Blessed Sacrament Chapel
In addition, not to be missed is the Blessed Sacrament Chapel in the room
directly after the entry into Jerusalem. Once a broom closet, this is now a popular spot for prayer and
adoration before the reserved host. Notice the carvings on the doorways leading in and
out of the small room. Above the doorway are three shields signifying
religious centers of Christendom: Jerusalem, Rome, and Canterbury. Surrounding this
doorway are the seven virtues and seven corresponding vices:
- Humilitas (dove) – Superbia (peacock)
- Caritas (horn of plenty) – Avaritia (miser)
- Castitas (unicorn) – Luxuria (wolf)
- Patiential (lamb) – Ira (woman with dagger)
- Temperentia (centaur) – Voratcitas (fish)
- Misericordia (rose) – Invidia (bramble)
- Diligentia (bee) – Desidia (pig)
Above another leaving the Sacrament Chapel
are shields representing three ancient universities, Oxford,
Paris and Salamanca. Decorating the jambs are the seven liberal
arts...
- grammar
- dialectic
- rhetoric
- geometry
- arithmetic
- astronomy
- music
...and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, reminding all visitors that knowledge must be paired
with virtue:
- wisdom
- understanding
- counsel
- fortitude
- knowledge
- godliness
- holy fear
