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Rings in Ecclesiastical Usages: Thomas

Thomas Chillenden, fortieth Abbot of Canterbury, gave several pontifical rings to the abbey.

Thomas de la Chesnaye (died 1517) left, for the shrine of the Virgin at Rouen Cathedral, a ring garnished with a costly precious stone. Eustace Grossier, canon of the same cathedral, bequeathed, in 1534, his signet-ring to the shrine of St. Romain. Two years afterwards Jean de Lieur, another canon, left four rings to the shrine of the Virgin, 'où il y a en une, une petite esmaraude; en laultre une petite turquoise, en laultre ung petit saphir, et en laultre ung petit rubi.' In 1544 Etienne Burnel leaves to Our Lady a gold ring with a ruby enchased, and a pendant pearl; and to the shrine of St. Romain a gold ring with a diamond. Charles the Third (? Naples) took from his finger a ring of great value to adorn the golden canopy, enriched with precious stones, for the Host, in the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem.

Lady Morgan, in her 'Italy,' mentions the miraculous statue of the Virgin and Child at Loretto: 'The Bambino holds up his hand as if to sport a superb diamond ring on his finger, presented to him by Cardinal Antonelli : it is a single diamond and weighs thirty grains.' In the 'Annals of Ireland' we read that in 1421 Richard O'Hedian, Archbishop of Cashel, was accused, among other crimes, of taking a ring away from the image of St. Patrick (which the Earl of Desmond had offered) and giving it to his mistress.

Louis VII., of France, laid the first stone of the porch and two towers of the abbey church of St. Denis, in 1140. When the officiating minister pronounced the words 'lapides pretiosi omnes muri tui et turres, Jerusalem, gemmis ædificabunter,' the King took a costly ring from his finger, and threw it into the foundations. Several of the other persons present followed the example.

Saint Honoré, eighth Bishop of Amiens, in the sixteenth century, left his pastoral ring to the treasury of the cathedral, but it was sold by one of his successors, Bishop Gervain. It was afterwards repurchased and replaced in the treasury by Bishop Godefroy.

We read in the account of the spoliation of the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket, at Canterbury (temp. Henry VIII.), of a stone 'with an Angell of gold poynting thereunto, offered there by a King of France' (which King Henry put) 'into a ring, and wore it on his thumb.' The shrine blazed with gold and jewels; the wooden sides were plated with gold, and damasked with gold wire: cramped together on this gold ground were innumerable jewels, pearls, sapphires, balasses, diamonds, rubies, and emeralds, and also 'in the midst of the gold, rings, or cameos of sculptured agates, cornelians, and onyx stones.' The stone that the rapacious Henry took was said to be as large as a hen's egg, or a thumb-nail, and was commonly called the 'Regale of France' offered to the shrine by Louis VII. of France, when on a pilgrimage there.1 At the meeting of the Archæological Institute at Norwich in 1847 Sir Thomas Beevor exhibited a silver ring, with a zigzag tooling and the word ' + Dancas,' signifying a token of thanks, or acknowledgment of services received, or, possibly, an ex voto, in accordance with the common usage of suspending such ornaments near the shrines of saints, as appears in the inventories of St. Cuthbert's shrine, &c.

Adam Sodbury, fifty-third Abbot of Glastonbury, gave to the abbey, among other precious gifts, 'a gold ring with a 1 In 'A Relation, or rather True Account of the Islands of England,' about the year 1500 (Camden Society), the author, after describing the shrine of St. Thomas, at Canterbury, adds: 'Everything is left far behind by a ruby not larger than a man's thumb-nail, which is set to the right of the altar. The church is rather dark, and particularly so where the shrine is placed, and when we went to see it the sun was nearly gone down, and the weather was cloudy, yet I saw the ruby as well as if it had been in my hand. They say it was a gift of the King of France.' stone called Peritot, which was on the finger of St. Thomas the Martyr, when he fell by the swords of wicked men.' Among what may be called 'religious' rings, I would notice those which are termed decade,' 'reliquary,' 'pilgrims,' &c, some of which are highly interesting, and serve to show how, in past ages, the zeal of our forefathers was animated by these rings, or, as some would call them, these aids to superstition. In olden wills they are frequently mentioned as heir-looms of great value.