It’s an interesting idea to have a literal gauntlet from the Prayer of St Michael the Archangel. Throwing down the gauntlet to the dark forces is a powerful piece of imagery. Not being terribly familiar with the prayer I turned up a bit of information: http://www.paranormal-encounters.com/wp/the-prayer-to-st-michael/ and http://www.ourcatholicprayers.com/the-saint-michael-prayer.html
I was surprised to find that this particular prayer was a fairly modern conceit, created in 1884 and used in mass until 1970 (Vatican II). The Renaissance gauntlet is a vivid prop and the “throwing down the gauntlet” as a knightly challenge is really a strong Victorian bit of Romanticism. It’s too bad gold is so pricey because it would be easy to electroplate the copper gauntlet and bring it up to the standards of an archangel. I can appreciate the difficulty in forming this piece of armor, even in soft copper and Hartnett has made a provocative item in an enjoyable gothic style of armor. I wish I could see the seal or sigil on the upper part of the gauntlet.
While poking around about Googling the wording of “St Michael’s gauntlet” I found an interesting facebook post about a leather worker named St Michael who makes gauntlets (among other things) and one worn by a death metal band.
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It’s an interesting idea to have a literal gauntlet from the Prayer of St Michael the Archangel. Throwing down the gauntlet to the dark forces is a powerful piece of imagery. Not being terribly familiar with the prayer I turned up a bit of information: http://www.paranormal-encounters.com/wp/the-prayer-to-st-michael/ and http://www.ourcatholicprayers.com/the-saint-michael-prayer.html
I was surprised to find that this particular prayer was a fairly modern conceit, created in 1884 and used in mass until 1970 (Vatican II). The Renaissance gauntlet is a vivid prop and the “throwing down the gauntlet” as a knightly challenge is really a strong Victorian bit of Romanticism. It’s too bad gold is so pricey because it would be easy to electroplate the copper gauntlet and bring it up to the standards of an archangel. I can appreciate the difficulty in forming this piece of armor, even in soft copper and Hartnett has made a provocative item in an enjoyable gothic style of armor. I wish I could see the seal or sigil on the upper part of the gauntlet.
While poking around about Googling the wording of “St Michael’s gauntlet” I found an interesting facebook post about a leather worker named St Michael who makes gauntlets (among other things) and one worn by a death metal band.
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