Ralph of Longueville, panel 3
Window: nIII (Miracle Window: Pilgrimage and Healing)
Panel: 31
In the third and final panel of the story, Ralph returns to give thanks at Becket’s tomb for his recovery from leprosy.
The panel was heavily restored by Austin, who unfortunately gave Ralph a female head. Ralph’s present head is a 2023 replacement piece.
A remarkable feature of the final panel are the two wyverns (winged dragons with two legs) that are pictured at its top. Some of the late eleventh-century capitals in the cathedral’s crypt feature dragons, but these are the only ones in the cathedral’s stained glass. Ralph’s wyverns are omens of doom, signaling to the viewer that his leprosy would come back. Benedict tells us that Ralph stayed at the cathedral for months after his cure, but once he had gone home, he became a leper again, so much so that “no one ever existed more fouled by the contagion of leprosy.”
The panel was heavily restored by Austin, who unfortunately gave Ralph a female head. Ralph’s present head is a 2023 replacement piece.
A remarkable feature of the final panel are the two wyverns (winged dragons with two legs) that are pictured at its top. Some of the late eleventh-century capitals in the cathedral’s crypt feature dragons, but these are the only ones in the cathedral’s stained glass. Ralph’s wyverns are omens of doom, signaling to the viewer that his leprosy would come back. Benedict tells us that Ralph stayed at the cathedral for months after his cure, but once he had gone home, he became a leper again, so much so that “no one ever existed more fouled by the contagion of leprosy.”
Inscription
Visible in the panel
- InscriptionMagnificat grat[us][sanc] tum medicum medicatus
- TranslationThe cured and grateful man praises his saintly doctor.
Panel details
- CVMA identificationnIII.31
- Creation dateca.1213-1220
- Known conservations2023
Source text
Benedict of Peterborough, Miracles of St Thomas Becket
book IV, chapter 3
Then he brought back joy concerning himself to his friends. We had dismissed him corrupted with leprosy, and in the space of a month, we welcomed back a young man of most elegant form. Therefore from Pentecost almost to Advent he stayed with us, being most whole, healthy, handsome, and without a mark. At length he left us, as if he intended to travel to Jerusalem. When he reached home, however, I do not know by what hidden judgment of God, he was seen to be leprous to such a degree, that no one ever existed more fouled by the contagion of leprosy. The reason for his deterioration He knows, who said to him whom He had cured, "Behold, now you are healed: now sin no more, lest something worse happen to you" [John 5:14].
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