Order of San Anton, again

[Kathy Gower]

One last word on the St. Anthony story...  (and it's Mainz to Basel, not
Maine...)

One of the ways the monks of St. Anthony were healing the sick was to pour
wine they had made over the relics of St. Anthony to enhance its healing
powers.  Perhaps this is where the alchemy accusation came in.  In reality,
the wine was composed of 14 herbs (recipe lost in the 16th century, but with
probably sedative and vaso-dilating properties) which are depicted in the
foreground of Grunewald's painting of St. Anthony and St. Paul.  Both the
sick and the pilgrims who stopped at Issenheim were hown the altarpiece and
spent some time contemplating this altar.  It is indeed pretty incredible
and full of symbolism.




>From: Kathy Gower <kathygoweraHOTMAIL.COM>
>Reply-To: Road to Santiago Pilgrimage <GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU>
>To: GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU
>Subject: Re: Order of San Anton
>Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 16:06:28 +0000
>
>A little something to add to this story:
>
>There is a wonderful museum in Colmar (northern France/Alsace), The
>Unterlinden.  The chief draw of this wonderful place is the Issenheim
>Altar,
>consisting of a carved portion from about 1490 and an incredible set of
>paintings by the master known as Gruenwald, painted between 1512 & 1516.
>They are truly mystical and feature St. Anthony as they were part of the
>Convent of the Order of St. Anthony  of Issenheim, a village close by.
>These monks were dedicated to helping cure people of what is called St.
>Athony's fre, caused by rye ergot.
>
>This convent profited from the passage of pilgrims to Santiago or to Rome
>as
>it was located on the passeage from Maine to Basle. The coat of arms from
>the gentleman who comissioned the convent, Guido Guersi, can be seen at the
>museum AND on an incredible painting of St. Anthony.  It consists of five
>scallop shells on a background of fleur d'lys!

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