Dear All,
I have enjoyed this strand and I hope that the entirely selfish
enquiry I am about to make also be of interest to others. I have
been long puzzled by a wall painting of a saintly abbess in the Guild
Chapel in Stratford upon Avon. This is part of a scheme of painting
of 1496 which included a series of stading saints. The upper part of
this painting still survives, but the lower has been destroyed.
According to a nineteenth-century record this showed a cat holding a
mouse in its mouth. The engraving is not very clear, and the 'cat'
is rather squirrel like. There was also a rather garbled
inscription of the name of this saint, apparently beginning with 'M'
or possibly 'W'. The painting was traditionally identified as
Modwenna, but does not seem to connect with her story. I know that
St Gertrude and St Kakubilla (spelt from memory) helped to control
rats, but without feline help, in so far as I understand. Since the
other identifiable saint standing opposite is St Ursula, I wonder if
my mystery lady is a German abbess. I think I may have posted this
query before, but I thought it was worth another shot. A medieval
image of a saintly woman religious with her cat would be an
interesting contribution to the discussion, if that indeed is what
she is.
Miriam Gill
[log in to unmask]
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|