St Andrew's Day

Fr Hunwicke has two posts relevant to today - well worth reading with their comments, both about the reconciliation of England to the Church in 1554, and of the diocese of Durham in 1569, and about the possible options for the Ordinariate liturgy. You can find them here and here.

The Order of St Andrew the First Called

In addition to the Order of the Thistle the late seventeenth century witnessed the establishment of the premier Order of the Russian monarchy when in 1698, in emulation of other European monarchs, the Emperor Peter I established the Order of St Andrew the First Called. The Order of St Andrew was Russia’s oldest and most exalted chivalric order, and awarded for the highest civilian or military achievements. This remained the senior Russian Order down to 1917, and was revived in 1998 by President Yeltsin. There is an article about it here. Its annual celebration was held on 30 November, the feast day of St Andrew.

The following paragraphs are adapted and edited from an article based on a catalogue description by Valentina N. Nikitina, in The St Petersburg Times from 1999.

The Order of St. Andrew the First Called (Andrei Pervozvannyi) was named in honor of the Apostle who, from the time of the Kiev princes, had been the patron saint of the Russian lands. The highest Russian order of St. Andrew was awarded rarely. It was conferred principally on members of the royal family, heads of foreign states and "exceptional servants" of the state: dignitaries, diplomats or successful military commanders such as Count Alexander Suvorov and Prince Mikhail Kutuzov. A British recipient was the first Duke of Wellington.The heir to the Russian throne and other male members of the Romanov dynasty were awarded the Order at his christening, and female members recieved the Order on their coming of age.

The order had one class. Its symbol was a saltire, or X-shaped cross, with the letters SAPR (St. Andrew Patron of Russia) on the ends of the arms and an enamel image of the crucified saint. The cross is attached to the breast of a black two-headed eagle wearing three crowns with ribbons. The cross was worn on a broad blue riband stretching from the right shoulder to the waist.

The star is silver with eight points interspersed with rays. In the centre of the star is a two-headed eagle holding a blue cross of St. Andrew in its beak and claws, and surrounded by the motto of the order: "For faith and faithfulness."

On the feast day of the Order, and on other particularly solemn occasions, the Knights of the Order wore a gold collar instead of the riband. The collar is composed of three alternating links decorated with brightly colored enamels. These three links bear the state emblem of the two-headed eagle, rosettes with the cross of St. Andrew and a cartouche bearing the monogram of Peter the Great.

The order was redesigned for Emperor Nicholas I (1825-55) during the 1850s, and the new design was ratified and adopted by the Chapter of Orders from December 1856.

The example here originally was issued from the Chapter of Imperial Orders with a decree that it was the property of the Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich (eldest son of Emperor Aleaxander II, and elder brother of the fuure Emperor Aleaxander III), who died in 1865 at the age of 22. It carries the hallmark of Master Alexander Kordes and of the most famous St. Petersburg firm of medalists, Keibel. This firm produced insignia of all the Orders throughout the 19th century for the Chapter of Orders and the Cabinet of His Imperial Highness.

Collar, badge and star of the Order by Keibel, St Petersburg, 1850s-60s

Badge Height: 8.9 centimeters; Width: 6.4 centimeters
Star Diameter: 9.2 cm.
Collar Length: 107.5 cm.

Photo from Kremin Museum and the St Petersburg Times 1999

The Star of the Order set with diamonds and pearls.

This appears to pre-date the 1850s redesign

The Officers of the Order had their own ceremonial uniforms. That of the Herald was on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum's exhibition of Imperial Russian costumes in 2009, when I was fortunate enough to see it. This elaborate costume, like that of all the Orders’ heralds, was worn for ceremonies and at court.

Dress of the Herald of the Order of St Andrew
Russia (St Petersburg)
1797

Gloves: kidskin trimmed with silver braid and fringe, by Johann Conrad Weber
Museum no. TK-1658, TK2561/1-2
© The Moscow Kremlin Museums

Boots worn by the Herald of the Order of St Andrew
Johann Daniel Ermscher
Russia
1797
Silk velvet trimmed with silver braid, fringe and embroidery
Museum no. TK-1693/1-2
© The Moscow Kremlin Museums

The boots of the Herald of the Order of St Andrew are made from black velvet and embellished with silver braid and rosettes. Their shape and the lacing and crossed braid down the centre front are deliberately historical in style. Similar boots were worn by coronation heralds in the late 18th century. Made in red velvet with red leather heels, they were embroidered with lions’ heads. The lacing up the front and the decorative components were probably modelled on boots worn during the Roman Empire. In both cases, such ornament and style emphasised the importance of the ceremonial role of the herald as the representative and messenger of the Tsar.

The Order of the Thistle

Today being St Andrew's feast day seems an appropriate one on which to post something about the Most Noble and Most Ancient Order of the Thistle, founded in its present form in 1687.

There is a detailed and well referenced article here about the Order.

To that I would add the following reflections.

The ascription of the foundation of the Order to King James III (1460-88) appears to derive in particular from the presence in the inventory of his treasure made after his death at the battle of Sauchieburn in 1488 of a collar whose description matches that of the present Order. The design of links bearing the Thistle and sprigs of rue, said to be the floral emblem of the Picts looks to my eye like a typical late medieval punning rebus - Thistle and rue/Thistle Andrew.

St Andrew with King James III and the future King James IV.
From the Trinity Panels by Hugo van der Goes
Royal Collection on loan to the National Gallery of Scotland
Photo from Englishmonarchs.orm

I discussed these points with a Scottish academic at the last Fifteenth Century Conference to be held in Oxford. She had done her doctoral thesis on chivalric culture in late medieval Scotland, and was clear in her own mind that James III had not founded an Order such as the Thistle. Nonetheless he does seem to have at least produced the design of the collar, and indeed to have promoted the Thistle as a national emblem. Like his son King James IV and his grandson King James V he seems to have been keen to demonstrate the courtly and artistic claims of the Scottish monarchy.

King James V's claim to be the founder of the Order arises partly from the fact that he is depicted in contemporary as well as later paintings wearing a collar of Thistles - perhaps his grandfathers'.

Anonymous, probably contemporary, portrait of King James V
Photo from Wikipedia

It is at least likely that the KIng established an Order in about 1540, but that his death in 1542 caused it to founder during the minority of his daughter Queen Mary I. One reason for him founding his own chivalric order was that, courted by the great powers of the day he had received the Garter from King Henry VIII, the Golden Fleece from the Emperor Charles V and the St Michael from King Francis I, and wanted to show himself their equal in courtly display.

The restored carvings showing the arms of England, Scotland, Spain and France encircled by their chivalric Orders over the entrance to the Palace at Linlithgow, built by King James V circa 1540
Photo from Scottishramparts.com

Thereafter the Order appears to have disappeared, and indeed in other Protestant countries such as Denmark and Sweden late medieval chivalric orders went into abeyance until later centuries revived them.

When King James VII established the Order in 1687 I think I am correct in saying that I have seen it stated that he designated purple mantles for the knights, and that the choice of green dates from the further revival under Queen Anne in 1703 - no conferments having been made since her father's flight in 1688. In 1687-8 King James had athe St Andrew Jewel made- a cameo with the saltire and thstle surrounded by twelve diamonds. This was one of the jewels he took with him into exile, and they were bequeathed to King George III in 1807 by Cardinal York (the de jure King Henry IX and I). On December 8th 1830 King William IV orded that they be displayed with the Honours of Scotland in Edinburgh Castle.

King James VII also renovated the nave of Holyrood Abbey as a Chapel Royal, but this was sacked and the royal tombs desecrated in 1688 by the Edinburgh mob, and in 1768 the vault of the nave collapsed, leaving the ruin one sees today. The restoration of these remains of the abbey church has been proposed several times since the 18th century - in 1835 by the architect James Gillespie Graham as a meeting place for the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and, in 1906, as a chapel for the Knights of the Thistle, but both proposals were rejected. In the case of the latter plan I think it rather a missed opportunity, although Sir Robert Lorimer did produce instead in 1911 the beautiful chapel of the Order at St Giles Cathedral.

The Queen and Prince Philip with the Officers of the Order of the Thistle outside St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh

Photo from shug17uk on Flickr

Garrigou-Lagrange conference

Today I attended the congference at Blackfriars on the work of Fr Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange (1877-1964). It was a well attended and well organised event with a series of interesting addresses.

The first speaker was Fr Richard Peddicord OP, who has published a life of Garrigou-Lagrange The Sacred Monster of Thomism . His paper considered Garrigou's critique of the work of Henri Bergson and Maurice Blondel. This was followed by a paper from Fr Aidan Nichols OP, who has also recently published a book on him an dhis influence on the Catholic Church, on Garrigou and Henry de Lubac on Divine Revelation, drawing out their common emphases in two very different works. After lunch we had a talk from Fr Henry Donneaud OP about Garrigou and Chenu's fundamentally different approaches to Thomism and the Nature of Theology and the ways they influenced one another in their writings.

This was followed by three responses from Prof John Sullivan of LIverpool Hope University, a specialist in the work of Blondel, Fr Thomas Crean OP and Fr Philip Endean SJ.

For someone not versed in Garrigou-Lagrange's work the day provided useful sign posts with which to study his very substantial range of work, and indeed a wish so to do. Several of his major works ahve been reprinted by TAN, and some texys are available online.

What would be interesting would be to have another such conference on Garrigou-Lagrange's work and teaching on spirituality, his mystical theology and call for contemplation by the faithful.

Christ as Angel

You can find interesting posts and comments discussing these two Russian icons, blending theology, liturgy and art on  Fr Blake's blog and on Fr Hunwicke's blog.

Oxford Pro-Life Witness

Saturday 27th November- Oxford Pro-Life Witness

3pm - 4pm

Meet at the Church of St Anthony of Padua, Headley Way, where car parking is available.

The witness takes place just in front of the Church along the entrance to the John Radcliffe Hospital - the only abortion provider in the whole of Oxfordshire.

Prayers are offered for all unborn children, their mothers and fathers and all those involved with the sin of abortion.

Refreshments available afterwards in the Church hall.

Please support this event- for more information call Amanda: 01869 600638

Which Pope are you?

A friend told me that he has recently done an online questionnaire as to which, amongst recent Popes, he was most alike. In his case the answer was Pius VII. The questionnaire did not go too far back into Papal history, but if it did...

Well of course you might well turn out to be a saint, but just suppose you turned out to be Paul IV, Julius II, Alexander VI, Urban VI, John XXII, Boniface VIII, Celestine V (who was canonized as St Peter of Morone, of course), Innocent IV, Innocent III, Urban II, Gregory VII, Benedict XI, John XII ( Wikipedia is restrained in its details as to the circumstances of his fatal stroke...) or Stephen VI. That is not to say they were bad men, and in many cases proved to be great Popes, but they were, well, interesting and characterful.

Mind you, you would really worry if you were John XX...

What the Pope actually said

The leaking of extracts from Peter Seewald's new series of interviews with the Pope Light of the World: The Pope, The Church and the Signs of the Times has led to an enormous outpouring of words in print, on air and on the internet.

Here is what the Pope actually said together with a commentary by Dr Janet Smith.

Since I first wrote this the continuing discussion has produced solid responses from Fr Joseph Fessio SJ, bioethicist John Haas and from the newly created Cardinal Burke


As a traditionalist friend said to me the other evening some of the more fervent coverage on the blogosphere reads almost like a debate on: How many homosexuals can dance on the top of a condom?