Whatzit?

[MurphOnMillerAve]

The Saint Francis Xavier Church speaks , to me at least, of the great joy and love they received and returned.

[webenda]

A Seraph of the Seraphim?

No, not enough wings.

"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew."
--Isaiah 6:1-2, New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

Hint: they are placed to face the nave.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Do you refer, simply, to Guardian Angels ?

Or they could well be Cherubim: (" to be near"); bodyguards; courtiers (considering that the Nave leads to the Sanctuary and its Tabernacle.)

You've made a key point with your mentioning of their placement, as observed, in those churches, relative to a worshipper's making entrance into the edifice. I had taken such placement casually, matter-of-factly, but that can't be correct. Your taking particular notice identifies something significant. IMO.

[webenda]

Do you refer, simply, to Guardian Angels ?

Or they could well be Cherubim: (" to be near"); bodyguards; courtiers (considering that the Nave leads to the Sanctuary and its Tabernacle.)

You've made a key point with your mentioning of their placement, as observed, in those churches, relative to a worshipper's making entrance into the edifice. I had taken such placement casually, matter-of-factly, but that can't be correct. Your taking particular notice identifies something significant. IMO.

While I love your last answer, one of the Jesuit priests at San Xavier told me they were Nave Angels placed to symbolically watch over the flock.

Notice the hand position... what were they designed to hold? Lots of speculation exists. Which one to show here? I think this one:

THE MISSION OF SAN XAVIER DEL BAC
AN HISTORICAL GUIDE
BY ESTELLE LUTRELL
Librarian, University of Arizona
TUCSON, ARIZONA
F. E. A. Kimball, Stationer and Printer
1922

... two angels of life-size are hung. They are clad in draperies made' of canvas dipped in paint. Tradition has it that these are likenesses of the two daughters of the artist who decorated the interior. Each at one time held a silken banner on which appeared the words "Gloria in Excelsis Deo*'. These banners are still preserved but are only displayed at the feast of St. Francis which occurs on the third of December.

The 3rd of December is a Monday, the same day of the week I took the angel's picture. I hope I remember to go over and see if the banner is still hung on that day, 96 years after Estelle published her paper.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Do you refer, simply, to Guardian Angels ?

Or they could well be Cherubim

or........

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Rufy-babes, I was hoping you'd be pipe-ing in here on this thread sub-focus, at some point in these deliberations. I think I could actually hear you cringing as Wayne and I talked about such images and places, and here you are, once again, never disappointing.

However, considering, now, the image you have shared with us, what could she (he? it?) be protecting? Assisting?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Rufy-babes, I was hoping you'd be pipe-ing in here on this thread sub-focus, at some point in these deliberations. I think I could actually hear you cringing as Wayne and I talked about such images and places, and here you are, once again, never disappointing.

However, considering, now, the image you have shared with us, what could she (he? it?) be protecting? Assisting?

Consider that she could be in charge,

[webenda]

Do you refer, simply, to Guardian Angels ?

Or they could well be Cherubim

or........

Is that a Whatzit Rufus?

It is a Succubus.

What is a Succubus? A succubus is a demon in female form.

If it in charge, then it is the Queen of the Succubi.



And where do Succubi live? In the land of Niflheim, the violent hybrid sons who were the children of materialized angels and the daughters of men before the Flood.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I've heard it asserted that imagination is what distinguishes us, most particularly, among other abilities, from the animals.

[webenda]

Rufy-babes, I was hoping you'd be pipe-ing in here on this thread sub-focus, at some point in these deliberations. I think I could actually hear you cringing as Wayne and I talked about such images and places, and here you are, once again, never disappointing.

However, considering, now, the image you have shared with us, what could she (he? it?) be protecting? Assisting?

Consider that she could be in charge,

Exactly!

...the whole world is in the power of the evil one.

--1 John 5:19 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

[webenda]

I've heard it asserted that imagination is what distinguishes us, most particularly, among other abilities, from the animals.

And we are distinguished from the animals by being easily deceived.

[HONDO74]

I've heard it asserted that imagination is what distinguishes us, most particularly, among other abilities, from the animals.

And we are distinguished from the animals by being easily deceived.

I think we mostly just deceive our selves.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

It would appear so. And we sure can get imaginative with that self-deception. Yet, we still hold-out Hope.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

It would appear so. And we sure can get imaginative with that self-deception. Yet, we still hold-out Hope.

Well, if you're going to have delusions you might as well have really satisfying ones.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

It would appear so. And we sure can get imaginative with that self-deception. Yet, we still hold-out Hope.

Well, if you're going to have delusions you might as well have really satisfying ones.

But it's so hard to say.

As you know, and as we (all humanity) all know , it all comes down to two words:
The End
And humanity has been trying to figure that out for millennia - after the coffin lid closes, or the funeral pyre is consumed, we HOPE (or believe) there is a Next