Sick bed

My apologies for the lack of activity this week. I've been hit with the flu. Not a good thing for the clergyman to go down with a week before Christmas. Never mind. Rest assured normal service will resume after Christmas.

In the meantime I draw your attention to Gordon Plumb's lovely series of shots of the fifteenth century Seven Sacraments window at Doddiscombsleigh in Devon. This is the panel of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction.

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The Religious Pícaro said…
The clerk behind the priest is carrying a small church - is that the pyx for the Blessed Sacrament? Or is it perhaps something for carrying the oil?
22 December 2008 at 15:09
Anonymous said…
I hope it doesn't get as bad as extreme unction! Best wishes for your recovery.
23 December 2008 at 11:44
Anonymous said…
Several peripheral but interesting aspects of this window - the smallish, church-shaped box carried by the assistant to the priest, presumably holding the paraphernalia of extreme unction; the green damask bed coverlet and black and white floor tiling - prosperous gentleman, evidently - and the bedside chair, of a style I do not recognize from surviving late medieval examples I have seen illustrated. A commode chair perhaps, particularly given its placement by the bed, that contemporaries would immediately have recognized? The low front skirt, that is a feature of many surviving 18th c commode chairs - it hides the pot - could indicate that this is the case.
31 December 2008 at 15:52
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