Lidwina by Armenia

released October 13, 2014

Choir: *Armenian Hymn: Hamenayni*

Present your soul to The Maker
Blessed be all, in the name of The Lord.
Come in peace, speak thy name, given after a saint,
who died, lived, and suffered.

The pageantry of your sorrow,
stems from a place smothered with doubt.
Violation of self, seeking no help,
stroking the boundaries of fate

Lidwina
Lidwina
Speak Lidwina
Help us through this pain
Lidwina
Oh, speak Lidwina

Choir:
Oh! Oh! Ah
Oh! Oh! Ah

In hardship and in vain,
my deteriorating soul I maintain.
In the confines of my room,
I implore, increase my pain,
'till the rosebush fully blooms

I will not forsake you Lord,
just keep near me.
And I have done all You have asked,
I fear no black banshee

Lidwina
Lidwina
Speak Lidwina
Help us through this pain
Lidwina
Oh, speak Lidwina

(Ah)

Choir chants:
Lidwina Lidwina
Lidwina Lidwina
(Speak Lidwina)

Lidwina Lidwina
Oh, speak Lidwina

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Lidwina's story, the patron saint of ice skating, is a gruesome one.

After a nasty fall while skating, Lidwina became paralyzed, with the exception of her left hand and parts of her body would... "fall off". Blood is reported to have spontaneously poured from her mouth, ears and nose. She may actually been describing one of the first known cases of Multiple Sclerosis (Lidwina lived from 1380-1433).

Much of Lidwina's time was spent in prayer, meditation and in offering her pain to God. Devoutly spiritual, she developed a devotion to The Eucharist, was visited by saints and had visions in which she was shown a "Heaven and Purgatory". Miracles reportedly occurred at her beside. After Lidwina's fall while skating, she fasted constantly and became reputed as a healer and holy woman.

In a vision she was shown a rose-bush with the words, "When this shall be in bloom, your suffering will be at an end." In the spring of the year 1433, she exclaimed, "I see the rose-bush in full bloom!" From the time she was 15 years old, to the day she died, she suffered every imaginable pain, but in 1433 the bush bloomed.
Lidwina died at the age of 53.

This song aims to be an anthem for all those who suffer, trying to achieve something greater than themselves; continue to strive until the rose bush blooms