5th February : Our Lady Of The Shield And Sword
5th February
Our Lady Of The Shield And Sword
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There are many examples in history of Our Lady being brought to fields of battle, or of a Marian device being displayed on military standards, and of subsequent victory being attributed to her intercession.
In his famous ATLAS MARIANUS (1672) , William Gumpenberg refers to an image of the Wonderworking Queen of Mount Baden or of the Shield.
Henry of Huntington (d. 1155) and other later writers narrate that when he overcame the Saxon invaders at the great battle of Mount Baden (circa 500), King Arthur bore an image of the Blessed Virgin on his shield. The origin of the story was no doubt the statement of Nennius, early in the ninth century, that Arthur “carried the image of the ever-Virgin St. Mary on his shoulders and the heathen were put to flight,” at the Battle of Castell Guinnion.
Before the Reformation the church of St. Mary at Wedale (now Stow) in Scotland claimed to possess the remains of the Arthurian “image”; this relic was held in great veneration, and a spring nearby was known as the Lady’s Well.
