memling 5

It seems to be a kind of heavenly setting.

The Virgin's throne room, something of that nature.

These saints lived at different times.

Saint Catherine of Alexandria had a vision... 

in which she saw the Christ Child, putting a ring on her finger.

In that sense, she becomes in a way the examplar for all of the nuns...

or in this case, the hospital sisters, who are brides of Christ.

The Lady in green is Saint Barbara...

They are all martyrs, three of these saints were killed.

They tried to kill Saint John Evangelist too, they boiled him in oil, but he survived...

It is believed that you can call upon a martyr to help you have a good death!

Because martyrs have the best death of all, they are baptised with their blood.

They go directly to heaven, they do not pass purgatory.

They were assured of entry into heaven.

Barbara's tower is actually a monstrans, here.

There is a sort of cilindrical glass container within.

And you can see the circular, rounded shape of a host.

Or we could call it a ciborium...

In those they would keep the reserve hosts.

And they were sometimes called 'towers', 'turris'...

Reserve hosts are the left overs of consecrated hosts.

You would need them in the hospital, while someone might be in danger of death...

and one perhaps hasn't the time to go through the whole mass...

You remember that the Mass re-enacts the crucifixion.

An earns merits for salvation, and salvation is what it is all about.

John Evangelist...

The story goes that he had to drink wine that was poisoned.

But than he made the sign of the cross...

So there is a kind of eucharistic connection.

You have the chalice, and at the same side the tower with the host.

[bron]