This line is also called ‘the sword of the Archangel Michael’ linking 7 sanctuaries dedicated to the Archangel Michael. Interestingly the line crosses through the island of Patmos, from East to West.
This perfect line is also aligned with the Sun at the time of the summer solstice.
Let’s have a look at the 7 sanctuaries – the line starts in Ireland and ends in Palestine, crossing Cornwall, France, Italy and Greece.
1) Skellig Michael in Ireland
Legends tell of the importance of the islands in prehistoric, pagan times, but the known history of Skellig Michael begins when a monastery was founded near the summit in the middle of the 7th century. Consisting of distinctive ‘beehive’ stone huts clustered around an oratory and a tiny vegetable garden, this was truly a place of solitude for the few monks who lived there, only accessible by climbing 600 stone steps up the cliff.
2) St Michael’s mount in Cornwall, UK
Perched on top of a great granite crag, St Michael’s Mount rises majestically out of the sea in Mount’s Bay. St Michael’s Mount is an island at high tide. The mount itself, is dedicated to St. Michael, whom in Cornish Legend; appeared to a group of Cornish fishermen in 495 AD – standing high on a rocky ledge on the western side of the Mount.
3) St Michael’s mount in Normandy, France
The staggering location has long inspired awe and the imagination. The story of how the mount turned into a great place of Christian pilgrimage is colourful. Aubert, bishop of the nearby hilltop town of Avranches early in the 8th century, claimed that the Archangel Michael himself pressured him into having a church built atop the island just out to sea.
4) Sacra di San Michele, Piedmont, Italy
According to tradition, this building was constructed in the 10th century, by the hermit Saint Giovanni Vincenzo at the request of the archangel Michael to whom he was particularly devoted; and the building materials which the hermit had collected were transported miraculously to the top of the mountain.
5) Sanctuary of Archangel Michael of Gargan mount, Italy
The sanctuary developed from the fifth century onwards in relation to the cult of the Archangel Michael, who, according to tradition, appeared in a local cave. San Michele developed into a fairly important medieval shrine, visited by kings and saints and commoners.
6) Monastery to the Archangel Michael ‘Panormitis’, Simi island, Greece
The village of Panormitis, to the south west of the main town, hosts the main monastery of Simi island, a monastery dedicated to the Archangel Michael. The exact construction date is unknown but, according to an old manuscript, it existed in the 15th century. It is said that this monastery was built on the ruins of an ancient temple.
7) Monastery of the Carmel Mount, Haifa, Palestine
From ancient times it was considered a sacred place. It is often cited in the Old Testament for its beauty and fertility. The 6th-century Greek mathematician Pythagoras is recorded to have visited the mountain because of its reputation for sacredness, stating that it was “the most holy of all mountains, and access was forbidden to many”.