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, 18 March 2021

St Patrick and the culture war


In my post yesterday St Patrick - the man, the saint, the legend, the image I lamented the fact that the saint had too often been tamed into an insubstantial piece of Irish cultural property. Today I see that Fr Tim Finigan was saying the same thing on his Hermeneutic of Continuity blog, but with his usual elegance and precision widening out the point to show its cultural implications.


I do appreciate the fact that both of Fr Tim and I likened the all too common image of St Patrick to a green Santa Claus ....


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