Sanctuary

Article http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3073/can-i-seek-sanctuary-in-a-church

Describes some details of seeking Sanctuary but misses out on on a crucial element.

That is the loss of property for those who take the exile exit (actually, I’m not so sure you even need to take the exile exit to lose property)

Essentially, if you seek Sanctuary you also renounce all your temporal property. You get your life in exchage for losing all your property.

I’m not sure about the temporary sanctuary (40 days etc) but for the exile path you end up with only the clothes you wear in some foreign port.

Who gets your house/castle/chattels/servants/properties/titles is open.

Like reading a truly interesting history book. So simple to understand and yet makes me feel that I learned something really valuable. Now that I know about sanctuary, this subject will come up before me again and again. That’s the way this always works. Who was the famous character (movie) who cried out “Sanctuary!” Was that Quasimodo? My mind is feeble. I liked the comment about one’s properties and possessions. Makes sense.

Yes it was chiwoowa9, good memory.

The scene is here.

A column is obviously too short to give more depth on sanctuary in the ancient world, so I wanted to add a detail about the Spartan general Pausanias (~500BC). He was suspected of treason by siding with the Persians and fled to the temple of Athena to avoid arrest. The Spartans decided to wall up the temple and starve him to death.

“Canada has been trying to oust a former KGB agent and an AWOL American soldier living in churches for several years.”

Who are they? How can that just be dangled out there with no context?

there are several wanted criminals right now recieving santcuary in the catholic church. remember, the vatican is its own seperate state- and they protect their own.

several of the priests wanted for cji;ld abuse have gone into ‘hiding’ in the vatican.

Former KGB officer takes sanctuary in church to avoid deportation | CBC News and http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=ad6a062d-7aa2-432d-8868-bcfe5a212b5e and many more. Googled:

Canada former KGB agent living in a church

Thanks ph3. I tried google for about 30 seconds, couldn’t find it immediately (Though I did find a list of US defectors to North Korea, that was an interesting read,) so I gave up quickly and knew that someone on the boards would do it for me, so I guess SDMBIYF.

Who are the wanted criminals, and by which country are they wanted?

All of this lends new depths of background meaning to the title of “Sanctuary,” which is the cello theme from Angel.

Which is my first piece as I’m beginning cello.

My first piece beginning cello was Mary Had a Little Lamb. And Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

Sanctuary (i.e. the Angel theme) is a pretty piece.

At old common law, you would also have lost all your property (as well as your life) if convicted of a felony, wouldn’t you? So the choice might not necessarily have been that hard.

This is a slight tangent, but I figure it’s the best place to ask.
While I was reading Cecil’s column on this topic, I kept thinking about nursery rhymes and childrens’ games and how they have their roots in ancient realities. However, it wasn’t until this morning that I remembered specific names.

The way I played as a kid, we had the option of breaking cover and dashing for the ‘base’ rather than staying hidden. If we managed to reach and touch the base (usually the same place where IT started counting from one to a hundred; the well in the center of the village) we were ‘safe’ and the person who was IT could only seek out the other players. That was Hide and Seek, and now I’m wondering if the child’s game was based on real catch-the-criminal rules. Freeze-Tag and a couple other games we played had similar ‘sanctuary’ options. Yeah, I know “it’s likely” but I’m wondering if there’s some research showing real intentional connections.

—G!

Games People Play
Night or day
They’re jus’ not matchin’
. --Bobby Smith (The Spinners)
. They Just Can’t Stop It

For several years, right here in my riding, a blind, diabetic Algerian man who had come to Canada fleeing murderous reprisals back home but had been refused refugee status was given asylum in the presbytery of a local Catholic church. I met him a number of times. He was intensely appreciated and supported in the local community, and probably as a result of this, the government finally caved and gave him an H&C (asylum on humanitarian and compassionate grounds).

Actually, let me suggest that the best place to ask would be the General Questions forum. It’s an interesting topic, but it’s not really a comment on Cecil’s column (except insofar as Cecil’s column stirred up your curiosity.) Anyhow, the GQ forum would be the place to start this discussion.

Another notable occurance that stands out in my memory:

Manuel Noriega

Five days into the US Invasion of Panama, General Noriega ran for the Vatican Embassy. After 10 straight days in a monk’s cell “reading the Bible”, while the US Army blasted Twisted Sister at his window, he walked out with his hands over his head.