She's got 27, which is the number of books in the New Testament. If you want
the number of books in the Old Testament (39), reverse the 63, turning the 6
upside down. The total (of 39 and 27) is 66. I don't have citations to
offer--it's just a conjunction of numbers I've noticed.
pat sloane
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In a message dated 8/16/00 6:12:40 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
> Subj: number symbolism: 63?
> Date: 8/16/00 6:12:40 PM Eastern Daylight Time
> From: [log in to unmask] (Jane Connolly)
> Sender: [log in to unmask]
> Reply-to: <A HREF="mailto:[log in to unmask]">medieval-rel
[log in to unmask]</A>
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> In the early 15th-century autobigraphical text I'm working on, the author
> was left homeless because of the civil war. She believes that her aunt's
> purchase of a property to build a house (some 27 yrs after the war ended,
> and 17 yrs. after her release from prison) was the result of her special
> devotions to the Virgin which she describes in some detail:
>
> "I had gone barefoot in the wind and rain for thirty days to matins to
> Santa Maria el Amortecida, which is in the order of San Pablo de Cordoba,
> and I prayed to her 63 times this prayer, which is followed by 66 Hail
> Marys, in homage to the 66 years that she lived with bitterness in this
> world, that she might give me a house, and because of her mercy, houses
> better than I deserved. And the prayer begins: 'Holy Mother Mary, great
> pain did you feel because of your son--you saw him tormented with his great
> suffering, and your heart came close to death. After his agony he gave you
> comfort, so intercede with my lady [the aunt], for you know my pain'"
>
> She explains 66, and 30 isn't difficult. Does anyone have suggestions for
> 63? I've checked standard sources for number symbolism but have been
> drawing a blank.
>
> Many thanks!
>
> Jane Connolly
>
> FYI: Santa Maria el Amortecida is an image of the Spasmus Virginis and was
> still located at the Domincan monastery in Cordoba at the beginning of the
> 20th century. According to the 17th-century hagiographer of the Bd. Alvarez
> of Cordoba who believed my author to be his sister, matins were then
> celebrated at San Pablo at midnight. The prayer, rhymed in Spanish, is
> linguistically older than the rest of the text and is probably
traditional.
>
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