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.
Visiting Oxford?
Allow me to be your guide... and discover the history of Oxford with an Oxford historian.
I offer a wide range of guided walks around the city and university. These can be a general introduction to the history and architecture or looking at specific themes and subjects.
I am a Catholic and a historian based in Oxford, where I am a member of Oriel College. My research, for a long delayed D.Phil., is a study of Richard Fleming, Bishop of Lincoln in the second decade of the fifteenth century. I also work as a freelance tutor in History and as an independent tour guide.
I was received into the Church in 2005 and am a Brother of the External Oratory of St Philip Neri at the Oxford Oratory.
Prayer and Reality
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[image: Image result for kneeling "low Mass"]
"It is not the healthy who need a physician but the sick"
Jesus is supposed to be our Saviour but most of us...
There is an interesting post by Augustinus on RORATE CÆLI about the history of the "Spanish Privilege" of wearing blue vestments. It is essentially a post from a Philippines website, and gives a detailed account of the tradition. It can be seen at On "liturgical blue" for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception
I have posted about this liturgical colour previously in Spanish Blue.
Those of you who read my post last week about the sale of here in Oxford of some medieval vestments reworked to form two altar frontals in Medieval textiles for auction in Oxford may be interested to learn that the first one, made from anumber of vestments of thirteenth to fifteenth century date, sold for £10,500, and the second, made from what was once a handsome blue cope embroidered in silver and belonging, by all reasonable hypotheses, to Cardinal Morton(d.1500) sold for £40,000.
The other day Fr Tim Finigan had a post about Campaign to buy Sawston Hall and make it a Catholic heritage centre, which seems to be a very worthwhile project. Yesterday I found out, coincidentally, that two embroideries once at Sawston are on sale today at an aution at Mallams, the long established Oxford auction house. They now form altar frontals but are made from old vestments, and I hope they will be secured for a suitable public or church collection. Here is the description taken from Mallam's online sale catalogue - with additional comments by myself in []:
An Altar frontal made up of embroidered orphries
with saints in arcades and a large cross-orphrey with a Crucifixion;
the embroideries range from the late thirteenth century to the sixteenth
century. They are mounted on red silk, and bordered with two different
widths of later, possibly eighteenth century, silver lace, 92 cm x 166
cm (through glass) in a gilt display case with removable front, 114 x
186cm.
Provenance: Sawston Hall, Cambridgeshire and thence by descent.
In the centre: At the top: The Virgin and Christ Enthroned. Both Christ
and the Virgin, dressed in gold mantles, wearing crowns, fifteenth
century. Christ is blessing the Virgin with his right hand (this is not a
representation of the `Coronation of the Virgin` as Mary is already
crowned). Two gold crowns are visible on Christ`s head, and it is
possible that he originally wore a triple-crown tiara, but the top of
this scene has been cut down. One unusual feature of the iconography is
that Christ wears the crown of thorns beneath his gold crowns.
Middle:
on a deep burgundy velvet ground, the Crucifixion: Christ on the Cross
with angels catching the blood flowing from his wounds in chalices,
fifteenth century. At the foot of the cross, on either side, there are
two embroidered figures of the Virgin Mary and St John the Evangelist.
They are finely embroidered, and come probably from a cope or altar
frontal with a design of figures set within barbed quatrefoils frames,
as traces of a frame can still be seen. Part of a scrolling leaf design
can be glimpsed above each of the figures. These two figures are finely
embroidered in silk, with tiny, form-following stitches, set on a ground
of underside-couched, very worn metal thread. These are the earliest
fragments of embroidery on this altar frontal, possibly dating from the
late thirteenth century.
Bottom: the lower portion of an embroidered
orphrey panel, representing a flowery, grassy meadow.
On either side of
the Crucifixion: Outside edges: two portions of a single cope orphrey,
early sixteenth century. Left (top to bottom): A prophet; a bearded
saint, possibly St James Major; a prophet. Right (top to bottom): A
prophet; St John the Evangelist; a prophet. Next: two portions of a
second cope orphrey, third quarter of the fifteenth century. Left (top
to bottom): St Paul holding a sword; prophet holding a scroll (Elijah?;
St Longinus holding a spear. Right (top to bottom): St Peter; a prophet;
St Bartholomew holding a book and a knife. Nearest to the Crucifixion:
narrow strips, consisting of separate pieces of embroidery used as
infill, to bring the altar frontal up to the desired width. There are
half-figures of cherubim holding scrolls, two whole figures, and
portions of architectural frames.
On the velvet cross-orphrey:
Crucifixion: The figure of Christ, embroidered in coloured silks, with
gold thread details in his Crown of Thorns, is applied to a cross which
has couched laid gold thread, forming a pattern more often seen on the
background of embroideries. Above the Crucifixion: the Holy Spirit in
the form of a Dove, in laid and couched silver filé thread, outlined in
silver filé twist. There are also radiances of light, formed of couched
gold thread, with gilt spangles. Above and below the cross-bars of the
Crucifixion: Left: a white-haired bearded saint, holding a book in one
hand and possibly some keys (hard to see) in the other, possibly St
Peter, third quarter of the fifteenth century. Below him: the Virgin and
Child enthroned. Right: an unidentified saint, holding a branch (or
small tree?) and below, a prophet. At the bottom edge of the altar
frontal: spaces have been in-filled with portions of embroidered grassy
meadows, taken from orphrey panels.
An Altar frontal made from fragments of a deep
blue velvet cope, with embroidered motifs in coloured silks and couched
gold and silver thread, 156 x 101 cm (through glass) in a pine display
case with removable front, 122 x 178cm.
Provenance: Sawston Hall,
Cambridgeshire and thence by descent.
The embroideries represent: a
large, central Lily Crucifixion, with God the Father above, surrounded
by motifs of waterflowers, fleurs de lis, roses en soleil, part of two
cherubim, and rebuses consisting of a falcon on a barrel, with a large
letter M framing smaller letters D and R. This could possibly refer to a
`Dr Morton`, from Mors, Latin for falcon, on a tun or barrel. [I would suggest it is the eagle of St John the Evangelist standing on top of the letters Mor and a tun as a rebus for John Morton - Clever Boy] May this
rebus refer to the future Cardinal John Morton (d. 1500), in his early
career, as Dr John Morton (i.e. as a doctor of Law, before he became a
bishop?). He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated
in law; among many other ecclesiastical preferments, he became
Archbishop of Canterbury in 1486 and Cardinal priest of S. Anastasia in
Rome in 1493. Because of the presence of the rose en soleil badge of
Edward IV, the cope may have been commissioned during the period in
which Morton was in the service of Edward IV (he was, for example, sent
as ambassador to the French court by Edward IV 1477; it was under Edward
IV that he became Bishop of Ely in 1479). [ Sawston is, of course, in the diocese of Ely - Clever Boy]
The Lily Crucifixion. This
altar frontal offers an important example of a Lily Crucifixion, whose
iconography arose from a conflation of the iconography of the
Annunciation, in the form of the pot of lilies, with that of the
Crucifixion. The Feast of the Annunciation (25th March) and Easter,
sometimes fell on the same day, and during the Middle Ages, a belief
arose that Christ`s actual Crucifixion took place on the same date as
the Annunciation. In Christian iconography, the Annunciation is often
represented with attendant portents of Christ`s Crucifixion, pointing,
by implication to our redemption through his Resurrection. In this
embroidered Lily Crucifixion on the frontal, the significance of the
Annunciation, heralding the incarnation of Christ, is emphasised by the
inclusion, above the Crucifixion, of God the Father blessing,
represented as a half-figure emerging from a cloud.
[There are early fifteenth century paintings of the Lily Crucifixion in the church at Godshill in the Isle of Wight, in the church of St Helen in Abingdon and in St Michael at the Northgate in Oxford - Clever Boy]
The descriptions
of the two preceding lots are taken from notes prepared by Lisa Monnas
of the Victoria and Albert Museum to whom we express our gratitude. We
also offer our thanks to Dr Jon Whiteley of the Ashmolean Museum for his
assistance in this matter.
I noted at the Vigil Mass for the Assumption at the Oxford Oratory this evening that the celebrant was vested in Spanish blue in honour of Our Lady. I gather the handsome Low Mass set is a recent acquisition for the sacristy, and looks very fine. I posted about the use of this liturgical colour in Spanish Blue. I am assured that the Oratorians are fully entitled to use the Spanish Privilege in this matter.
Today, as the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, is the day for Spanish Blue.
No, its not cheese - a blue veined Manchego perhaps - still less pornography - a dubious product of the back streets of Barcelona - but is, of course, a liturgical colour, conceded to the Church in Spain and in her former colonies by Pope Pius IX in recognition of the support given by the Spanish for the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. On the basis that they were once base in the Spanish Netherlands the use of the colour has been adopted by some EBC houses such as Downside. It is also used by some Marian shrines - remember (well, lets try not to) the hideous vestments Archbishop Marini had for the Pope on his visit to Mariazell - though one theory is that they were the cause of the Archbishop's retirement.
This time last year the NLM had two illustrated posts about the colour which can be viewed here and here
The chosen shade of blue appears to derive from the riband of the Order of Charles III, which is under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception, and depicts that on its badge and star.
The Spanish Privilege is not to be confused with Sarum blue. That was a very different colour, and from its iuse in Advent probably originated as substitute for violet, which was always an expensive colour. If I remember aright from the appropriate volume on liturgical colours in the Henry Bradshaw Society medieval dioceses followed the use of their cathedral - thus Wells wore blue and Exeter violet.
Sarum blue is a darker shade, as in this extant fifteenth century example:
Sarum Blue vestment worn by the late Fr David Higham Photograph from Lacrimarum Valle
There is a link here to a piece from the Australian St Bede Studio about the variety in the shades and use of blue, violet and red in ecclesiastical dress.
Reviving Sarum Blue was a point of honour with some Anglo-Catholics of a past generation, and it has, I believe, remained popular with some of their successors in the US. Here in England the most prominent church to use it is Westminster Abbey - there it is used as a mourning colour - remember the funeral of Diana Princess of Wales. Maybe the Ordinariate can restore its use to the wider Church.
As for the Spanish variety perhaps the English Marian shrines should petition for the right to use it.
