{"id":21946,"date":"2014-07-23T15:10:40","date_gmt":"2014-07-23T20:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kathyschiffer\/?p=21946"},"modified":"2016-09-30T15:53:06","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T20:53:06","slug":"400-year-old-crucifix-uncovered-in-newfoundland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kathyschiffer\/2014\/07\/400-year-old-crucifix-uncovered-in-newfoundland\/","title":{"rendered":"400-Year-Old Crucifix Uncovered in Newfoundland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
Memorial University student Anna Sparrow, who unearthed the crucifix during a dig in early July<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

An undergraduate student<\/strong> assisting at an archeological dig on Newfoundland\u2019s Avalon Peninsula has made a spectacular discovery: \u00a0a 400-year-old copper crucifix.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The crucifix is considered particularly important<\/strong> since the colony which once stood at that spot was English, and Catholics were severely persecuted in England at the time. \u00a0It was, then, most likely owned by someone who fled religious persecution in England and found freedom here.<\/p>\n

Anna Sparrow, who attends Memorial University in St. John\u2019s, Newfoundland, was painstakingly sifting through dirt at the site when she found the crucifix, solidly packed in a clump of dirt. \u00a0According to CBC News<\/a>,\u00a0the copper cross is just three centimeters wide, with its top portion missing. \u00a0It depicts\u00a0the crucifixion of Christ on one side\u00a0and the Virgin Mary on the reverse.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barry Gaulton, associate professor of archeology, called the find \u201can important part of North American history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Anna first found it, my heart sort of stopped for a minute and I knew it was a crucifix,\u201d Gaulton told CBC News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack in England, you could be fined, imprisoned\u00a0or put to death for practising Catholic faith, so Calvert had different plans for Newfoundland and one of his plans was religious toleration,\u00a0religious freedom. This artifact is a direct manifestation of that toleration, so it\u2019s an important part of Canadian history.\u201d<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 \u00a0 * \u00a0 \u00a0 * \u00a0 \u00a0 * \u00a0 \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The 3-centimeter crucifix which was unearthed in Newfoundland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sparrow and other students were digging<\/strong> on the site of a former colony which had been established by Baron George Calvert, an early Newfoundland governor.<\/p>\n

Calvert had held high political office in England;<\/strong> but he resigned his post in 1625. \u00a0Calvert had always been interested in exploration and settlement in the New World, even purchasing a share of the second Virginia Company in 1609. \u00a0Five years before his resignation, he had purchased a tract of land in Newfoundland from Sir William Vaughan. \u00a0Calvert named the plantation he founded there Avalon (on what is now called the Avalon Peninsula), after the legendary spot where Christianity was introduced to Britain in ancient times.<\/p>\n

Calvert did not immediately travel to the New World himself.<\/strong> \u00a0Instead, he dispatched Captain\u00a0Edward Wynne\u00a0and a group of\u00a0Welsh\u00a0colonists to Ferryland, where they landed in August 1621. \u00a0The immigrants, many of whom most likely left England in search of a land where they could openly profess their faith, began the ambitious task of constructing a settlement.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 \u00a0 * \u00a0 \u00a0 * \u00a0 \u00a0 * \u00a0 \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION IN ENGLAND, AND FREEDOM IN THE NEW WORLD<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
George Calvert
(Lord Baltimore)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Four hundred years ago in England,<\/strong> when George Calvert was serving as a Member of Parliament and later Secretary of State under King James I, Catholics were not permitted to hold public office. \u00a0When Calvert fell into disfavor in the court, he resigned from office and was granted a post as First Lord Baltimore in County Longford, Ireland.<\/p>\n

Some historians believe that Calvert was a secret Catholic, even during his years on the king\u2019s court. \u00a0In any case, when he left his post as Secretary of State, he immediately converted to Catholicism. \u00a0George Abbot, the Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote of Calvert at the time that political opposition and the loss of his office had<\/p>\n

\u201cmade him discontented and, as the saying is,\u00a0<\/span>Desperatio facit monachum<\/em>, so hee apparently did turne papist, which hee now professeth, this being the third time that he hath bene to blame that way [sic]\u201d.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Godfrey Goodman<\/span>, the Bishop of Gloucester, later claimed Calvert had been \u201cinfinitely addicted to the Catholic faith\u201d\u2013a secret Catholic all along. \u00a0This, Goodman believed, explained his support for lenient policies towards Catholics.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once in Avalon, Lord Baltimore adopted\u00a0a policy of free religious worship in the colony, permitting the Catholics to worship in one part of his house and the Protestants in another. \u00a0This unusual arrangement proved too much for the resident Anglican priest,\u00a0<\/span>Erasmus Stourton<\/span>\u2014\u201dthat knave Stourton\u201d, as Baltimore referred to him\u2014who, after altercations with Baltimore, was placed on a ship for England. \u00a0Once back on British soil, Stourton reported Lord Baltimore\u2019s practices to the authorities, complaining that the Catholic priests, Fr. Smith and Fr. Hackett, celebrated Mass<\/span>\u00a0every Sunday and <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cdoe use all other ceremonies of the church of Rome in as ample a manner as tis used in Spayne [sic]\u201d.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Further, Stourton complained, Lord Baltimore had had the son of a Protestant forcibly baptized into the Catholic faith. \u00a0Stourton\u2019s complaints were investigated and then dismissed.<\/p>\n

A SAD ENDING TO THE STORY<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lord Baltimore grew weary of life in what he called \u201cthis wofull country\u201d after a harsh winter, during which nine or ten of his fellow colonists died. \u00a0 Half of the settlers were sick at one time, so that Lord Baltimore\u2019s house had to be converted for use as a hospital. \u00a0He sent his children home to England, and he and his wife departed for Virginia, where he attempted to found a mid-Atlantic colony.<\/p>\n

However, the Virginians in Jamestown were vehemently opposed to Catholicism, and ordered him to leave. \u00a0After only a few weeks in the colony, he left for England without his wife and servants. \u00a0He later sent a ship to bring them back; but the ship was caught in a storm and his wife drowned off the coast of Ireland.<\/p>\n

Things grew worse: \u00a0He lost his fortune and was forced on some occasions to depend on the generosity of friends. \u00a0In the summer of 1630, Lord Baltimore\u2019s household was infected by the plague, although he survived. \u00a0Still a man of faith, he wrote to his friend Wentworth:<\/p>\n

\u201cBlessed be God for it who hath preserved me now from shipwreck, hunger,\u00a0scurvy\u00a0and pestilence\u2026\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Finally, in 1632, things seemed to be looking up. \u00a0The King granted Baltimore a charter for a piece of land south of Jamestown. \u00a0Because of tension with some settlers who sought to establish a sugar plantation, Baltimore petitioned the King for a change. \u00a0In the end, a compromise was reached; Baltimore would lay claim to land with\u00a0redrawn boundaries to the north of the\u00a0Potomac River, on either side of the\u00a0Chesapeake Bay.<\/p>\n

However, before he could take charge of the property, he died in his home. \u00a0His son Cecil inherited the title Lord Baltimore and the imminent grant of Maryland.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An undergraduate student assisting at an archeological dig on Newfoundland\u2019s Avalon Peninsula has made a spectacular discovery: \u00a0a 400-year-old copper crucifix. 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