so Cassie provided us with an upside down picture of Geleijn Cornelus's feet.
so who exactly IS Geleijn Cornelus? (also spelled Geleyn)
he was an early Christian martyr...of some sort.
In 1572, a group of exiles were living in a town called Nieuwvaert, practicing a type of early radical Christianity...which was then forbidden.
The dominant Catholic Church found these things wrong with their practices:
1. they didn't baptize their children
2. they didn't believe that Christ "had His flesh and blood from Mary"
3. they regarded themselves as the "flock and elect of god"
I'm not sure what breed of Christianity they were following, but let's continue with the story.
(
edit: they were Anabaptists.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabaptist )
NOW back to the story...
When the local Baliff found out about their "evil-ways," he got pissed...and, thus, sent his men down to Nieuwvaert armed with pistols, swords, and other weapons.
The men found the exiles in a house "engaged in preaching." Most of the exiles got away, but six were apprehended. One of them was Genelyn Corneliss, a 16 year old shoemaker and apprentice to the tailor that owned the house.
they were shackled up from August 5th to August 7th. If they relinquished their faith, they would have been awarded with immediate death by sword. Geleyn didn't, and, thus, he suffered through torture.
he was:
1. stripped naked
2. hung by his right thumb
3. weight attached to his left foot
4. burned under his arm with a candle
the story goes that Genelyn didn't seem to experience pain, just sorta entered a "deep slumber."
Eventually the torturers were annoyed by this, so they set him on fire. and he died.
source:
http://www.homecomers.org/mirror/martyrs134.htm