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.


Sunday, 3 May 2026

St Helena and the Finding of the True Cross


The New Liturgical Movement website has an article today, the traditional feast of the Invention or Finding of the True Cross, about a cycle of paintings in the Franciscan church of Santa Croce in Florence. These are dated to about 1335 and a few years later, and depict the background to St Helena’s visit to the Holy Land in search of the True Cross and her successful recovery of it.

The illustrated article can be viewed at A Legend of St Helena, the Discoverer of the True Cross 


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