Status: Unlikely
A group of anti-development activists calling themselves the
Knights of Saint Edmund have hit upon an unusual way of stopping a shopping center from being built in their hometown, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. They're threatening to unleash the ancient Curse of St. Edmund upon the developers. Their website states that:
On St Edmund's day, the 20th November 2005, a formal and public cursing ceremony will take place at Bury St Edmunds to once again summon the avenging saint and dread King to punish his 21st century enemies. The ancient curse of St Edmund has not been used for over 500 years, but with the determination of developers to destroy the whole character of a town laid-out almost 1,000 years ago, leaves the good people of Bury St Edmunds with no other option. They will have to summon divine vengeance down upon those hell-bent on wrecking their town, unless Centros Miller Ltd., Miller Group and Debenhams unconditionally withdraw all their plans for redeveloping the cattle-market site by close of business on Friday 18th November 2005.
Victims of the Curse of St. Edmund have supposedly suffered some gruesome misfortunes, such as blindness, madness, syphilis, and being "eaten up inside by worms." However, the town historian of Bury St. Edmunds
denies that there is any legend of a curse: "They have no historical authenticity – there is no such thing as the curse of St Edmund." Still, you've got to give them credit for trying. Maybe there's some ancient American curse that can be used to stop Wal-Mart from opening more stores.
Comments
Antichrist - Bill Gates
Disney - Evil Empire
Barney - Satan's Minion
The work of saints is to bless, not to curse.
However, if there's some curse that can stop Walmart from spreading, I'm ready to try it.
I am afraid that it is you who have been hoaxed by the Borough of St Edmundsbury. The 'curse' of St Edmund is a very real phenomena as contemporary accounts testify to the Saint again and again defending his Shrine, Abbey, Rights, Person and Liberties. This has been often accompanied by extreme violence against those who violate his rights.
We have now included the references to the acts of our most glorious King and Martyr on the web-site and include them here for your readers.
References to those killed, maimed and injured by St Edmund
Abbo of Fleury Passio sancti Eadmundi Regis et Martyr (Arnold I 1890: 3-25) c.990
Herman the Deacon
I think you should check out the web-site
http://www.knightsofsaintedmund.com/news3.html
again for curse update
Max
St Edmund was the last Anglo-Saxon King of East Anglia who fought against the Viking invaders but was captured by them c.869. The Viking's offered Edmund the chance to live if he ruled as their puppet and abandoned his Christian faith. St Edmund refused to do either and so the Viking's tied him to a tree and used him for archery practice before cutting off his head and throwing it into the undergrowth of Hellesdon Wood near Norwich. After the Viking's left St Edmund's people found his head guarded by a Wolf who had protected the saint's head until his followers recovered it. When the head was placed in a coffin with the body it was reported that the head and the body join together miraculously, leaving only a thin red-line as a mark where Edmund had been beheaded.
The body was removed to a small chapel near by before being moved c.918-52 to the town of Bedericsworth where a new timber church was constructed by the people of East Anglia for the shrine of their martyred King. This church was later replaced by a small octagonal stone church by King Cnut c.1020, who staffed it with Benedictine monks and changing the town's name to Bury St Edmunds. Cnut's church was in turn replaced by a massive new St Edmund's Abbey church c.1097 whose ruins can still be seen today. By the end of the 12th century St Edmunds Abbey was one of the most important pilgrimage centres in Europe and thousands flocked to the shrine to of this patron saint of England seeking cures for illnesses or asking for the saint's help. The saint's body was at times of emergency was processed around the town and occasionally displayed so that people could wonder at its miraculous state of preservation.
Saint Edmund died defending the Christian faith and would not renounce his faith, which lead to his death. What would your definition of martyrdom be?
Please note that we have not personally cursed anyone, we have merely called upon the power of Saint Edmund. How he deals with these modern day invaders is entirely up to him...
Brother Geoffrey,
Knight of the Order of Saint Edmund.
Brother Geoffery surely needs a better range of shops to buy his christmas socks?!