This is truly despicable and sad.
Vandals have destroyed one of the most celebrated Christian pilgrimage sites in Britain and chopped down a tree said to have sprouted from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea 2,000 years ago.
The Holy Thorn Tree of Glastonbury, Somerset, is visited by thousands every year to pay homage and leave tokens of worship. Those visiting today were moved to tears on finding the tree cut to a stump.
The sacred tree is unique in that it blossoms twice a year – at Christmas and Easter – and sprigs taken from the thorn are sent to The Queen each year for the festive table.
The Mail Online has some history
BROUGHT TO LIFE BY JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA, CHOPPED DOWN BY CROMWELL’S ROUNDHEADS, REBORN THANKS TO LOCALS
oliver cromwellChristian legend dictates that Jesus’s great uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, came to Britain after the crucifixion 2,000 years ago bearing the Holy Grail – the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper.
He visited Glastonbury and thrust his staff into Wearyall Hill, just below the Tor, planting a seed for the original thorn tree.
Roundheads felled the tree during the English Civil War, when forces led by Oliver Cromwell (pictured) waged a vicious battle against the Crown.
However, locals salvaged the roots of the original tree, hiding it in secret locations around Glastonbury.
It was then replanted on the hill in 1951. Other cuttings were also grown and placed around the town – including its famous Glastonbury Abbey.
Experts had verified that the tree – known as the Crategus Monogyna Bi Flora – originated from the Middle East.
A sprig of holy thorns was taken from the Thorn tree by Glastonbury’s St Johns Church on Wednesday and sent to the Queen.
The 100-year-old tradition will see the thorns sit on Her Majesty’s dinner table on Christmas Day
Very very sad.
December 9, 2010 at 7:09 pm
Hopefully, the tree can be regrown from seeds like it was the last time. The government should declare this tree a national mounment or shrine and severely pnish anyone who does something like this in the future. Juscot
December 9, 2010 at 8:32 pm
I just can't understand why anyone would do such a thing.
Another thing I wonder: will this get as much attention as even the slightest possibility of "Islamophobia" in the press??
~Michelle Therese
December 9, 2010 at 8:55 pm
What is that thing around it, I wonder?
December 9, 2010 at 9:43 pm
Since Oliver Cromwell was a devoted Puritan, maybe it's still Protestant anti-Catholicism in modern day form?
December 9, 2010 at 11:57 pm
Me wonders: Why are incidents like this so symbolic?
December 10, 2010 at 12:35 pm
Where's the outrage from the LSM and Algore? Imagine what would be occurring if an Islamic symbol were desecrated?
A happier note; we gather round each Advent the stump of Jesse in anticipation of a shoot springing forth and a branch out of his roots? We tell the Story of God in the Old Testament, and bring it anew into a new year with faithfulness. Dennis Bratcher calls "the Branch a biblical sign of newness out of discouragement, which became a way to talk about the expected messiah (for example, Jer 23:5). It is therefore an appropriate symbol of Jesus the Christ, who is the revelation of the grace and faithfulness of God".
December 10, 2010 at 4:56 pm
For some background on this tree, I recommend The Flowering Hawthorn
by Hugh Ross Williamson (published by Neumann Press).
December 12, 2010 at 3:44 am
Satan is working SO INCREDIBLY HARD these days, isn't he? Too bad he just can't get the point that what he has to offer, hatred and misery, does not have anything remotely close to the to the power of love and goodness and give it a rest.
December 13, 2010 at 6:28 am
It's been regrown from cuttings before. They didn't manage to burn it, so it can come back.
I still want to box the ears of 'em….
December 23, 2010 at 2:20 am
Good evening,
Definitely spread seeds around the world to germinate. Yes, keep the original tree and roots, too.
Father Antonio Margil de Jesus had placed a cane of his in ther ground, I believe in Mexico, and it grew into a tree that bore miniature crosses instead of leaves.
The website: http://www.traditioninaction.org has the information about Fr. Margil.
Do not give up the fight.
tu Iesu per Mariae,
Merry Christmas!