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.


Wednesday, 5 February 2025

Discoveries from the Rhenish frontier of the Roman Empire


Three recent archaeological discoveries in Germany, Luxembourg, and Denmark have highlighted a number of aspects of life in the territories along the border of the Roman Empire in its later years.

The first is from Peterhagen, which lies on the Weser in north-eastern Westphalia, and is very much an elite item - a very small gold padlock of a distinctively Roman type. It is dated to the third or fourth century. The discovery was made by a metal detector.


The second discovery is a hoard of 141 gold solidi in near mint condition which was excavated by archaeologists at a Roman site near Holzthum in northern Luxembourg. The couns were initially found by metal detectors and as the number of items increased it was clear a full excavation was required. The coins were minted by a succession of Emperors between 364 and 408.

There is a report about the discovery from the Greek Reporter website at Ancient Roman Gold Treasure Discovered in Luxemburg

Wikipedia has an entry about the coins with appropriate links at Holzthum Hoard.

The third discovery is not gold but less glamorous items, but nevertheless of great interest. They are some fragments of late Roman armour which had been placed, probably as a ritual offering, in a pagan burial in what is now southern Denmark.

Heritage Daily has a report about the discoveries from the site at Roman helmet discovered in Denmark

.Whilst not directly linked these three discoveries do offer a number of insights into life in the north-west of the Roman Empire as, unconsciously, it moved into a state of decline without realising what was actually happening. Not a sudden or dramatic decline and fall but a gradual transformation.


Monday, 3 February 2025

St Bede on Candlemas


Following on from my post yesterday for Candlemas I see that Christopher Howse wrote about the feast on its eve in his regular Saturday column Sacred Mysteries in the Daily Telegraph

In it, as he so often does, he links the celebration of the feast to its place in the history of the Church. In particular he highlights the writings of St Bede and the great age of Northumbrian Christianity in the seventh and eighth centuries. Thus he links the universally applicable theology of the only British Doctor of the Church, St Bede, to a surviving codex in the form of a spectacular and expensive copy of the Bible made in that Northumbrian monastic world and sent as a gift to the Pope. That in turn is an indicator of the fact that the Christians of Northumbria were very conscious of, and loyal to, their Catholic heritage.



Sunday, 2 February 2025

Candlemas - Oriel and the English Oratory


Today is the Feast of Candlemas, the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is also the ceremonial conclusion to Christmastide and its imagery of light in midwinter.

Over the years that I have been writing this blog, I have posted nearly every year about Candlemas, about its traditions and depiction over the centuries and also about two special, personal links to the day based on my life in Oxford.

Candlemas is the annual feast of my college Oriel, as it falls only a few days after the anniversary of the establishment of the college or House of Blessed Mary the Virgin in Oxford by King Edward II in January 1326, and is the first feast of Our Lady to occur after that date. This year marks the 699th anniversary of the foundation and next year will see the celebration of the septuacentenary. 

The other link is that today is the 177th anniversary of the establishment of the Oratorians in England by St John Henry Newman in 1848. Not only did he place his new foundation under the patronage of Our Lady but it is surely a conscious homage to his time as a Fellow of Oriel and that was attracted him to the Oratorian pattern of life was it similarity to the Senior Common Room in the college.

So today is an especially good one upon which to pray for Oriel and for the English Oratorians.

Rather than attempt to re-write previous pieces I will give links to my previous posts for this day.

They can be seen at Candlemasfrom 2011, Candlemasfrom 2012, Candlemasfrom 2013, Candlemas Day and Celebrating Candlemas from 2014, CandlemasCandlemas at the Oxford Oratory, and Medieval Images of Candlemas from 2015, Candlemas, from 2016, The Ceremonies of Candlemas from 2021, Candlemas from 2022, Candlemas from 2023, and, with continuing originality, Candlemas from last year.


I regret that in some of the older posts the images will no longer display, due, I assume to copyright reasons, but readers should be able to find the images online from the titles. There are still a fine selection of images of the Presentation and Purification which repay careful study.


May I wish a joyful Candlemas to all my readers and fraternal good wishes to my fellow Orielenses and Oratorians.