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THE THREE KING'S GOLD,
FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
MADONNA AND THE INFANT JESUS
TIIE BULLETIN, December 27, 1958—PAGE 1-B
(Condensed and reprinted by
permission from The Advocate
Melbourne, Australia)
A quarter of a century ago
when American visitors to Aus
tralia were quite rare, we were
visited by a certain Thomas Ho
gan of the United States who
was also a poet.
Since those days, I fancy, no
one has heard much of Mr. Ho
gan even in the homeland to
which he returned and here in
Australia we have heard nothing
at all. Yet while he was visiting
us, he coruscated beyond the
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usual with visitors and con
tributed to Catholic papers quite
a few poems that seemed to me
to be the real thing. Thus this
in its simplicity about my par
ticular and present-day theme:
Three Eastern Kings carne jour
neying their Savior to behold,
And one of them brought
frankincense and one of them
brought gold,
But one of them hid bitter
myrrh within his garments’
'fold.
Then he who brought the
frankincense his Savior bowed
before
And he who came with yellow
gold kneeled on the stable
floor,
But he who brought the bitter
myrrh remained without 'the
door.
For frankincense they give to
God in ancient land of Ur,
And gold is for the crown of
kings; but men must drink
the myrrh:
And he had brought the
bitterness to offer unto her.
Then she who knew the sword
must come as Simeon foretold,
In gentle accents bade him place
the myrrh beside the gold—-
“For in my Son, though God
and King, the Son of Alan
behold.”
SYMBOLISM
That poem still seems ad
mirable to me except for the
idea of drinking myrrh. When
I first read it, it shone with an
added splendor because that was
the first time I really noticed
the symbolism of Frankincense
for Divine Worship, Gold for
Kingship, and Myrrh for Suf
fering (according to Thomas
Hogan).
Yet this symbolism is cen
turies old in the Church, except
that Myrrh is usually taken to
refer to death and burial. Thus,
about 1370, the Carmelite Prior,
John of Hildesheim, published
his Hisloria Trium Regum, and
wrote:
TREASURES AND GIFTS
“Of all his treasures Melchoir
brought out only the gold, Gas-
par, incense and Balthassar the
Ethiop, only myrrh: which he
laid with the other gifts on the
manger beside the Baby’s head.
Right so did it happen thus,
for by these three they showed
forth in Christ His Divine Maj
esty, His Kingly Power and His
Human Mortality. For incense
pertains to worship, gold to trib
ute and myrrh to death and
burial. And all these gifts we
re-offer when by Faith, we af
firm Him to be Very God, Very
King and Very Man.”
This Carmelite “History of
the Three Kings” was, of course,
not history at all, but folklore—
in religious matters the medevi-
al equivalent of the modern
novel for the entertainment of
the masses — wherein imagina
tion played delightfully round
about the things really in the
Scriptures and embellished
them.
Who was the worse for it?
Certainly not the writers nor the
painters who revelled like An
gelico, Gaddi and Bennozzi in
the exotic glory of the eastern
kings. To the painters the tall
Negro they made of Balthassar
was especially a gift for color,
and contrast, and after all, are
not the tallest people in the
world today to be found still
in Ethiopia?
COMMONPLACE IDEA
Well, there you have the sym
bolism attached to gold, frank
incense and myrrh emplicated
by a poet of the fourth century,
and the idea is also a common
place with certain of the early
Fathers of the Church. No
doubt, save for the literal
minded, it is implicit in Holy
Scripture itself.
Other things to be found in
the Carmelite Prior’s book are
the imputation of the three
kings, of India (whereof His
Araby formed part), a great deal
about the star itself as it ap
peared to them and, of course,
their names.
MYSTERIOUS WORDS
Wherever the three names
came from originally I havent’
the faintest idea, though the last
king of Babylon from whom
Daniel interpreted the mysteri
ous words: Mens, mene, tekel,
upharsin: could pass as a Balt
hassar even though he doesn’t
seem to have been of very good
repute and by inference deserv
ed his fate at the hands of the
Medes and the Persians.
John of Hildesheim’s three
kings, on the other hand, were
not only Magi but Christian
saints by popular acclamation.
For he told of them that when
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The above painting hangs in the National Gallery in London. It is from the school of Andrea Del
Verrochio and is used as a full-page illustration in “The Catholic Bible in the St. Peter’s Edition”
published by Hawthorn Books.
St. Thomas the Apostle went to
India to preach the gospel, he
baptized the three and finally
consecrated them bishops.
They served Christ well for
many years and departed this
life, each over a hundred years
old, in the same month and in
the same year. Despite the long
evity of bishops that doesn’t
seem at all probable, although
it must be added in John’s fa
vor, that nowadays it is wide
ly accepted that St. Thomas
did in fact preach the Gospel in
India — an event that sceptical
centuries wouldn’t hear of.
Modern archaeological re
search has unearthed startling
evidence in Southern India of
quite an extensive intercourse
between India and the lands of
the Roman Empire in classical
times.
APPEAL TO PAINTERS
In John’s account the star that
announced the birth of Christ to
the East was in the form of a
cross surrounded by flashing
rays and bearing in its centre
the figure of a young child. This
idea goes back to the Syrian
theologian and poet of Our Lady
St. Ephrem, of the Fourth Cen
tury, and its appeal to painters
is obvious.
John of Hildesheim was, of
course, of Germany; hence it is
worthy of remark that the cel
ebration of the Three Kings and
their gifts has attached itself in
a special way to the city of
Cologne whose fine cathedral
supposedly contained their rel
ics. These were brought to Con
stantinople by St. Helena, the
mother of Constantinople the
Emperor, and went from there
to Milan whence they were tak
en to Cologne in 1164 with great
ceremony by Raynaldus, the
Archbishop-designate.
All told, there has always
been something mythical and
magical about the Magi, the
manner of their calling to Beth
lehem, and their gifts. If the
shepherds from the fields have
been especially dear to children
and to farmers and the general
ity of men, painters and poets
have ever taken the Magi to
their hearts.
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Carol your joy that the
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Stooped to talk to men!
Carol your joy that peace,
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Echoed on hill and glen!
Sing that the shepherds
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To seek a Savior, far,
That wise men were wise to
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The meaning of a star!
Stable and stall and manger
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Have given you reason to
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