An altarpiece. Painted on wood, representing Saint Michael.
On the morning of June 9, 1210, a small contingent of soldiers approached the town抯 outer walls. The main attack force was over a hundred kilometers away, ravaging the Languedoc, rooting out heretics, killing Cathars. The Albigensian Crusade was proceeding, town after town falling. This group was a special contingent selected by the Dominicans to carry out a clandestine operation under direct orders from the pope. They抎 broken from the main army and traveled south, staying off the roads, making their way past the forested foothills and up into the mountains.
Waiting for them on the path ahead stood a man wearing a faded bonnet. He had a lean face, close-shaven like a priest, with a blue jowl and a long chin, the eyes small and deep-set. One of those inscrutable Spanish faces that suggested much and told little. He was clearly aged, but walked with a springy step, shifting on his feet like a cat. They抎 been warned about him. Half priest, half villain, superstitious, devout, a man who would knife anybody for a silver coin. No surprise that he was the first to greet them.
揥e are here for les Vautours,?one of the soldiers called out.
The old man waved them off. 揕eave. Now. You are wasting your time.?
None of them were in the mood for defiance. They抎 experienced enough of that over the past few months, and their response had always been the same.
揇eal with him,?the Dominican who抎 come south with them ordered.
Two of their number drew swords and advanced, skewering the old man.
The body dropped to the dusty road.
The contingent proceeded ahead through the open gate, into a small central square. The people here existed in relative isolation, belonging to nobody but themselves, the long uphill trek more of a barrier than a link with the outside world. Living here with the wind, and the menace of the rocky heights, it was easy to understand how the residents became comatose, shut out, buried into themselves.
Unafraid.
揗ove out,?the Dominican said, 揳nd bring everyone you find to the church.?
Kelsey sat still in the chair, listening to her prioress. 揇id they find anyone??
揟he locals had seen the soldiers coming, so most had hidden themselves away. They managed to find one woman, whom they dragged screaming from her children. They cut off her ear and tossed it in the main square, with an announcement that if the villagers did not surrender themselves, more parts of her would be severed. An hour later they cut the other ear off. Still, no one appeared. They were about to cut her hand off when the residents surrendered. Each was questioned. None provided a shred of information. So the women were raped, then everyone was slaughtered.?
She was shocked. 揥hat were they after??
揟he Chapel of the Maiden,?the prioress said. 揟he women of Las Illas had once been la garde d抙onneur. The guard of honor. Protecting it. But the crusaders were ill informed since, by the time they arrived, that duty had long passed to others.?
Now she understood. 揟he Maidens of Saint-Michael??
The older woman nodded. 揟hey became the guardians.?
揙f what??
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which lay at the heart of the New Testament, were all penned by the beginning of the second century after Christ. Mark and John抯 accounts were silent as to Christ抯 birth. For them Jesus existed only as an adult, his adolescence never discussed. Mary was mentioned only in passing in one line of Mark. Luke and Matthew dealt with Christ抯 birth and referenced Mary, but neither delved into her origins or subsequent life. Instead, she appears as a woman, ready to accept the virgin birth as the wife of Joseph. In none of the Gospels was Mary ever a constant companion of her son. In fact, mentions of her were rare. Mark, Luke, and John recounted the crucifixion with no mention of Mary. Only John placed her at the foot of the cross, and the apostle Paul never named her in any of his famed letters.
The Council of Nicaea in 325 started the notion of Mary being a virgin, enthroned beside the Lord as a bridge between heaven and earth. It also bestowed upon her the title Mother of God. Theotokus in Greek. A fragment of a prayer found from then on papyrus proclaimed, Mother of God, hear my supplication, suffer us not to be in adversity, but deliver us from danger. Thou alone. The logic became easy. If Christ was God, then Mary was the Mother of God. The great theologian Saint Augustine reinforced this notion when he wrote that no one, save for Mary, had been born without sin.
She alone was pure.
For biblical support they looked to Revelation. Chapter 12. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And she being with child cried, traveling in birth, and pained to be delivered. Further chapters noted that the child was to rule all nations, caught up unto God and to his throne, equating that with Christ, the crowned woman his mother.