Whiskers

Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church who countenance the monks of the Order of the Holy Cross were denounced by The Churchman and bidden to defend themselves.

The charge brought against the monks is one of iconolatry, the veneration of images. (This differs from idolatry which is the worship of images.)

The evidence is their custom of celebrating St. Charles' Day by veneration of some hair alleged to have been part of the whiskers of the saint.

Down in Tennessee, over the valley from the Suwanee river lies St. Andrews monastery church. Thither went Bishop Maxon on Jan. 30 last to preside at the blessing and veneration of the saint's whiskers.

There was a long procession. Censers swung continually. The celebrant of the mass was censed. So was the 'deacon and the subdeacon. The Gospel was held by the subdeacon, with two taper bearers on either hand, and was read by the deacon, first on one side of the altar and then on the other. The Bishop's ring was kissed. The Bishop and sacred ministers were censed. The sacred host and chalice were raised high at the sound of the sacring bell. Before the altar the ministers were prostrate, while kneeling acolytes elevated waxen tapers that flamed. Then followed the kiss of peace received from the celebrant by the Bishop's chaplain and by him transmitted to the Bishop, subdeacon and all other priests.

Thus were venerated the whiskers of St. Charles, who to the lay world is known as Charles Stuart, King of England, whose head, for various reasons, was cut off in 1649. To high churchmen Charles I was a martyr of religion.

The monks of the Holy Cross are the highest churchmen among Episcopalians. They are believed to have the support of many bishops. It is the modernist contention that these monks are far greater heretics than any reputable modernist. "Where does the Bible, or the Prayer Book, of any Creed say anything about St. Charles' whiskers," ask the modernists? "By what authority 'do bishops tolerate the whiskers' veneration? Their own?"

No reputable historian will assign religion as the primary cause of the decapitation of Charles I. Even G. K. Chesterton, famed Catholic, says that Charles I "tried to split hairs, and seemed merely to break promises," that "historically, the quarrel resolved itself into . . . whether a king can raise taxes without the consent of his Parliament." And H. G. Wells describes him as "probably one of the meanest and most treacherous occupants the English throne has ever known." His whiskers were painted by Van Dyck.