Fountain 44 Madonna les Fountaines Le Brigue 21st August

 

Notre Dame des Fontaines

According to official records there had been a church on this site in 1375 as it was a

stopover point on the route from Italy to Santiago de Compostela, in Spain.

However, according to legend, this sanctuary was built after an earthquake

 had dried up the river which runs along its south side.

The inhabitants of the valley prayed for the return of the river to support their livelihood

and had built the sanctuary as part of their devotion. 

Once the building was completed, the water returned to the river bed.

 

 The water appears out of nowhere.

Up river is a barren bed of dry boulders.

Out of nothing in particular, bubbles up a generous flow of water which has

been constant for over six centuries.

The sanctuary has been known as the Little Sistine Chapel of the Alps.

The entire walls and ceiling have been painted by the Piedmontese artist, 

Giovanni Canavesio, depicting scenes from the Passion of Christ,

the Life of Mary and St. Thomas, and the Last Judgement.

Here we can see from left to right: Jesus riding his donkey into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday,
the Last Supper with his twelve Apostles, Mary Magdelene washing Jesus' feet,
Pontius Pilate unhappy about the trial of Jesus,
Jesus being whipped, and St. Peter denying his friendship with Jesus.

The frescoes were completed on the same day that America was discovered-

12th October 1492.

This date is particularly important to me for two reasons:
1) I was born in America, and after my birthday, this was probably the first date I memorised.
Like most little American children, I learned it by chanting the little jingle:
"In fourteen hundred and ninety two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue."

2) I use this date as a reference point, and think or sometimes say aloud, something like
" Wow, I can't believe this painting, building, philosophical treatise, tapestry, whatever,
was made before Columbus landed in American and they still believed that the world was flat
and if you sailed too far
 you'd drop off over the edge into a sea monster's mouth".

This date helps me to contextualise historical events, a bit like BC and AD.

(Before Columbus and After Discovery)

Canavesio employed the story telling device of 'continuous narrative' throughout his paintings.
The characters, who are easily identifiable by their clothing and facial features, pop up in 

several scenes throughout the chapel as the stories unfold.

Here we see Peter sitting inside a house warming his hands and feet over a fire while

he chats to the ladies. A man leans over and grabs Peter by his shoulder 

and accuses him of being a friend of Jesus.

To the right of the painting we see Peter leaving through an arched doorway, his hand is clinched by his eyes, (perhaps to hide his tears) and above his head on the wall a rooster is crowing.

"Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times." 

And he broke down and wept."  (Mark 14:72)

The devil removes the soul from Judas Iscariot

Judas took betrayal a step further by revealing Jesus, with a kiss, 

to the temple guards in the Garden of Gethsemane.

But at least he felt the appropriate degree of remorse for his actions. 

Allegedly he flung his reward of thirty pieces of silver to the ground and hung

 himself from an elder tree (Sambucas Nigra, where grow fleshy edible fungus
 called Judas ears or Jew's ears (Auricularia auricula-judae),
(which incidentally taste very good when boiled in milk).

As a child I had always felt sorry for Judas,

 especially as I had been led to believe that he'd burn in an eternal hell for killing himself.
Whether he would burn in eternal hell for betraying Jesus wasn't mentioned,
 although the crime could have been expiated through confession.

 Had I been his judge I would have accepted his personal declaration
of regret and forgiven him whatever.

A little bit lifted from Wikipedia-
"Despite his notorious role in the Gospel narratives, Judas is still somewhat of an ambivalent figure in Christian history. Judas' betrayal, for instance, set in motion the events that lead to Jesus' Crucifixion and Resurrection, which, according to traditional Christian theology, brought salvation to humanity. Gnostic texts actually praise Judas for his role in triggering humanity's alleged salvation, and view Judas as the best of the apostles.^[2] Furthermore, the Roman Catholic Church has never officially stated that it believes Judas is in Hell for his actions."

I wish I had heard about the Gnostic texts earlier in my life,
as I have been fretting over the unfair treatment of Judas ever since I was a little child.
Wikipedia is just the greatest.

Dice were possibly invented 5000 years ago in Iran and have been used
for 'casting lots' as an aid in decision making,
in games for children and most lucratively, in craps in Las Vegas.

After Jesus was nailed to the cross, the soldiers threw dice to see 

who would win Jesus' fine cloak. The cloak, or bits of the cloak,
now are in Trier, Argenteuil, or in Mtskheta, Georgia. (Where, I have just learned, it was brought back after the crucifixion by a priest with the same name as my son, Elias).

more Wikipedia lifting-

“Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments (ta himatia) and divided them into four parts, to every soldier a part, and the coat (kai ton chitona). Now the coat was without seam, woven whole from the top down. Therefore, they said among themselves, let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it will become. Thus the saying in Scripture was fulfilled: they divided My raiment (ta imatia) among them, and upon My vesture (epi ton himatismon) did they cast lots” (John 19:23-24; quoting the Septuagint version of Psalm 21 [22]:18-19).