Catholic folk legends from before Vatican II

[Pious]

How about the dogwood tree was the tree that Christ was crucified on and has the marks of Christ on its blooms?
Or, mane coon cats have an ‘M’ on their heads because Mary blessed the cat who cuddled up to the baby Jesus in the manger (this one i’d like to believe).

Or donkeys have the mark of a Cross on their backs from when they carried Jesus, and the haddock has a black mark that is believed to be the thumb print of Saint Peter or Christ.

Legend has it that the robin got it’s red breast when they took out the thorns from Christ’s head and got splashed with the Precious Blood.

 

[HashemEchad]

Gee! While I’ve been busy cleaning the house for Passover, you guys have been having fun!

I remembered another one my Mom used to tell me: she said that they told her in Catholic school that Peter was crucified upside down because he felt unworthy to be crucified in the same manner that Jesus was. I checked, and this story is not in the NT so I assume its a legend?

This will sound silly, but some of these legends (not the ones I posted, but some that others did) give me a nice feeling (esp. the ones by justaservant and Pious). My husband thinks they’re silly, and calls them “old wive’s tales”, but I see some nice sentiment in some of them (OK, maybe not the ones about Jews or Gypsies!)

I will tell you what happened the week my Mom died (last month)…in the 25 years that my husband and I have been married, he used to get annoyed with my Mom because she used to insist that “it always rains on Good Friday” (at least, where we live). He was determined to prove her wrong, so every GF, he waited it out so he could show her it did not rain, but it ALWAYS did! He felt she was being superstitious, and wanted to prove her wrong (he comes from a Protestant background, and although he converted to Judaism, he feels a lot of Jews and Catholics get too hung up on superstitions and “old wive’s tales”.)

Well…this past GF was the FIRST in all the years I have been alive that I can remember, when it not only did not rain, but it was very cheery, bright and sunny.

My husband noticed it before I did…he was spooked…he said, “Do you think God somehow honored your Mom’s belief, and made sure it rained every GF until after she died?”

I personally think so…it doesn’t matter to me that I’m Jewish, or that my mom converted to Judaism…I think God can and does use all religions to make His points sometimes.

 

[mark_a]

How about the dogwood tree was the tree that Christ was crucified on and has the marks of Christ on its blooms?

When I was a kid, I heard my (Baptist) say that because Jesus was crucified on a dogwood, and that the dogwoods were cursed to never grow large enough to crucify another.

Looking around, we both immediately observed that there are plenty of dogwoods large enough to crucify someone.

 

[mercygate]

Gee! While I’ve been busy cleaning the house for Passover, you guys have been having fun!

I remembered another one my Mom used to tell me: she said that they told her in Catholic school that Peter was crucified upside down because he felt unworthy to be crucified in the same manner that Jesus was. I checked, and this story is not in the NT so I assume its a legend?

Actually, that one is a very strong tradition and has been borne out by the bones of St. Peter identified some 30 years ago from their resting place in the necropolis underneath St. Peter’s Basilica.

 

[snhs]

1. Anyone who dies during Holy Week goes straight to heaven.

I heard that one just after Pope John Paul II died. I quite like that one actually. The one about St Peter being crucified upside down is true, the same way St Andrew was crucified sideways, just not included in the Bible.

 

[strngrnrth]

How about the dogwood tree was the tree that Christ was crucified on and has the marks of Christ on its blooms?
Or, mane coon cats have an ‘M’ on their heads because Mary blessed the cat who cuddled up to the baby Jesus in the manger (this one i’d like to believe).

I though the dogwood sprang up where crist’s blood dropped and that was why it had pink flowers?

It’s not just Mainers who have M’s on their heads. Tabbies have M’s. Some tabby mixes have an M and no other stripes at all.

 

[mercygate]

I though the dogwood sprang up where crist’s blood dropped and that was why it had pink flowers?

It’s not just Mainers who have M’s on their heads. Tabbies have M’s. Some tabby mixes have an M and no other stripes at all.

The golden garden spider often writes “M” on the web. Once, when I was a kid, there was a great big ol’ web in the rose bushes one morning with the name, Mary, written out clearly in big letters.

Most of the legends on this thread crossed denominational lines and were not passed on exclusively by Catholics.

 

[strngrnrth]

The golden garden spider often writes “M” on the web. Once, when I was a kid, there was a great big ol’ web in the rose bushes one morning with the name, Mary, written out clearly in big letters.

Most of the legends on this thread crossed denominational lines and were not passed on exclusively by Catholics.

Cool!

 

[LilyM]

I heard that one just after Pope John Paul II died. I quite like that one actually. The one about St Peter being crucified upside down is true, the same way St Andrew was crucified sideways, just not included in the Bible.

St Andrew wasn’t crucified sideways, he was crucified on an x-shaped cross, but assuming one arm and one leg on each branch of the x with his torso in the middle there’s nothing ‘sideways’ about that.

And of course you can’t say they’re true - not like you were there to see their crucifixions!

 

[snhs]

St Andrew wasn’t crucified sideways, he was crucified on an x-shaped cross, but assuming one arm and one leg on each branch of the x with his torso in the middle there’s nothing ‘sideways’ about that.

And of course you can’t say they’re true - not like you were there to see their crucifixions!

I meant the cross was sideways as opposed to St Andrew, sorry. Its the way I’ve always thought of the Saltire, as a sideways cross hence the phrasing.

The fact that it has been the accepted story of St Peter that’s lasted till today, and has been passed down by Christians both orally and in various texts which mention it is good enough for me. I also consider “Quo vadis?” to be true, for example.

Some people would argue truth is relative anyway, so what I consider true, or sufficient basis for accepting something as true, may not be the same as someone else. Completely up to you to set your own measure of it obviously . I don’t think we need to see something to be able to say its true though.

 

[HashemEchad]

Personally, I think if a story gives people comfort and makes them feel good, who cares if its just a legend?

I know that the story of St Veronica is supposedly false, but it sounds sweet, so who cares?

 

[Joe_Kelley]

I recall hearing someplace that Mary spread the Baby Jesus’ diapers on the myrtle bush during their flight to Egypt. Don’t remember the rest of the details.

There is also a legend that the Roman’s first planned to use a poplar or aspen tree for the crucifix, but then passed over it. Note that the leaves of that tree still shake it terror at the thought.

 

[SanJudas]

God save all here.

I’m surprised no one has mentioned the folk tale that claims that “animals can talk at midnight on Christmas Eve.” I remember as a little boy laying down next to the dog and waiting for midnight to hear what he would say.

 

[Marysann]

My mother, a Southern Baptist who converted to Catholicism when she was 70, always told us when we were children that if we ate hot cross buns on Good Friday, our house wouldn’t burn down during the next year. We did eat hot cross buns every year on Good Friday, and we never had a fire!

 

[elt1956]

Gee! While I’ve been busy cleaning the house for Passover, you guys have been having fun!

I remembered another one my Mom used to tell me: she said that they told her in Catholic school that Peter was crucified upside down because he felt unworthy to be crucified in the same manner that Jesus was. I checked, and this story is not in the NT so I assume its a legend?

This will sound silly, but some of these legends (not the ones I posted, but some that others did) give me a nice feeling (esp. the ones by justaservant and Pious). My husband thinks they’re silly, and calls them “old wive’s tales”, but I see some nice sentiment in some of them (OK, maybe not the ones about Jews or Gypsies!)

I will tell you what happened the week my Mom died (last month)…in the 25 years that my husband and I have been married, he used to get annoyed with my Mom because she used to insist that “it always rains on Good Friday” (at least, where we live). He was determined to prove her wrong, so every GF, he waited it out so he could show her it did not rain, but it ALWAYS did! He felt she was being superstitious, and wanted to prove her wrong (he comes from a Protestant background, and although he converted to Judaism, he feels a lot of Jews and Catholics get too hung up on superstitions and “old wive’s tales”.)

Well…this past GF was the FIRST in all the years I have been alive that I can remember, when it not only did not rain, but it was very cheery, bright and sunny.

My husband noticed it before I did…he was spooked…he said, “Do you think God somehow honored your Mom’s belief, and made sure it rained every GF until after she died?”

I personally think so…it doesn’t matter to me that I’m Jewish, or that my mom converted to Judaism…I think God can and does use all religions to make His points sometimes.

This one gave me a chuckle. God works in mysterious ways. Peace.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

. . .

I remembered another one my Mom used to tell me: she said that they told her in Catholic school that Peter was crucified upside down because he felt unworthy to be crucified in the same manner that Jesus was. I checked, and this story is not in the NT so I assume its a legend? . . .

I think that everything in the NT, except maybe the Gospel of John and Revelation, were written before St Peter’s crucifixion. Note that Acts ends with St Paul awaiting his first trial in Rome. I think that his last epistles may have been written while awaiting his second trial and execution, which happened at the same time as St Peter’s, if I remember correctly.

 

[Bastoune]

I think that everything in the NT, except maybe the Gospel of John and Revelation, were written before St Peter’s crucifixion. Note that Acts ends with St Paul awaiting his first trial in Rome. I think that his last epistles may have been written while awaiting his second trial and execution, which happened at the same time as St Peter’s, if I remember correctly.

I believe that since John in his account of the Gospel alludes to Peter’s martyrdom, that it was written after Peter was crucified. The account I believe is included in the “Ecclesiastical History” written/compiled by Eusebius of Caesarea in the 4th Century, but the upside crucifixion and martyrdom of Peter is mentioned in various writings from the 1st Century-4th Century, as if it were common knowledge among those to whom the Church leaders were writing:

newadvent.org/cathen/11744a.htm#IV

Someone also mentioned about Veronica being an invention, but actually, there are claims that the veil of Veronica (her real name was Seraphia, according to some accounts – “Veronica” was a mistake in understanding the Latin and Greek mixture of “true image”) which had been lost or stolen when St. Peter’s Basilica was being built upon the burial spot of St. Peter has been recovered:

newadvent.org/cathen/15362a.htm
prorege-forum.com/messages/778.html

 

[57classic]

And since Gypsies found thier origins in India, I wonder how they made it to the Holy Land in time to steal them?

The Romany People consider “Gypsy” as offensive as Black people consider the “n word”.

 

[HashemEchad]

The Romany People consider “Gypsy” as offensive as Black people consider the “n word”.

This is very true. The word is actually incorrect anyway, because the Romani people never came from Egypt, but people erroneously thought they did, hence the term, “Gypsies”.

I need to be careful myself when speaking about them, esp. since I count some Roma among my friends! One term people sometimes use is “he gypped me”, which is a prejudicial term referring to the belief that all Roma steal (they don’t.)

 

[DLT]

Hashem Echad, all religions, including the Jewish religion, have some folk tales which probably have no basis in fact. I heard when I was younger that deaths come in threes. It has always been the case for me. One year there were nine deaths of people I knew, which, of course, is three sets of three. Is it because I always count them in threes? I don’t know.
I have no other superstitions, though. I will even walk under a ladder, as long as there is nothing on top of it to fall on my head.