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| Please pray for the soul of Esther Clark. R.I.P. She gave a framed copy of this painting to the author in the 1980's. |
The work is offered on behalf of my family to Our Blessed Lady, Regina Martyrum et Consolatrix Afflictorum. For EEKPTEE&EA.
👈The Tears of St Peter (1587-1596)
El Greco (Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos) 1541-1614
Museo Soumaya at Plaza Carso, Mexico.
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- 101 -
O John! O James! wee made a triple corde,
Of three most loving and best loved friends:
My rotten twist was broken with a word,
Fit now to fuell fire among the fiends;
It is not ever true, though often spoken, [605]
That triple twisted corde is hardly broken.
Peter, James and John: the three of us were very close friends and shared so much together. We were bound to each other by love, like three strands bound together in one cord.
But when the word of a handmaid put me in fear for myself, my weak resolution was broken and I broke my word. I am fit now for nothing except to fuel the fires of Hell amidst Satan’s fiends.
It turns out that the old saying in Ecclesiastes is not true, a threefold cord is not easily broken.
Note. Matthew, Mark and Luke all include lists of the twelve Apostles. The list is customarily divided into three groups of four. In the first group, Peter is always shown as first, with James and John also included by all three Evangelists.
Peter, James and John are specifically mentioned by name as a group in the following references:
The raising of Jairus’ daughter: “And behold there came a man whose name was Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at the feet of Jesus, beseeching him that he would come into his house: For he had an only daughter, almost twelve years old, and she was dying.” [Luke viii. 41-42]
“And when he was come to the house, he suffered not any man to go in with him, but Peter and James and John, and the father and mother of the maiden.” [Luke viii. 51]The Transfiguration: “And after six days Jesus taketh unto him Peter and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart: And he was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun: and his garments became white as snow.” [Matt. xvii. 1-2]The Agony in the Garden: “Then Jesus came with them into a country place which is called Gethsemani; and he said to his disciples: Sit you here, till I go yonder and pray. [37] And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to grow sorrowful and to be sad. [38] Then he saith to them: My soul is sorrowful even unto death: stay you here, and watch with me.” [Matt. xxvi. 36-37]
James and John were brothers, nicknamed the “Sons of Thunder.” James was to be the first Apostle to be martyred. On the Cross, Christ entrusted His Blessed Mother to John’s care whilst asking His Mother to take John as her own son. John wrote his Gospel and the Apocalypse.
601. corde. cord. A string composed of several strands twisted or woven together. In this case, a triple corde because made up of three strands, representing Peter, James and John.
603. twist. Strand.
606. triple twisted corde is hardly broken. Vid. The Book of Ecclesiastes:
“a triple cord is hardly broken.” [1609-10. Douay-Rheims Ecclesiastes iv. 12]“ . . . a threefold cord is not easily broken.” [Ecclesiastes iv. 12]
hardly. adv. Not easily or readily; with difficulty. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Wisd. ix. 16 Very hardly can we discerne the thinges that are vpon earth. 1609-10 Douay-Rheims, Wisd. ix. 16. And we doe hardly coniecture the things that are in the earth :
Note. The 1609-10 annotations to chapter iv. of Ecclesiastes include the following lines about the triple cord:
“And if the Father, the Sonne , and the Holie Ghoft come withal , this fodalitie if not foone broken, yet that which is not foone broken, may fometimes be broken. For this triple cord was in Iudas the Apoftle, but because after the morfel the divel entered into h.m, this cord was broken.”
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- 102 -
The dispossessed devils, that out I threw
In Jesvs name, now impiously forsworne,
Triumph to see me caged in their mew,
Trampling my ruines with contempt and scorne: [610]
My perjuries were musick to their daunce,
And now they heape disdaines on my mischaunce.
I cast out devils from people who were possessed unclean spirits, doing so in the name of Jesus, the Holy Name I disavowed and repudiated in my denial. These same devils now rejoice to see me closely confined in their prison where they trample me with gleeful contempt for my downfall and ruin.
My betrayal of the Lord with oaths and curses was like music to their ears as they capered gloatingly and grotesquely; and now they spew their scorn on my wretched fate.
607. dispossessed. This refers in a primary sense to the fact that devils had been “dispossessed” or cast out from people who were possessed. It may also refer in an historic sense to the fallen angels’ loss through rebellion of their heavenly and eternal inheritance. Peter was to refer to this himself in his letters, e.g.,
“For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but delivered them, drawn down by infernal ropes to the lower hell, unto torments, to be reserved unto judgment:” [2 Peter ii. 4]
out I threw. There are numerous references to the casting out of spirits by Peter and the other Apostles, e.g.,
“And having called his twelve disciples together, he gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of diseases, and all manner of infirmities.” [Matt. x. 1]
608. impiously. In an impious manner; with impiety; with presumptuous wickedness or profanity.
1595 S. Daniel First Fowre Bks. Ciuile Warres iv. iii. sig. S4v Vngratefull times that impiously neglect That worth that neuer times againe shall shew.
forsworne. forsworn. Forswear. To deny or repudiate on oath or with strong asseveration.
“And again a maidservant seeing him, began to say to the standers by: This is one of them. But he denied again. And after a while they that stood by said again to Peter: Surely thou art one of them; for thou art also a Galilean.But he began to curse and to swear, saying; I know not this man of whom you speak.” [Matt. xiv. 69-71]
609. Triumph. ‘To rejoice for victory’; to be elated at another's defeat, discomfiture, or the like; 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms xciii[i]. 3 How longe shal the vngodly tryumphe?
mew. A place of confinement; a cage, a prison. 1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. v. sig. Q8 Captiu'd eternally in yron mewes, And darksom dens.
Trampling. trample. v. trans. To treat with contempt; to violate the claims or rights of; to domineer or tyrannize over; 1583 G. Babington Very Fruitfull Expos. Commaundem. ii. 112 [If] our heartes were not altogether so harde trampled and beaten as they are.
612. disdaines. disdain. The feeling entertained towards that which one thinks unworthy of notice or beneath one's dignity; scorn, contempt. 1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing iii. i. 51 Disdaine and Scorne ride sparkling in her eies, Misprising what they looke on.
With plural. An instance or exhibition of this. 1632 T. Hawkins tr. P. Matthieu Vnhappy Prosperitie 152 My disdaines have served my purposes.
mischaunce. mischance. a particular piece of bad luck, a stroke of misfortune; a mishap, an unlucky accident; spec. †an accidental injury or mutilation (obsolete). In early use also: †a state of unhappiness, an evil fate 1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. i. 7 When a man loseth an eye, an arme, or a legge; wee..do commonly say, it is a mischaunce.
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Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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