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.


Tuesday 15 April 2014

Learning more about the Roman Missal


One of the books I have been looking at in Lent is Theological and Historical aspects of the Roman Missal. This is the published version of the papers given at the fifth international CIEL Conference, which was held at Versailles in the autumn of 1999.


File:Missale Romanum Pustet.jpg

The Roman Missal
The 1884 editio typica in a printing of 1911

Image: Wikipedia

I know or have heard several of the contributors and the papers make for extremely good reading. They are not only erudite and informative, and indeed thought provoking on liturgical and historical matters, but also have a reflective quality that makes them good material to use at this season of the year.

I learned a lot from the volume - the authors draw upon the great body of scholarly work that has been done on the history of the Roman Rite, and make available a not inconsiderable number of fascinating details and interpretations which I had either not known or fully appreciated hitherto.

If you are at all interested in the subject matter and can find a copy I would highly recommend it.


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