|
Gregorsmesse
The legend was first recorded by Paul the Deacon (ca. 720–799) in his Vita of Gregory the Great (ca. 540–604). In this telling a woman laughed as Pope Gregory offered her the host during celebration of the Eucharist in Rome’s Basilica of Santa Croce. When challenged by Gregory, she countered that she had that very morning baked the bread he now claimed was transubstantiated into the flesh of Jesus. Gregory prayed for a sign to convince this doubter and the host turned into flesh in the shape of a bleeding finger. The Middle Ages saw the story embellished, and Gregory’s prayer was answered by the appearance of Jesus himself behind the altar and ultimately as the Man of Sorrows rising from the tomb surrounded by the Arma Christi, the Instruments of the Passion. This ca. 1500 anonymous German woodcut depicts this most elaborate version of the legend, including a cardinal in waiting holding Gregory’s tiara, as do a number of other woodcuts and paintings from the same time period. What is unusual about this particular woodcut is the inclusion of the Veil of Veronica (Sudarium) and the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the altar’s sideboards. It’s noteworthy how this cartoonish rendering of the Sacred Heart foreshadows the ornate depictions sparked by Marguerite-Marie Alacoque’s visions over a hundred and fifty years later. This suggests this iconography did not appear ex nilhilo, but had been “in the air” since the Middle Ages. |
|
Click here to return to illustration |