Wednesday, May 18, 2016

The unanswerable case for the canonisation of Richard III


Our text for this evening is 2 Kings 13:21
And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.
Miracles have long been associated with royal bones. So it is natural to see a connection between the reinterment of Richard III at Leicester Cathedral and Leicester City's miraculous winnig of the Premier League.

Just look at the evidence.

Richard was laid to rest in the cathedral on 26 March 2015 - I had been to pay my respects to the old boy the day before.

And how does Wikipedia describe subsequent events at the King Power stadium?
Despite the club being marooned at the bottom of the table for four-and-a-half months between late November and mid-April, the Foxes managed to put together a run of seven wins from their last nine fixtures to survive comfortably.
And they haven't stopped winning since.

To be canonised takes two miracles, so if count last season's survival as the first and this season's victory as the second, then Richard is home and dry.

A reader asks: Canonisation, eh? What about the Princes in the Tower? I don't call that very saintly.

Liberal England replies hurriedly: I'm afraid that's all we have time for.

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