Notes On Ward Kelley's Poems
Notes on "The Granting of Wishes"
Catherine of Alexandria, (circa 213?), was a Roman Catholic saint, whose beauty so impressed the Roman Emperor Maximian that he offered to overlook her refusal to sacrifice to the gods if she would only submit to his desires. Catherine rejected his overtures, saying she was already the bride of Christ, and even converted the fifty philosophers Maximian convened to change her mind. The emperor beheaded the philosophers, then attempted to have Catherine broken on a spiked wheel, however it miraculously shattered. Instead Maximian had her beheaded, yet when he did, milk flowed from her severed neck. Where this tale was highly popular in the medieval West, most historians think it is probable Catherine never existed. Joan of Arc, though, did not concur with such skeptics; Catherine was one of the three saints Joan claimed appeared to her to offer advice in her military endeavors.

Notes on "Each Time Incorrupt"
Saint Cuthbert (c.635-687) was an English monk, hermit, and bishop of Lindisfarne. When Christians who were regarded as saints during their own lifetimes died in the Middle Ages, the custom was to bury them in an earth grave so that the flesh might rot and the bones could be raised, wrapped in silks, then placed in a shrine. In 698, Cuthbert's body was exhumed but was found to be incorrupt, a further sign of sainthood. His body was moved again in 875 to hide it from Norse raids; around 1000, his remains were again dug up, then enshrined at Durham; in 1104, he was moved to a new shrine behind the high altar of Durham cathedral, and again his body's incorruption was verified. In the 16th century, Henry VIII's officials were so moved by the intact body, they allowed it to stay in the shrine. Cuthbert was last exhumed in 1828, and found to be still incorrupt.