Celebrating St Gregory

Today is the EF feast of St Gregory the Great, and yesterday evening I attended an anticipated celebration of the day which was also the patronal feast at SS Gregory and Augustine in north Oxford. Fr John Saward offered a Missa Cantata in his church, which had put aside Lenten austerity and was suitably decorated with spring flowers in a style which complemented the Arts and Crafts style of the building.

A good occasion, if not quite as spectacular as the Mass of St Gregory...

 

The Mass of St Gregory 

 Image:cathcon.blogspot.uk

Relics travelling to Canterbury

My attention was drawn to this article in the latest edition of The Tablet about the loan of the reputed crozier of St Gregory the Great to Canterbury Cathedral during the meeting of the Primates of the Anglican Communion and also of a blood stained vestment of St Thomas Becket that is also going to be lent to the cathedral in December.

The article can be viewed, together with a photograph of the ivory crozier head, at Vatican loans Church of England ancient relics ahead of vital gathering

Maybe one should pray that these relics will remind the Primates of the Rock whence Anglicanism was hewn, and that they will be drawn by the Ordinariates or otherwise to seek reconciliation.

St Gregory the Great

Today, in the novus ordo calendar, is the feast of St Gregory the Great, Pope from 590 until 604, and the Apostle of the English.

To mark his feast day here is another depiction of the Mass of St Gregory, the oft-used later medieval story of how he convinced a doubter of the reality of Transubstantiation. As became usual the scene is shown with the Saint having a vision of the Man of Sorrows.

The Mass of Saint Gregory Student or follower of Robert Campin about 1440 Oil on panel, 85 x 73 cm Brussels, Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts

Some scholars have thought that the Mass of Saint Gregory was a copy after a lost original by Robert Campin dating from around 1410-1415. Image: aiwaz.net

As with other depictions of this story the painting is an insight into late medieval liturgical practice and also late medieval expectations of what churches and liturgies looked like.

St Gregory the Great

My post the other day about folded chasubles included an illustration of St Gregory the Great, which reminded me that today is the anniversary of his death in 604, and used to be his feast day until 1970, when it was transferred to September 3rd. It is still his feast day in the missal used for the Extraordinary Form of Mass. Given his importance to English Christianity it seemed a pity not to post something about him today.

He must be accounted as one of the most influential of all the Popes, not merely because of the English mission sent under St Augustine in 596-7, but also because of his development of the Papal office in practical terms, his contribution to the liturgy and music of the Church and his writings as one of the Latin Doctors of the Church.

The picture below, which prompted this post, shows Pope St. Gregory the Great standing between his father, Gordianus, and his mother Silvia. It is an engraving of a now lost original which must be datable to his pontificate of 590-604 as he is shown with a square nimbus, indicationg that he was alive when the work was done. It is, I think, the only surviving contemporary picture of him to be known.

Image:New Liturgical Movement

I found two other images online from a somewhat later date. The first, from the thirteenth century, shows the Dove of the Holy Spirit speaking into his ear of Saint Gregory the Great to indicate the inspired nature of his writing. He appears to be shown wearing the early form of the Papal crown rather than a mitre.

The second one looks to be earlier in date, but again shows St Gregory being inspired by the Holy Spirit and dictating to a scribe. This is one of several similar depictions of him to survive from the Carolingian and Ottonian eras.

Images: Marcello Ciai

May St Gregory continue to pray for the Church in England and for the life of the Church as a whole.

May we continue to be grateful for his contribution to the life of the Church and especially to that of this country.