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, 7 May 2015

St Stanislaus


Today is the traditional day for those outside Poland to celebrate the feast of St Stanislaus, although in Poland his feast day falls a day later on May 8th, and in the novus ordo it is observed on April 11th, this date being that on which in the 1960s it was thought was the anniversary of his martyrdom. This occurred in 1079 and he has been venerated at Crakow ever since.

This somewhat Becket-like figure, with an interesting line in producing a surprise witness in a court case that puts Perry Mason to shame, can be read about in the illustrated online article at Stanislaus of Szczepanów.


Genevra Kornbluth posted the following photograph on the Medieval Religion discussion group of a carved triptych from the church in Pławno near Krakow, dated to 1510-20, and now in the National Museum in Warsaw, which tells the story of his life and martyrdom:

http://www.kornbluthphoto.com/images/WarsawNatMus_127.jpg



Image: KornbluthPhoto.com


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