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, 1 January 2015

The Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord


Nowadays re-named the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, today is traditionally celebrated as the feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord. Both titles refer to the same concept, that is, that Jesus was born to a Jewish mother, the representative of the people of the Old Covenant, and that her son was full heir to the promises and obligations of that tradition. Only from that beginning could He inaugurate the New Covenant with all of mankind.   

The Circumcision of Christ
Michael Pacher, 1430 - 1498
The St Wolfgang Altarpiece, 1479-81

Image:squishyjesus.blogspot.com





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