The Guardians of Blythburgh

When tragedies strike, we wonder why. People ask: Why didn't God intervene? For Christians, there are no easy answers. Christian teaching suggests that each of us have a guardian angel, who looks after us in times of need. Yet where were God's guardian angels in 1577, when the legendary Black Shuck burst into Holy Trinity Church in Blythburgh, England, and killed a man and a boy?

These carved angels adorn the ceiling of Holy Trinity in Blythburgh. Even after centuries of existence there, their features can still be distinguished. The gentle restoration of the sanctuary preserves their beauty, without obscuring the way they have weathered the ages. So why didn't they prevent the death of two innocents on the day of the Black Shuck's attack, you ask?

Isn't a better question this: Why didn't the ghostly Black Shuck kill the entire congregation, instead of a man and a boy?

Either way, after the spectral beast's attack on Holy Trinity, the congregation took additional steps to ensure the Black Shuck would never terrorize them again. The local craftsmen created a Jack o' the Clock to protect their church. They set this additional guardian up in the church tower, where it could gaze out upon the surrounding land. 

If the Jack o' the Clock saw the Black Shuck, or any other danger approach, it could ring the church bell to alert the locals.

Still, the memory of an attack pervades a place. So these days, when worshippers kneel in prayer at Holy Trinity in Blythburgh, they not only look to the angels on the ceiling for protection, but to the Jack o' the Clock, who inhabits an alcove above the altar. He still rings his bell to call the faithful to worship.

 

Let's hope he never has to ring the bell for any other reason. 

Dragon Dave