Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Weathervane Wednesday ~ The Family Church in Madrid

It's Weathervane Wednesday!

I post a series of weather vane photographs every Wednesday.  This started with images of weathervanes from the Londonderry, New Hampshire area, but now I've found interesting weather vanes all across New England and across the globe.  Sometimes my weather vanes are whimsical, or historical, but all are interesting.  Often my readers tip me off to some very unique or unusual weathervanes, too!  If you know a great weather vane near you, let me know if you'd like to have it featured on this blog.

Today's weather vane was photographed in Spain.

Do you know the location of weathervane post #314?  Scroll down to find the answer.




The Roman Catholic church of San Anonio de Cuatro Caminos is located at 150 Bravo Murillo in Madrid, Spain.  It is operated by the Capuchin monks who first lived in this neighborhood in 1934, on a site that had been once a monastery of Mercedarian nuns, but destroyed during the Spanish Civil War. This church building was constructed in 1944 with the financial assistance of Dña. María del Carmen Fernández de Córdoba y Pérezde Barradas, Condesa de Gavia. 

This church is one block from where Vincent’s grandparents have lived since the 1960s, near the corner of Bravo Murillo. I have been visiting here since 1983, and have attended mass at this church with the family for many holidays.  This year was the first time I noticed a weathervane on the tower above the church entrance.  No one else in the family had ever noticed the weathervane either until Vincent took this photo in March 2017! 

Weathervanes on churches are relatively rare in Madrid.  This one is very appropriately a fish.  The fish has been a Christian symbol since the earliest days of the church, and is often seen on weathervanes in New England, too.   In Greek, the word Ichthys (fish) is an acrostic for “Jesus Christ, son of God, Saviour”.  The fish was also a symbol in the Gospels (several apostles were fishermen, Jesus fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fish, the resurrected Christ is offered grilled fish as a meal, etc.)  Ancient Roman carvings feature the Christian fish symbol (made of two arcs), as well as bumper stickers today.


Views inside the San Antonio church


  
The website for the parish of San Antonio de Cuatro Caminos: https://parroquiasanantoniodecuatrocaminos.wordpress.com/     

Click here to see the entire series of Weathervane Wednesday posts!


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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday ~ The Family Church in Madrid", Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 7, 2017, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/06/weathervane-wednesday-family-church-in.html: accessed [access date]).

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