories.” And this is very true.   Today, it speaks to me in a way I didn’t know as a child, but it is so true.   How are we to pass on the good news about Jesus?   The answer is by any means that others will understand and appreciate.