Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Thursday, 20 January 2011

St Fabian and St Sebastian


Today is the feast of St Fabian and of St Sebastian. I combined both observances when saying the Office this morning, rather than preferring one over the other. 

The two martyrs have been linked in artistic representations. Terry Prest on his Idle Speculations blog, which is always good for its mix of Catholicism and fine art, has an interesting post, with links, about the depiction of the two saints, starting from a fifteenth century Sienese painting now in the National Gallery in London. You can read it here.



Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia (1403 – 1482)
Saints Fabian and Sebastian
A detail from the painting of circa 1475
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