Today is observed in the modern liturgical calendar as the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God. For many centuries this Octave Day of Christmas was known as the Feast of the Circumcision, as that specific event is recorded as taking place on the eighth day after Our Lord’s birth.
Yesterday the ever-informative New Liturgical Movement had a well researched study of the Propers of the traditional Mass for today. It has been written by Michael P. Foley and points to the special Marian emphases in the liturgy. It can be seen at The Mostly Marian Orations of the Christmas Octave
The way the feast evolved over time was also outlined in an extremely knowledgeable post last year by Fr Hunwicke, which repays reading, and to which there is a link in my own post based upon it from then, and which can be read at The Day of the Circumcision.
The Circumcision of Christ
Friedrich Herlin (1425/30 -1500)
A panel from the High Altar reredos in the Stadtkirche St Jakob in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, painting completed in 1466.
Image: Web Gallery of Art
Herlin is another of those late medieval artists whose work consistently appeals to me. In this painting there is once again that delight and precision in depicting the details and folds of textiles and of surfaces as well as of human faces which make the work of these Internationsl Gothic or Northern Renaissance - both far from ideal terms I will venture to suggest - so appealing. In this painting it is the fabric of the mantle of the Jewish priest or rabbi that catches the eye, but so also do his spectacles, balanced on the bridge of his nose - a reminder of the scientific and technical accomplishments of the time.
What little is known about Herlin is set out by Wikipedia at Friedrich Herlin
A Happy New Year and Solemnity of Mary Mother lol of God to all my readers
No comments:
Post a Comment