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.


Monday 16 August 2021

St Stephen of Hungary


Today is the feast of St Stephen of Hungary, other than in Hungary itself when it is celebrated on August 20th, the anniversary of his canonisation in 1083. 

Portrayal of Stephen I, King of Hungary on the coronation pall.jpg

St Stephen
Embroidery from a chasuble which later was adapted to become the Coronation mantles of the Kings of Hungary. Made as a gift from the King and his Queen in 1031 it thus dates from the lifetime of St Stephen.

Image: Wikipedia 

His role as Apostolic King, the man responsible for the decisive conversion of his people to Catholic Christianity, ensured his place as patron and exemplar of all subsequent Hungarian Kings. Thus the Holy Crown is known as that of St Stephen and coronation with it vital to the legitimacy of a Hungarian monarch, it being the ultimate repository of sovereignty even though the actual crown was assembled something like a hundred and fifty years after his death by King Bela III. I imagine that it was conceived so as to look older than it actually was so as to stress the association with St Stephen.

The detailed Wikipedia account of his life and legacy serves as a good introduction to this great figure and can be seen at Stephen I of Hungary

St Stephen, Pray for Hungary, pray for us


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