Passover

Meester van de Inzameling van het Manna (active c 1460 - 1470)

The Offering of the Jews

1460 - 1470

Oil on panel

69,5 x 51,5 cm

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

This painting was part of a larger altar piece, of which two sections have been found

The painting depicts people of the Jewish faith sacrificing a lamb during the passover in a synagogue. 

The red illustration on the altar  shows the murder of Abel by his brother Cain

The death of the innocent Abel prefigures the sacrificial death of Christ on the Cross

The 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia on the term "Sacrifice" (or "Offering") is most instructive:

"[Sacrifice is] the act of offering to a deity for the purpose of doing homage, winning favour, or securing pardon; that which is offered or consecrated. ... 

Under Moses, according to the Pentateuch, this freedom to offer sacrifices anywhere and without the ministrations of the appointed sacerdotal agents disappears. The proper place for the oblations was to be "before the door of the tabernacle," where the altar of burnt offerings stood (Ex. xl. 6), and where Yhwh met His people (ib. xxix. 42; Lev. i. 3; iv. 4; xii. 6; xv. 14, 29; xvi. 7; xvii. 2-6; xix. 21), or simply "before Yhwh" (Lev. iii. 1, 7, 12; ix. 2, 4, 5), and later in Jerusalem in the Temple (Deut. xii. 5-7, 11, 12). ... 

The sacrifices treated of in the Law were, according to tradition, the following: (1) the holocaust ("'olah"); (2) the meal-offering ("minḥah"); (3) the sin-offering ("ḥaṭat"); (4) the trespass-offering ("asham")—these four were "holy of holies" ("ḳodesh ha-ḳodashim"); (5) the peace-offerings ("shelamim"), including the thank-offering ("todah") and the voluntary or vow-offering ("nedabah" or "neder"). 

These shelamim, as well as the sacrifice of the first-born ("bekor") and of the tithe of animals ("ma'aser" and "pesaḥ"), were less holy ("ḳodashim ḳallim"). 

For the 'olot, only male cattle or fowls might be offered; for the shelamim, all kinds of cattle. The ḥaṭat, too, might consist of fowls, or, in the case of very poor sacrificers, of flour. For the trespass-offering, only the lamb ("kebes") or the ram ("ayil") might be used. Every 'olah, as well as the votive offerings and the free-will shelamim, required an accessory meal-offering and libation ("nesek"). To a todah were added loaves or cakes of baked flour, both leavened and unleavened.... 

To bring peace to all the world is the purpose not merely of the peace-offerings, but of all sacrifices (Sifra, Wayiḳra, xvi. [ed. Weiss, p. 13a]). It is better to avoid sin than to offer sacrifices; but, if offered, they should be presented in a repentant mood, and not merely, as fools offer them, for the purpose of complying with the Law (Ber. 23a). 

God asked Abraham to offer up Isaac in order to prove to Satan that, even if Abraham had not presented Him with as much as a dove at the feast when Isaac was weaned, he would not refuse to do God's bidding (Sanh. 89b). 

The sacrificial ordinances prove that God is with the persecuted. Cattle are chased by lions; goats, by panthers; sheep, by wolves; hence God commanded, "Not them that persecute, but them that are persecuted, offer ye up to me" (Pesiḳ. de R. Kahana 76b; Lev. R. xxvii.). 

In the prescription that fowls shall be offered with their feathers is contained the hint that a poor man is not to be despised: his offering is to be placed on the altar in full adornment (Lev. R. iii.). 

That sacrifices are not meant to appease God, Moses learned from His own lips. Moses had become alarmed when bidden to offer to God (Num. xxviii. 2): all the animals of the world would not suffice for such a purpose (Isa. xl. 10). But God allayed his apprehension by ordaining that only two lambs (the tamid) should be brought to him twice every day (Pes. 20a, 61b). "

See also the Encyclopaedia on the Passover Sacrifice and the Seder 

"[Seder (The Passover at Jerusalem): 

The term used by the Ashkenazic Jews to denote the home service on the first night of the Passover, which, by those who keep the second day of the festivals, is repeated on the second night. 

The Sephardic Jews call this service the "Haggadah" (story); and the little book which is read on the occasion is likewise known to all Jews as the "Haggadah," more fully as "Haggadah shel Pesaḥ" (Story for the Passover). 

The original Passover service, as enjoined in Ex. xii. 1 et seq., contemplates an ordinary meal of the household, in which man and wife, parents and children, participate. 

The historical books of Scripture do not record how and where the Passover lamb was eaten during the many centuries before the reform of King Josiah, referred to in II Kings xxiii.; it is related only that during all that long period the Passover was not celebrated according to the laws laid down in the Torah. 

In the days of the Second Temple, when these laws were observed literally, the supper of the Passover night must have lost much of its character as a family festival; for only the men were bidden to attend at the chosen place; and the Passover lamb might not be killed elsewhere (Deut. xvi. 5-6). 

Thus, only those dwelling at Jerusalem could enjoy the nation's birthday as a family festival. There is no information as to how the night was celebrated during Temple times by the Jews outside the Holy Land, who did not "go up to the feast." 

The destruction of the Temple, while reducing the Passover-night service into little more than a survival or memorial of its old self, again brought husbands, wives, and children together around the same table, and thus enabled the father to comply more closely with the Scriptural command: "Thou shalt tell thy son on that day."

Palm Sunday 20 March, 1212

Michel I Corneille dit Le Vieux  (Michel I Corneille, dit) 1602- 1664

La distribution des rameaux

1664

Oil on canvas

316 x 200 cm

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes, France

The old name for this work is La distribution des rameaux - The Distribution of Palms. It was thought that it was St Geneviève receing palms on Palm Sunday

Now the experts have had a rethink

It is now called: La vocation de Sainte Claire d’Assise - the Vocation of St Clare of Assisi

Inspired by the works of Thomas de Celano, the first biographer of St Francis of Assisi, the artist  shows St Clare as a young girl following the advice of St Francis. Dressed in her finery, she went  to Church on Palm Sunday (20 March, 1212) to receive a palm directly from the hands of Pope Innocent III himself

That night she proceeded to the humble chapel of the Porziuncula, where St. Francis and his disciples met her with lights in their hands. 

Clare then laid aside her rich dress, and St. Francis, having cut off her hair, clothed her in a rough tunic and a thick veil, and in this way she vowed herself to the service of Jesus Christ. 

A work with a similar theme is by the artist in the Cathedral of Saint-Flour: this time of Saint Agnes of Assisi, O.S.C., (1197/1198 – 16 November 1253),  the younger sister of Saint Clare of Assisi and one of the first abbesses of the Order of Poor Ladies.

Michel Corneille (c 1603 - 1664)

Vocation de la bienheureuse Agnès d’Assise

Vocation of Blessed Agnes of Assisi

Oil on canvas

316 x 228 cm

Cathédrale,  Saint-Flour, Haute-Auvergne

Sixteen days after her elder sister Saint Clare ran off to join the group set up by St Francis, Agnes ran off to the Benedictine Monastery of St. Angelo where St. Francis had brought her sister, and resolved to share Clare's life of poverty and penance

The Birth of St. John The Baptist

Artemisia Gentileschi (1593 – c. 1656)

The Birth of St. John The Baptist

1635

Oil on canvas

1.84m by 2.58m

Museo del Prado, Madrid.

In 1630 Artemisia moved to Naples, then Europe's second largest city – second only to Paris – and the largest European Mediterranean city, with around 250,000 inhabitants

It was a major cultural centre during the Baroque era, being home to artists such as Caravaggio, Salvator Rosa and Bernini

For the first time Artemisia started working on paintings in a cathedral, dedicated to San Gennaro nell'anfiteatro di Pozzuoli (Saint Januarius in the amphitheater of Pozzuoli) in Pozzuoli. 

It was during this period she painted Nascita di San Giovanni Battista (Birth of Saint John the Baptist)

It is thought that she may have died in the devastating plague that swept Naples in 1656 which killed about half of Naples' 300,000 inhabitants

The work was one of six paintings commissioned representing the History of St. John the Baptist made ​​for  the Cason del Buen Retiro, the Madrid residence of the Viceroy of Naples 

It is an important work

The feast of The Nativity of St. John the Baptist anticipates the feast of Christmas.

The Nativity of St John the Baptist is one of the oldest festivals of the Christian church, being listed by the Council of Agde in 506 as one of that region's principal festivals, where it was a day of rest and, like Christmas, was celebrated with three Masses: a vigil, at dawn, and at midday

It follows the narrative in Luke 1

Elizabeth is in bed, after giving birth, assisted by a servant, and Zechariah, in front of them, is writing something. 

All the relatives and neighbours are saying that the name of the newborn should be Zechariah, after his father

Struck dumb nine months previously for doubting the message of Gabriel,  Zechariah pens the final judgment on a tablet, "His name is John." in accordance with what he was told

He regains his speech

The name "John" is derived from the Hebrew name Yohanan (יוֹחָנָן), "Graced by God", or Yehohanan (יְהוֹחָנָן), "God is Gracious".

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Zachariah prclaims a prayer now known as the Benedictus (also Song of Zechariah or Canticle of Zachary):

"The Canticle of Zechariah. 

67 Then Zechariah his father, filled with the holy Spirit, prophesied, saying:

68 “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and brought redemption to his people.

69 He has raised up a horn for our salvation within the house of David his servant,

70 even as he promised through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old:

71 salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us,

72 to show mercy to our fathers and to be mindful of his holy covenant

73 and of the oath he swore to Abraham our father, and to grant us that,

74 rescued from the hand of enemies, without fear we might worship him

75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

76 And you, child, will be called prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

77 to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,

78 because of the tender mercy of our God by which the daybreak from on high will visit us

79 to shine on those who sit in darkness and death’s shadow, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

80 The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel." 

(Luke 1: 67 - 80)

Like Mary’s canticle, it is largely composed of phrases taken from the Greek Old Testament and may have been a Jewish Christian hymn of praise that Luke adapted

Saint John Paul II on 1st October 2003 devoted one of his more lengthy talks to the Canticle

He said:

"The text is solemn and, in the original Greek, is composed of only two sentences (cf. 68-75; 76-79). 

After the introduction, marked by the benediction of praise, we can identify in the body of the Canticle, as it were, three strophes that exalt the same number of themes, destined to mark the whole history of salvation:  the covenant with David (cf. vv. 68-71), the covenant with Abraham (cf. vv. 72-75) and the Baptist who brings us into the new Covenant in Christ (cf. vv. 76-79). 

Indeed, the tension of the whole prayer is a yearning for the goal that David and Abraham indicate with their presence. 

It culminates in one of the last lines: "The day shall dawn upon us from on high..." (v. 78). 

This phrase, which at first sight seems paradoxical with its association of "dawn" and "on high", is actually full of meaning."

Annunciation: Gabriel to Zacharias

Niccolo di Giacomo (c. 1325 – c. 1403) (known also as Niccolò da Bologna)

Gabriel announces to Zacharias

From Missal said to be of Clément VII and Urban V

Tempera, gold, and ink on parchment

c. 1370

Avignon - BM - ms. 0136, f. 245

This is the miniature in the initial "N" in the Introit for the Vigil for the Birth of St John the Baptist in a Missal for Pope Urban V and which then came into the possession of the antipope Clement VII

The Introit is an extract of Luke 1: 13

The work is that of the Italian miniaturist Niccolo di Giacomo (c. 1325 – c. 1403) (known also as Niccolò da Bologna)

The same subject is seen in the following works:

Gabriel announces to Zacharias from the initial "F" in the Gospel of Luke 

From Walafrid  Strabo Gloss on the Gospel of Luke 

Ink on parchment

c. Middle 12th century

Cambrai - BM - ms. 0344, f. 003

Walafrid Strabo (or Strabus, i.e. "squint-eyed") (c. 808 – 18 August 849), was a Frankish monk poet and theological writer.

Of his prose-works the most famous is the "Glossa ordinaria," a commentary on the Scriptures, compiled from various sources. The work enjoyed the highest repute throughout the Middle Ages.

Andrea Pisano c 1290 - post 1348

Annuncio della nascita di San Giovanni Battista a Zaccaria

c. 1316

From The South Doors, Florence Baptistry

Gilded bronze panel, 

60 x 54 cm

The Baptistry of the Duomo, Florence

Of the three world-famed bronze doors of the Baptistery in Florence, the earliest one that on the south side was Pisano's work; he started it in 1330, finishing in 1336. 

In 1340 he succeeded Giotto as Master of the Works of Florence Cathedral

Hubert Cailleau (c. 1526–1590)

Gabriel announces to Zacharias from the initial "I" in the Nativity of St John the Baptist in the Gospel of Luke 

From Antiphonaire à l'usage de l'abbaye Sainte-Rictrude de Marchiennes

1569-1570

Douai - BM - ms. 0121, f. 204

Hubert Cailleau (c. 1526–1590), was a French historical and miniature painter and stage designer, who flourished at Valenciennes.

Cailleau produced a number of rich works for the Abbey Saint-Rictrude

On one of the books he produced he wrote:

« Ce livre que fit faire don Jacques le Grandt, abbé de Mânes (Marchiennes), fut illuminé à Valenciennes par moi, Hubert Cailleau, au dernier an de mon adolescence»

Chapter 1 of Luke presents parallel scenes (diptychs) of angelic announcements of the birth of John the Baptist and of Jesus, and of the birth, circumcision, and presentation of John and Jesus. 

In this parallelism, the ascendency of Jesus over John is stressed: John is prophet of the Most High (Lk 1:76); Jesus is Son of the Most High (Lk 1:32). John is great in the sight of the Lord (Lk 1:15); Jesus will be Great (an attribute, used absolutely, of God) (Lk 1:32). John will go before the Lord (Lk 1:16–17); Jesus will be Lord (Lk 1:43; 2:11).

The London Carthusian Martyrs

Vicente Carducho (c. 1576-1638)

Martirio de los priores de las cartujas inglesas de Londres, Nottingham y Axholme

1626 - 1632

Oil on canvas

337 cm x 298 cm

Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

Vicente Carducho (c. 1576-1638)

Martirio de los padres John Rochester y James Walworth

1626 - 1632

Oil on canvas

337,5 cm x 298 cm

Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

Vicente Carducho (c. 1576-1638)

El martirio de tres cartujos en la cartuja de Londres

1626 - 1632

Oil on canvas

338 cm x 297,5 cm

Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

Vicente Carducho (c. 1576-1638)

Prisión y muerte de los diez miembros de la cartuja de Londres

1632

Oil on canvas

337 cm x 297,5 cm

Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

On August 29, 1626, Vicente Carducho (c. 1576-1638), painter to King Philip IV of Spain signed the contract for which it undertook to make the cycle of paintings celebrating the foundation of the Order of the Carthusians by St. Bruno and its leading members

He was the most respected and prestigious of Madrid's court painters at that time

His Diálogos de la Pintura of 1633 championed Michelangelo and the Italian classical tradition while defending painting as a noble pursuit. The artist, wrote Carducho is a learned humanist, not just a craftsman; painters should uplift people morally.

The work was for the Cloister of the Cartuja de Santa María de El Paular, Rascafría, Madrid

It was for a series of fifty-four large canvases and two more, smaller, representing the shields of the king and the Order. 

The cycle closes with a group of heroic scenes depicting episodes of persecution and martyrdom suffered by some Carthusian communities in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, 

The work was supervised by the prior of the monastery, Father Juan de Baeza (died 1641),  who closely monitored compliance with the principles of the Order. Juan de Baeza gave the painter episodes to be included in the series, many of them unpublished or little known and for which there was no previous representations in Spain. 

The London Charterhouse is a historic complex of buildings in Smithfield, London dating back to the 14th century. 

It occupies land to the north of Charterhouse Square. The Charterhouse began as (and takes its name from) a Carthusian priory, founded in 1371 and dissolved in 1537. Substantial fragments remain from this monastic period, but the site was largely rebuilt after 1545 as a large courtyard house. 

In 1537 during the English Reformation the London Charterhouse was dissolved and its members imprisoned and later executed.

Eighteen of these were beatified in 1886 by Pope Leo XIII; three of these (Augustine Webster, John Houghton and Robert Lawrence) were canonised in 1970 by Pope Paul VI with other English martyrs as the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales

In the first painting we see the imprisonment  of John Houghton, Robert Lawrence and Augustine Webster, priors of the Carthusian monasteries of London, Nottingham and Axholme respectively. 

The place of imprisonment and death was the Tower of London 

Saint John Houghton, O.Cart., (c. 1486-London, 4 May 1535) was a Carthusian hermit and Catholic priest and the first English Catholic martyr to die as a result of the Act of Supremacy by King Henry VIII of England. He was also the first member of his Order to die as a martyr.

Saint  Robert Lawrence (died 4 May 1535) was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn for also declining to sign the Oath of Supremacy. His feast day is 4 May

Saint Augustine Webster was the prior of Our Lady of Melwood, a Carthusian house at Epworth, on the Isle of Axholme, in north Lincolnshire, in 1531. 

In February 1535 he had been  on a visit to the London Charterhouse with his fellow prior, Robert Lawrence of Beauvale to consult the prior of London, John Houghton about the approach to be taken by the Carthusians with regard to the religious policies of Henry VIII when he was arrested by the King`s men

In the second painting, we see the hanging of the Carthusians Blessed  John Rochester and Blessed James Walworth both of the Charterhouse of London

They had been taken north as prisoners

They were brought from Hull to York and brought before the Lord President of the North, the Duke of Norfolk, on trumped up treason charges. Condemned to death, they provided the Tudor propaganda spectacle for the city when on 11 May 1537 both were hanged in chains from the city battlements until their bodies fell to pieces

In this work Carducho highlights the two characters in the foreground. To the left is a sort of soldier in colourful uniform colorful which n the painter repeated in various compositions. On the right a young somewhat strange character  introduces the viewer into the story 

In the third painting we see the death of Humphrey Middlemore, William Exmew and Sebastian Newdigate, three young men of proven training and belonging to the English aristocracy and all Carthusians

Humphrey Middlemore, O.Cart, (died 19 June 1535) was an English Catholic priest and Carthusian hermit, and was beatified by Pope Leo XIII on 9 December 1886.

William Exmew, O.Cart., (died Tyburn, 19 June 1535) was also  an English Catholic priest and Carthusian hermit who was also beatified by Pope Leo XIII on 9 December 1886.

Sebastian Newdigate, O.Cart., (7 September 1500 – 19 June 1535) was the seventh child of John Newdigate, Sergeant-at-law. He spent his early life at court and was a friend of King Henry VIII, and later became a Carthusian monk. He was also executed for treason on 19 June 1535 for his refusal to accept Henry VIII's assumption of supremacy over the Church in England and  was beatified by the Catholic Church

Newdigate`s story is interesting because of his friendship with the King

He  was visited in prison  by the King, who is said to have come in disguise, and to have offered to load Newdigate with riches and honours if he would conform. He was then brought before the Privy Council, and sent to the Tower of London, where Henry again visited him, but was unable to change his mind.

In the last painting we see the final moments of long imprisonment of members of the Carthusian community in London, chained and dying one by one through the long hot summer months by disease and starvation for refusing to abide by the Act of Supremacy. In the background, the death of the Carthusian Blessed William Horne 

Horne was the last London Carthusian executed. He was a lay Carthusian

He was executed at Tyburn with Edmund Brindholme, an English Catholic priest and chaplain to Lord Lisle in Calais, and Clement Philpot, a servant of Lord Lisle. Brindholme and Philpot had both been attainted for betraying England by offering assistance to Cardinal Reginald Pole

For more about the events at the London Charterhouse see Lawrence Hendriks, The London Charterhouse - Its Monks and Its Martyrs - With a Short Account of the English Carthusians After the Dissolution 1889

Saint John Houghton pray for us

Saint Robert Lawrence pray for us

Saint Augustine Webster pray for us

Blessed Humphrey Middlemore pray for us

Blessed William Exmew pray for us

Blessed Sebastian Newdigate pray for us

Blessed John Rochester pray for us

Blessed James Walworth pray for us

Blessed William Greenwood pray for us

Blessed John Davy pray for us

Blessed Robert Salt pray for us

Blessed Walter Pierson pray for us

Blessed Thomas Green pray for us

Blessed Thomas Scryven pray for us

Blessed Thomas Redyng pray for us

Blessed Richard Bere pray for us

Blessed Thomas Johnson pray for us

Blessed William Horne pray for us

Crespi and Penance

Giuseppe Maria Crespi 1665 - 1747

Saint John of Nepomuk confesses the Queen of Bohemia

c. 1735

Oil on canvas

185 x 150 cm

Galleria Sabauda, Turin

According to tradition the saint was martyred in 1383 when he refused to reveal to King Wenceslas IV what the Queen of Bohemia had confessed in the Sacrament of Penance

The painting would have been commissioned about the time that the Saint was canonised in 1729

It can be compared to another work by Crespi on the Sacrament which was one of a series of seven depicting the Seven Sacraments

Giuseppe Maria Crespi 1665 - 1747

Confession

1712

Oil on canvas

127 x 95 cm

Gemäldegalerie, Dresden

In 1739, while Crespi was still alive, the Bolognese Gianpietro Zanotti gave a thorough account of the origin of the series of the paintings: 

'One day Crespi saw a man in the confessional at San Benedetto's confessing his sins to the priest. A ray of sunlight fell on the man's head and shoulders, and was reflected inside the small chamber to produce the most beautiful contrast between light and dark that can be imagined. 

He [Crespi] studied it very carefully and, as soon as he was back home, did a small drawing of the scene. 

Then he sent two porters to fetch him a confessional, which he promptly installed in his room with staged lighting. He introduced Ludovico Mattioli, who chanced to be there, into the scene of the confession, and painted him so well that everyone recognised him, as they did the priest, who was the same person who had lent him the confessional.' 

Zanotti further recounts that Crespi made a gift of the painting to Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni in Rome, who was highly delighted and commissioned the remaining six paintings.

Pope Francis said of the Sacrament:

"[T]he protagonist of the ministry of Reconciliation is the Holy Spirit. 

The forgiveness which the Sacrament confers is the new life transmitted by the Risen Lord by means of his Spirit: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (Jn 20:22-23). 

Therefore, you are called always to be “men of the Holy Spirit”, joyous and strong witnesses and proclaimers of the Lord’s Resurrection. 

This witness is seen on the face, is heard in the voice of the priest who administers the Sacrament of Reconciliation with faith and “anointing”. 

He receives penitents not with the attitude of a judge, nor with that of a simple friend, but with the charity of God, with the love of a father who sees his son returning and goes out to meet him, of the shepherd who has found his lost sheep. 

The heart of a priest is a heart capable of being moved by compassion, not through sentimentalism or mere emotion, but through the “bowels of mercy” of the Lord! 

If it is true that Tradition points us to the dual role of physician and judge for confessors, let us never forget how the physician is called to heal and how the judge is called to absolve."

Averroes and The Triumph of Saint Thomas Aquinas

Francesco Traini  (active 1320-65) or Lippo Memmi (active 1317-56)

The Triumph of Saint Thomas Aquinas, ca. 1332-40

Tempera on panel

375 x 258 cm 

Church of Santa Caterina d'Alessandria, Pisa

Museo nazionale di San Matteo, Pisa

The subject of this altarpiece is usually described as the Triumph of St Thomas Aquinas. In it the saint is depicted with open books in his hands and on his lap, receiving inspiration from above via Christ, Paul, Moses, and the Evangelists, and from below via Aristotle and Plato. However  Avarroës lies at his feet.

St Thomas had just been canonised in 1323

Santa Caterina was the Dominican Church in Pisa and was the Church of Archbishop Saltarelli

Giovanni di Paolo c.1399–1482

St. Thomas Aquinas Confounding Averroës

1445–50

Tempera and gold leaf on panel

24.7 x 26.2 cm

Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225 or 1227–1274) stands at the lectern flanked by Christian thinkers discussing the sleeping Muslim philosopher Averroës (1126–98). 

By placing Saint Thomas directly above the prone figure, the artist symbolically elevates Aquinas’s teachings over those of Averroës. 

Originally a cover for the Sienese treasury’s records, this panel included a lower half with the heraldic emblems of the treasury officers’ families

Benozzo Gozzoli (c. 1421 – 1497) 

The Triumph of St Thomas Aquinas

1471

Tempera on panel

230 x 102 cm

Musée du Louvre, Paris

The inscription beneath the glory containing Christ expresses his agreement with the theological writings of St Thomas Aquinas: BENE SCPSISTI DE ME, THOMMA ("You have written well about me, Thomas"). 

The saint is enthroned in the centre between Aristotle and Plato.

At his feet lies the Arabic scholar Averroes, whose writings he refuted. 

In the lower part of the picture a group of clergymen can be seen on either side of the pope, who according to Vasari is Sixtus IV.

The Triumph of Saint Thomas over the Arabic scholar Averroes can also be seen in the Spanish Chapel of Santa Maria Novella, Florence,  in a panel now in the Lehman Collection, New York, some Quattrocento frescoes in S. Domenico, Spoleto, and the Carafa Chapel, S. Maria sopra Minerva, Rome

In the second half of the twelfth century and throughout most of the thirteenth century wide-ranging translation of texts both from Arabic and from Greek into Latin had made available to the Christian West a vast body of philosophical and scientific literature to which that world had previously not had access. 

The newly translated sources included practically all of Aristotle's works which are known to us, a series of classical commentaries on Aristotle, important pseudo-Aristotelian works such as the Liber de causis, philosophical writings originally written in Arabic by thinkers such as Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi, Avicenna and Averroes 

Upon being faced so speedily with so much literature of non-Christian origins, Latin thinkers and Churchmen had to react quickly, and to try to determine how believing Christians should respond.

A council held in Paris in 1210 and new statutes for the Faculty of Arts at the University of Paris promulgated in 1215 by the Papal Legate prohibited "reading" Aristotle's libri naturales, his Metaphysics, and Commentaries or Summae of the same. The expression "reading" as used in these prohibitions is to be taken in the sense of lecturing.

In the late 1220s and early in the 1230s Pope Gregory IX cautioned masters of Theology at Paris against relying too heavily on philosophy in their teaching and continuing to prohibit Masters of Arts from using the libri naturales until they had been freed from every suspicion of error

St Thomas Aquinas served as Bachelor and then as Master of Theology at Paris from 1252-1259 and again as Master from 1269-1272 and was involved in spreading the teachings of Aristotle

During the 1260s, however, another form of Aristotelianism developed within the Arts Faculty, known as Latin Averroism or Radical Aristotelianism

In December 1270 the Bishop of Paris condemned thirteen propositions and excommunicated all who would knowingly defend or teach them.

Bonaventure's Collationes in Hexaemeron of 1273 shows his concern about various errors of Aristotle and those whom he calls the "Arabs."

On January 18, 1277, Pope John XXI, known to most today as Peter of Spain, wrote to Bishop Tempier and asked him to conduct an inquiry about dangerous doctrines which were reported to be circulating at the University.

On March 7, 1277, Stephen Tempier, Bishop of Paris, issued a massive condemnation of 219 propositions along with the threatened excommunication of all who taught or even heard these propositions being taught unless they presented themselves to him or to the Chancellor (of the University) within seven days.

It was a landmark in the history of medieval philosophy and theology. 

But it was Aquinas` interpretation and reception of Aristotle which held sway

Pope Benedict XVI referred to this dispute in the University of Paris in a lecture which he intended to give during a Visit to La Sapienza University in Rome on Thursday, 17 January 2008 but which was cancelled due to ignorant protests. The lecture was published instead

"Theology and philosophy in this regard form a strange pair of twins, in which neither of the two can be totally separated from the other, and yet each must preserve its own task and its own identity. It is the historical merit of Saint Thomas Aquinas – in the face of the rather different answer offered by the Fathers, owing to their historical context – to have highlighted the autonomy of philosophy, and with it the laws and the responsibility proper to reason, which enquires on the basis of its own dynamic. 

Distancing themselves from neo-Platonic philosophies, in which religion and philosophy were inseparably interconnected, the Fathers had presented the Christian faith as the true philosophy, and had emphasized that this faith fulfils the demands of reason in search of truth; that faith is the “yes” to the truth, in comparison with the mythical religions that had become mere custom.  

By the time the university came to birth, though, those religions no longer existed in the West – there was only Christianity, and thus it was necessary to give new emphasis to the specific responsibility of reason, which is not absorbed by faith. 

Thomas was writing at a privileged moment: for the first time, the philosophical works of Aristotle were accessible in their entirety; the Jewish and Arab philosophies were available as specific appropriations and continuations of Greek philosophy.  

Christianity, in a new dialogue with the reasoning of the interlocutors it was now encountering, was thus obliged to argue a case for its own reasonableness. 

The faculty of philosophy, which as a so-called “arts faculty” had until then been no more than a preparation for theology, now became a faculty in its own right, an autonomous partner of theology and the faith on which theology reflected. We cannot digress to consider the fascinating consequences of this development.  

I would say that Saint Thomas’s idea concerning the relationship between philosophy and theology could be expressed using the formula that the Council of Chalcedon adopted for Christology: philosophy and theology must be interrelated “without confusion and without separation”. 

“Without confusion” means that each of the two must preserve its own identity. Philosophy must truly remain a quest conducted by reason with freedom and responsibility; it must recognize its limits and likewise its greatness and immensity."

The Dream of St Joseph

Anton Raphael Mengs 1728 - 1779 

Traum des Hl. Joseph [The Dream of St Joseph]

1773/1774

Oil on oak wood

114 x 86 cm 

Gemäldegalerie, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

In the Gospels there are three dreams which St Joseph has, all of which are important in the life of Jesus and the Holy Family

In Matthew 1:20-21 Joseph is told not be afraid to take Mary as his wife, because she was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

In Matthew 2:13 Joseph is warned to leave Bethlehem and flee to Egypt.

In Matthew 2:19-20, while in Egypt, Joseph is told that it is safe to go back to Nazareth.

In all  three dreams "the Angel of the Lord" is the one who delivers God`s  message to Joseph

"The Angel of the Lord" was in the Old Testament a common designation of God in communication with a human being. 

The dreams may be meant to recall the dreams of Joseph, son of Jacob the patriarch

We also recall Jacob's dream of a ladder that stretches from Earth to Heaven and the Christian interpretation as Christ being the ladder between Heaven and Earth, God and Man, with the angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man

Mengs was an exponent of Neo-Classicism championed by Winckelmann. 

The "noble simplicity" and "calm grandeur," by which Winckelmann meant chiefly a harmony of proportion in the drawing of the figure and a well-balanced composition, are  evident in the works of Anton Rafael Mengs. 

As are breadth, centrality, with blitheness and repose, which for Winckelmann  were  the marks of Hellenic culture

The international career and lengthy stays in Rome put Mengs in contact with the German theoretician whose circle he joined. 

In his time Mengs was extremely successful and often compared to Raphael himself

In the Ancient World, the Greeks and Romans were fascinated by the phenomenon of dreams

In Dreams and Experience in Classical Antiquity, Professor William V Harris writes:

"From the Iliad onwards, via Aristophanes and the gospel of Matthew, to Augustine and beyond, Greek and Latin texts in many genres are constellated with dream-descriptions. 

The best ancient minds, Plato, Aristotle and Galen among others, paid careful attention to what dreams might mean. "

One also recalls Saint Jerome's famous account of his dream of being condemned by God as a "Ciceronian" addicted to pagan learning,

Pope Paul VI on Pope Honorius III

Apse mosaic. Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Rome.

Detail of the apse mosaic: portrait of Pope Honorius III, on the apse of Saint Paul outside the Walls- Alberto Fernandez Fernandez

Pope Innocent III commissioned Pietro Cavallini (1259 – c. 1330) for the fresco cycles for the Basilica di San Paolo fuori le Mura, including the apse which is 24 metres wide and 12 metres long

On the death of Innocent III, Pope Honorius III called on another group of Venetian artists who had worked on the Basilica of Saint Mark in Venice to complete the team of mosaicists for the project

He caused to be added the prostate figure of himself as Pope at the foot of Christ

On the night of July 15, 1823, a fire destroyed the  Basilica which over decades was reconstructed identically to what it had been before, utilising all the elements which had survived the fire including the mosaic of Honorius

On Sunday, September 29, 1963 shortly after his election Blessed Pope Paul VI delivered a one hour address at the beginning of the Second Session of the Second Vatican Council

In an important part of his address he referred to the image of Pope Honorius III prostrate before the feet of Christ in the great mosaic in the Apse of Saint Paul Outside the Walls

"Here we make  our own the words of the Sacred Liturgy: "We only recognise you, O Christ, - with pure and simple heart - we ask you crying and singing: - Listen to our prayers!" (Roman Breviary , Hymn for Lauds on Wednesday [in the Liturgy of the Hours , the I and III week of the Psalter, with changes]). 

In speaking these words, before our astonished and trembling eyes  Jesus himself stands before us, filled with grand majesty as seen in the image of the Pantocrator in your Basilicas, Venerable Brethren of the Eastern Churches, and also in the West. 

We seem to take the role of our predecessor Honorius III who worships Christ, as he is depicted in the magnificent  mosaic in the apse of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. 

That Pontiff, depicted in a miniature size with his  body almost totally prostrate on the ground, kissing the feet of Christ, who, dominating the great mosaic, cloaked and seated in regal majesty as a teacher, blesses the crowd gathered in the Basilica, and who is the Church. And in this scene not just a picture painted on the wall with lines and colours, but a real event, in our assembly, which recognizes Christ as the principal cause of the Redemption of man and who is the Church. 

At the same time the scene similarly recognizes that the Church is a mysterious and physical  emanation and extension of Christ himself. It is as if that the eyes of our mind were touched by that vision of the Apocalypse that the Apostle John describes in these words: "And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of  the Lamb "(Revelation  22,1). 

This council should have as its starting point this vision, or mystical celebration, which acknowledges Him, our Lord Jesus Christ, to be the Incarnate Word, the Son of God and the Son of Man, the Redeemer of the world, the Hope of humanity and its Supreme Master, the Good Shepherd, the Bread of Life, the High Priest and our Victim, the sole Mediator between God and men, the Savior of the world, the eternal King of ages; and which declares that we are His chosen ones, His disciples, His apostles, His witnesses, His ministers, His representa­tives, and His living members together with the whole company of the faithful."

Pope Paul went on to explain four objectives of the Council’s work: 

(1) the enunciation of a fairly precise definition of the Church itself; 

(2) the renewal of the Church, that is, pruning and correcting herself in conformity with the model given in Christ; 

(3) the promotion of unity among all Christians (with Paul’s heartfelt word of regret and forgiveness addressed to other Christians, and he turned to the non-Catholic Council observers at this point) and 

(4) taking up dialogue with the world, solicitous for the poor and afflicted, while showing respect for promoters of culture, learning, science, and art, and for leaders of nations

Port Glasgow Resurrection

Sir Stanley Spencer (1891 – 1959)

Port Glasgow Cemetery

1947

Oil on canvas

50.8 X 76.2 cm

British Council Collection

Sir Stanley Spencer (1891 – 1959)

Resurrection: The Hill of Zion

1946

Oil on canvas

110 x 205 cm

Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Preston

Sir Stanley Spencer (1891 – 1959)

Resurrection, Re-Union

1945

Oil on canvas

89.9 x 165.9 cm

Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums, Scotland

Sir Stanley Spencer (1891 – 1959)

The Resurrection: The Reunion of Families

1945

Oil on canvas

76.2 x 101.6 cm

Dundee Art Galleries and Museums Collection, Scotland

Sir Stanley Spencer (1891 – 1959)

The Resurrection, Tidying

1945

Oil on canvas

76.2 x 101.6 cm

Birmingham Museums Trust, England

Sir Stanley Spencer (1891 – 1959)

The Resurrection

1947

Oil on canvas

76.8 x 189 cm

Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton, England

Sir Stanley Spencer (1891 – 1959)
The Resurrection: Port Glasgow
1947–50
Oil paint on canvas
 2146 x 6655 mm
Tate Britain, London

During the Second World War, Spencer went as a War artist to Port Glasgow on the Clyde (20 miles from Glasgow) 

The town was a major and important shipbuilding centre in the war effort

It was also badly affected by the Bliz on 6th and 7th May, 1941 and German bombing

In the Blitz, some 246 people died in Greenock during the two nights' raiding and 626 were injured, 290 of them seriously. A further 52 were listed as 'missing', believed killed in the town. 74 died in Port Glasgow – 30 in the one shelter alone in Woodhall Terrace (very near to Port Glasgow Cemetery) hit by a 250kg bomb. 

In May 1940 Spencer worked at Lithgows’s ship yards. He filled innumerable sketchbooks with plans for a complete series of paintings detailing the activities of the yard. A scaled-down version of the plan was eventually accepted by the committee and Spencer set to work. 

By 1943 his enthusiasm has begun to wane and he turned to a project closer to his heart: the celebration of Port Glasgow in a large painting some 15 metres across with Christ seated in Judgement on the Hill of Zion as figures rise from their graves. 

Spencer explained the background to his Resurrection - Port Glasgow paintings:

"Seemed to me full of some inward surging meaning, a kind of joy, that I longed to get closer to and understand to in some way fulfil; and I felt that all this life and meaning was somehow grouped round and in some way led up to the cemetery on the hill outside the town…and I began to see the Post Glasgow Resurrection that I have drawn and painted in the last five years. 

I seemed to see that it rose in the midst of a great place and that all in the plain were resurrecting and moving towards it…I knew that the resurrection would be directed from the hill. ... 

As it has worked out this hillside cemetery has become The Hill of Sion where Christ seated in the top centre, directs the prophets, angels and disciples at the resurrection. 

Among the lilac here is a standing prophet scanning the country and by him a trumpeting angel; a recording angel with a scroll is above and a second trumpeting angel on the other side; one of the disciples squats and hugs his ankles. Beyond the left slope of the hill some girls lead a chain of children climbing from the plain, and beyond on the right side there are resurrected men and women" 

(Sir Stanley Spencer on The Port Glasgow Resurrection Series)

One is reminded of one of Donne`s Holy Sonnets (Number IV - "The Doomesday")  - Spencer was a devotee of Donne:

"At the round earths imagin’d corners, blow

Your trumpets, Angells, and arise arise

From death, you numberlesse infinities,

Of soules, and to your scattered bodies goe,

All whom the flood did, and the fire shall overthrow,

All whom warre, dearth, age, agues, tyrannies,

Despaire, law, chance, hath slaine, and you whose eyes,

Shall behold God, and never tast deaths woe"

Donne conflates Revelation 7:1 ("four angels standing at the four corners of the earth") and Revelation 8:2 ("seven angels" to whom "were given seven trumpets") as well as 1 Corinthians 15:52: "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."

In the Devotions, Donne anticipates his own hearing on Doomsday: "Then I shall hear his angels proclaim the Surgite mortui, Rise, ye dead. Though I be dead, I shall hear the voice; the sounding of the voice and the working of the voice shall be all one. . ." (II. Expostulation).

His biographer, Walton,  reports that Donne, on his death-bed, said:

"I cannot plead innocency of life, especially of my youth; But I am to be judged by a merciful God, who is not willing to see what I have done amiss. And, though of my self I have nothing to present to him but sins and misery: yet, I know he looks not upon me now as I am of my self, but as I am in my Saviour. . . . " (Izaak Walton, The Life of Dr. John Donne (1640) pages 76-77)

But perhaps it was Blessed John Newman who in his Sermon Rising with Christ  from Parochial and Plain Sermons, Volume 6 (1842; 1869) who summarised what was the vision of Spencer:

"And much more on His resurrection was He withdrawn from this troublesome world, and at peace, as the Psalmist foretold it. "I have set My King upon My holy hill of Sion." 

"Ever since the world began hath Thy seat been prepared; Thou art from everlasting. The floods are risen, O Lord, the floods have lift up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The waves of the sea are mighty and rage horribly; but yet the Lord, who dwelleth on high, is mightier." [Ps. ii. 6; xciii. 3-5.] ... 

These passages may be taken as types, if not as instances, of the doctrine and precept which the text contains. Christ is risen on high, we must rise with Him. He is gone away out of sight, and we must follow Him. He is gone to the Father, we, too, must take care that our new life is hid with Christ in God. This was the gracious promise, which is signified in the prayer He offered before His passion for all His disciples, even to the end of the world. "Holy Father," 

He said, "keep through Thine own Name, those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We are ... I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world ... Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee; that they may be one in Us ... I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one … that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me, may be in them, and I in them." [John xvii. 11, 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 26.] 

Agreeably to this sacred and awful announcement, St. Paul speaks in  the text and following verses; "If ye, then, be risen with Christ," he says, "seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth." . ..

It is then the duty and the privilege of all disciples of our glorified Saviour, to be exalted and transfigured with Him; to live in heaven in their thoughts, motives, aims, desires, likings, prayers, praises, intercessions, even while they are in the flesh; to look like other men, to be busy like other men, to be passed over in the crowd of men, or even to be scorned or oppressed, as other men may be, but the while to have a secret channel of communication with the Most High, a gift the world knows not of; to have their life hid with Christ in God. Men of this world live in this world, and depend upon it; they place their happiness in this world; they look out for its honours or comforts.  ...

All this, my brethren, I say is our portion, if we choose but to accept it. "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who shall rise up in His holy place? Who shall dwell in Thy tabernacle, or who shall rest upon Thy holy hill? Even he that leadeth an uncorrupt life, and doeth the thing that is right, and speaketh the truth from his heart. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek Him, even of them that seek thy face, O Jacob." 

Aspire, then, to be "fellow-citizens of the Saints and of the household of God." 

Follow their steps as they have followed Christ. Though the hill be steep, yet faint not, for the reward is great; and till you have made the trial, you can form no idea how great that reward is, or how high its nature. The invitation runs, "O taste, and see how gracious the Lord is." If you have hitherto thought too little of these things, if you have thought religion lies merely in what it certainly does consist in also, in filling your worldly station well, in being amiable, and well-behaved, and considerate, and orderly,—but if you have thought it was nothing more than this, if you have neglected to stir up the great gift of God which is lodged deep within you."