His Day

Woke to thunder and sprinklings of rain! Drove the hour and a bit to Elvas for a service to commemorate John the Baptist, whose day it is, and to whom the chapel at the English cemetery is dedicated.

Waited over an hour for the priest to turn up, but he never did. Meanwhile, heard more stories from Celia about the history of the place. 

After the chapel was restored, a priest eventually produced the three statues that belonged there, and had been put into safekeeping: Mary (with no hands), Nicholas (with no children), and John, with no clothes. So Celia went looking for some goat skin to make him some clothes, as camel hair wasn't available - she said it was extraordinarily hard to sew. And then the debate as to which hand to put his banner in - in my opinion, they've  got it wrong... 

Ecce Agnus Dei = Behold (the) Lamb (of) God


Lovely chat over lunch with some of the folk who stayed on. Eventually found out via our friend Padre Luís, that Padre Jerónimo hadn't died or anything, but had been doing hospital visiting and forgot - he's never forgotten before.

Had to take a long detour on the way home, as the road into Spain was blocked by a car that had turned over in the middle of the road; apparently the driver was OK.

Gratefuls:
- our car staying the right way up
- Netty and girls (and dog!) arriving safely from NY, via UK
- beds made up for our visitors arriving in Lisbon tomorrow (though we won't be back here until Friday)