"before the cock crows"

 

Amid blustery winds and gray skies, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St Martin stands stalwart among the commercial enterprises built around it on the Loop 46.  Like many old churches, St. Martin's steeple has a rooster.  Wonder why?   One story has that in the ninth century A.D., the pope reportedly decreed that every church in Europe should show a cock on its dome or steeple, as a reminder of Jesus' prophecy that the cock would not crow the morning after the Last Supper, until the disciple Peter had denounced Him three times (Luke 22:34). Because of this story, "weather cocks" have topped church steeples for centuries, both in Europe and in America.  The rooster also points to the dawning of a new day, and to the joy of the resurrection.  Whatever reason this church has probably had its rooster since it was built in 1851.

 

Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Martin

New Braunfels, Texas