News Item: : United in Christ
(Category: Torch of The Faith News)
Posted by admin
Tuesday 04 April 2017 - 11:21:26

The Burton Constable Crucifix (please forgive picture quality here).

There was a moving story involving an antique crucifix recently on the BBC's Antiques Roadshow. The episode in question was recorded at Burton Constable Hall near Hull.

If that name sounds familiar, it could be because the historic manor house gets a mention in Herman Melville's famous 1851 novel, Moby Dick.

Melville wrote: ''... at a place in Yorkshire, England, Burton Constable by name, a certain Sir Clifford Constable has in his possession the skeleton of a Sperm Whale... Sir Clifford's whale has been articulated throughout; so that like a great chest of drawers, you can open and shut him, in all his long cavities - spread out his ribs like a gigantic fan - and swing all day upon his lower jaw. Locks are to be put upon some of his trap doors and shutters; and a footman will show round future visitors with a bunch of keys at his side. Sir Clifford thinks of charging twopence for a peep at the whispering gallery in the spinal column; threepence to hear the echo in the hollow of his cerebellum; and sixpence for the unrivalled view from his forehead.''

Even today, visitors to the fine manor house, gardens and orangery can still view the vast cetacean skeleton in the Great Barn of the Stable Block. The place is full of interesting curios and well worth a visit.

The small crucifix mounted on the wall of the manor's chapel may be a lesser known treasure, but it has its own inspirational story to tell.

The antique crucifix belonged to the Catholic Cecil Chester Constable, who wore it around his neck throughout his life. His heartwarming story was shared with the Antiques Roadshow by Cecil's great-grandson Jack.

In the very opening days of the First World War in 1914, Cecil had been captured by the Germans at the age of 21. That meant he had to spend the duration of that dreadful period as a prisoner of war.

When he again found himself fighting the Germans in the Second World War, Cecil apparently vowed not to be taken prisoner ever again. And so, when surrounded by Germans in May 1940, he was last seen by his men going out with his pistol to give battle to the last.

Cecil was sadly shot down by an SS unit which was operating in the area.

Remarkably, in spite of his SS war service, one of the men who found Cecil was a devout Catholic called Alfons Dahlhoff. He was a young German grenadier with the rank of Lance Corporal.

Gefr. Alfons Dahlhoff.

Dahlhoff spotted the crucifix around Cecil Chichester Constable's neck and, as a fellow Catholic, gave him comfort and support in his last moments on this earth. In that time, Cecil was able to give his crucifix and his last letters home to Dahlhoff.

Several months later, the Constable family at Burton Constable Hall received a package containing Cecil's crucifix, final letters and also a covering letter from Alfons Dahlhoff's mother in Germany.

Frau Dahlhoff explained that, although she knew the two countries were still at war, she wanted Cecil's family to have the comfort of knowing that their son had died in the arms of a fellow Catholic.

She went on to explain that young Alfons had managed to get the crucifix and letters to her, before he had himself also been killed in action just a few weeks later.

Frau Dahlhoff asked the Constable family to, please, pray for the soul of her son Alfons.

The story Jack shared with the BBC, and the manner in which he did this, provided a touching account of faith, family, love and genuine humanity during the hardest of times in an often cruel world.

It was also a great testimony to the Catholic Faith, which has the power to unite even enemies through the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Although the theological context is clearly different, one cannot help but call to mind those timeless words of St. Paul in Ephesians 2:14: ''For he is our peace, who has made both one, and breaking down the middle wall of partition, the enmities in his flesh.''

The story of those spirited Catholics Cecil Chichester Constable and Alfons Dahlhoff was an inspirational one.

May they rest in Christ's peace.

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This news item is from Torch of The Faith
( http://www.torchofthefaith.com/news.php?extend.1601 )