Religious Place Names

Zell am See, Austria: Zell mean "monastic cell" in German, so this id "Cell on the sea."

Mughar an-nasara, Jordan: This is an archeological site near the ancient Nabataean stone carved city of Petra. "Nasara" (a reference to "Nazarene") means "Christians" in Arabic, so this is the "Caves of the Christians."

el-Kab, Egypt: Nekhbet was the ancient Egyptian vulture goddess and the town named for her wss Nekheb. The name survives as el-Kab.

Gaya, Bihar State, India: Gayasura is the Sanskrit name of a Hindu demon.

Vestavia Hills, Alabama State, United States of America: Vesta is the Latin name of the Roman goddess of the hearth.

Place Names of Religious Origin

Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch, Wales:

This 58 letter place name translates into English as “Parish [church] of [St.] Mary (Llanfair) [in] Hollow (pwll) of the White Hazel [township] (gwyn gyll) near (go ger) the rapid whirlpool (y chwyrn drobwll) [and] the parish [church] of [St.] Tysilio (Llantysilio) with a red cave ([a]g ogo[f] goch).” This is the longest place name in Europe but is only the second longest one word place name on Earth. The longest is an 85 letter Maori place name in New Zealand.

Judenberg,Austria: “Juden” in German means “Jews.” This name means “Jewish Mountain.”

Hissop, Alabama, USA: Hysoppus is a flowering plant mentioned in the Bible at Exodus 12: 21-22. It is a member of the mint family used in the Passover rites.

Lis Escop, Cornwall, England: “Escop” is the Cornish word for “bishop,” so this is the “court of the bishop.”

Donaghee, Northern Ireland: The name of this town reflects its origin as the Irish word “donhnach,” which translates in English as “church.”

Dutch Prince Survives Avalanche

Prince Friso of Orange Nassau (born 1968), a son of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands was almost killed on Friday 17 February 2012 while skiing off marked trails in Austria.  The sport is considered to be especially dangerous because rescue personnel and equipment are not readily available in such areas and, since the areas are not developed, access is very limited.  Prince Friso was caught in an avalanche and was buried under several feet of snow.  He is in critical but stable condition at a hospital in Innsbruck.  The members of the family are Protestant Christians.  Please pray for Prince Friso's recovery.

Onward Christian Soldiers

"Onward Christian Soldiers " is a traditional English hymn written in the 19th century and still in use today worldwide.  It has no reference to the Crusades.  The lyrics were written by Sabine Baring-Gould (1834-1924), an Anglican priest, as a processional hymn for children who marched from Horbury Bridge to Horbury St. Peter's Church near Wakefield in Yorkshire.  Baring-Gould served as an Anglican priest in Horbury.

He wrote the lyrics (1865) in fifteen minutes and declared, "It was written in great haste, and I am afraid that some of the lines are faulty."  Modern hymnbooks use his original text, which was written to fit the Symphony in D, No. 15 of Joseph Haydn (1732-1809).

The modern music of the hymn was written by Arthur Sullivan as the tune "St. Gertrude."  Sullivan is famed as the second half of the Gilbert and Sullivan songwriting team.

Some see the song as militaristic (as in the Crusades) and have opposed its use.  It was removed from the Australian Hymnbook in 1888 and 1988 and from the 1990 hymnal of the Presbyterian Church (USA).  An unsuccessful attempt was made to remove it from the United Methodist Hymnal.  What the hymn actually is is a reference to the New Testament ideal of being a soldier for Christ (2 Timothy 2:3).

The two men associated with the hymn were both British Anglicans, but they provide a clear contrast in their lives.

Sabine Baring-Gould (1834-1924) was an Anglican priest, , hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist,  hymnist, Basque translator, and scholar with over 1240 publications.  He was married to one woman and was the father of fifteen children.

Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842-1900) was a lover of British church music from an early age.  As an adult he made his living from teaching music composition, as an organist, and as a composer (operas, orchestral music, ballets, chamber music, oratorios, piano compositions, and hymns).  He was knighted in 1883.  In his personal life: he never married, but had numerous torrid sexual relationships with multiple women, often at the same time; in one case, with two sisters.  He was believed also to be bisexual, as evidenced by this cartoon from Punch magazine (1880, Punch's Fancy Portraits - no, 5).

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Hello, Austria!

Hallo, Österreich! Willkommen in der Gruppe von Lesern 70-8 anderen Ländern, dieauch unter diesem Blog. Ich hoffe, Sie finden einige der Stellen für nützlich odersinnvoll.

Der "Diese Seite übersetzen " Gadget direkt über dem "Total Pageviews" Counterhat die Fähigkeit, für die Übersetzung des englischen Textes dieses Blogs direkt ins Deutsche.


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Selling the Confessional on eBay

Roman Catholic Priest Otto Weber needed cash for his Hirschstetten Parish in Vienna-Donaustadt, Austria, and had few ways to get it.  Then he had an idea!  He could go on eBay and offer up one of his confessional boxes for sale.  He knew the box would be a hard item to sell so he offered up some ideas for alternate uses for the thing.  It could be converted into a one person sauna, a small bar, or a children's playhouse, among other things.

Over two hundred offers were made, the largest being by some joker for 666 euros.  For those who don't know, 666 is the biblical number of The Beast, the Antichrist.

Church authorities were not amused and told Weber that "it is not acceptable to sell objects used in administering a sacrament..."

If you're interested in reading more about this, go to Google or Bing (or your favorite search engine) and enter search parameters like "Austria & confessional & Vienna."  On Google Search, I got 179 hits using this search set.