The Mass of Saint Gregory is a subject in

Roman Catholic art Catholic art is art produced by or for members of the Catholic Church. This includes visual art (iconography), sculpture, decorative arts, applied arts, and architecture. In a broader sense, Catholic music and other art may be included as well. E ...

which first appears in the late

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

and was still found in the

Counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) a ...

Pope Gregory I Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregori ...

(c. 540–604) is shown saying

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

just as a vision of Christ as the ''

Man of Sorrows Man of Sorrows, a biblical term, is paramount among the prefigurations of the Messiah identified by the Bible in the passages of Isaiah 53 (''Servant songs'') in the Hebrew Bible. It is also an iconic devotional image that shows Christ, usually ...

'' has appeared on the altar in front of him, in response to the Pope's prayers for a sign to convince a doubter of the doctrine of

transubstantiation Transubstantiation (Latin: ''transubstantiatio''; Greek: μετουσίωσις ''metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of th ...

History of the story and the image

The earliest version of the story is found in the 8th-century biography of Gregory by

Paul the Deacon Paul the Deacon ( 720s 13 April in 796, 797, 798, or 799 AD), also known as ''Paulus Diaconus'', ''Warnefridus'', ''Barnefridus'', or ''Winfridus'', and sometimes suffixed ''Cassinensis'' (''i.e.'' "of Monte Cassino"), was a Benedictine monk, s ...

, and was repeated in the 9th-century one by John the Deacon. In this version, the Pope was saying Mass when a woman present started to laugh at the time of the Communion, saying to a companion that she could not believe the bread was Christ, as she herself had baked it. Gregory prayed for a sign, and the

host A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it. Host may also refer to: Places * Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County People *Jim Host (born 1937), American businessman * Michel Host ...

turned into a bleeding finger. Israhel van Meckenem The Mass of Saint Gregory

This story is retained in the popular 13th century compilation the ''

Golden Legend The ''Golden Legend'' (Latin: ''Legenda aurea'' or ''Legenda sanctorum'') is a collection of hagiographies by Jacobus de Voragine that was widely read in late medieval Europe. More than a thousand manuscripts of the text have survived.Hilary ...

'', but other versions conflate the legend with other stories and the finger is changed into a visionary appearance of the whole of Christ on the altar, and the doubter becomes one of the

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

s. The story was hardly seen in art until the

Jubilee Year A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of ...

of 1350, when pilgrims to Rome saw a Byzantine

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...

, the ''Imago Pietatis'', in the

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

Santa Croce in Gerusalemme The Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem or Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, ( la, Basilica Sanctae Crucis in Hierusalem) is a Catholic Minor basilica and titular church in rione Esquilino, Rome, Italy. It is one of the Seven Pilgrim ...

, which was claimed to have been made at the time of the vision as a true representation. In this the figure of Christ was typical of the Byzantine forerunners of the ''Man of Sorrows'', at half-length, with crossed hands and a head slumped sideways to the viewer's left. According to

Gertrud Schiller Gertrud Schiller (7 January 1905 – 4 December 1994) was a German art historian, nurse, social pedagogue and Lutheran teacher of religion. Despite not having a doctorate in art history, she wrote what remains a standard work on Christian iconog ...

and the German scholars she cites, this has now been lost, but is known from many copies, including the small Byzantine

micromosaic Micromosaics (or micro mosaics, micro-mosaics) are a special form of mosaic that uses unusually small mosaic pieces (tesserae) of glass, or in later Italian pieces an enamel-like material, to make small figurative images. Surviving ancient Roman ...

icon of about 1300 now in Santa Croce. This image seems to have had, perhaps initially only for the Jubilee, a Papal

indulgence In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence (, from , 'permit') is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins". The '' Catechism of the Catholic Church'' describes an indulgence as "a remission before God o ...

of 14,000 years granted for prayers said in its presence. This form of the image, converted to a more standard Western ''Man of Sorrows'', rising from the tabernacle on the altar, shown as a tomb-like box, with the ''

Arma Christi Arma Christi ("weapons of Christ"), or the Instruments of the Passion, are the objects associated with the Passion of Jesus Christ in Christian symbolism and art. They are seen as arms in the sense of heraldry, and also as the weapons Christ ...

'' around him, became standard across Europe, and very popular, especially north of the Alps, as an

altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...

, in miniatures in

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...

s, and other media. The strong connection of the image with indulgences was also maintained, and largely escaped from any Papal control. There was another Jubilee year in 1500, and the years on either side of this perhaps show the height of popularity of the image. It often appeared in

books of hours The book of hours is a Christian devotional book used to pray the canonical hours. The use of a book of hours was especially popular in the Middle Ages and as a result, they are the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscrip ...

, usually at the start of the

Hours of the Cross An hour (symbol: h; also abbreviated hr) is a unit of time conventionally reckoned as of a day and scientifically reckoned between 3,599 and 3,601 seconds, depending on the speed of Earth's rotation. There are 60 minutes in an hour, and 24 ho ...

Penitential Psalms The Penitential Psalms or Psalms of Confession, so named in Cassiodorus's commentary of the 6th century AD, are the Psalms Psalm 6, 6, Psalm 32, 31, Psalm 38, 37, Psalm 51, 50, Psalm 102, 101, Psalm 130, 129, and Psalm 143, 142 (6, 32, 38, 51, 102 ...

. The

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

is one of a number of examples where detached

andachtsbilder ''Andachtsbilder'' (singular ''Andachtsbild'', German for devotional image) is a German term often used in English in art history for Christian devotional images designed as aids for prayer or contemplation. The images "generally show holy fig ...

images such as the ''Man of Sorrows'' intended for intense personal meditation, are worked back into monumental compositions for prominent display. The deacon is invariably shown, and in larger compositions there is often a crowd of cardinals, attendants and worshippers, often with a

donor portrait A donor portrait or votive portrait is a portrait in a larger painting or other work showing the person who commissioned and paid for the image, or a member of his, or (much more rarely) her, family. ''Donor portrait'' usually refers to the portr ...

included. Sometimes the

chalice A chalice (from Latin 'mug', borrowed from Ancient Greek () 'cup') or goblet is a footed cup intended to hold a drink. In religious practice, a chalice is often used for drinking during a ceremony or may carry a certain symbolic meaning. Re ...

on the altar is being filled with blood pouring from the wound in Christ's side. The head tilted to the left of the mosaic in Rome is typically retained in modified form. Sometimes Christ is full-length, and he may appear to be stepping forward onto the altar in later versions. Frequently the

Instruments of the Passion Arma Christi ("weapons of Christ"), or the Instruments of the Passion, are the objects associated with the Passion of Jesus Christ in Christian symbolism and art. They are seen as arms in the sense of heraldry, and also as the weapons Chris ...

are shown on the altar. There were several

prints In molecular biology, the PRINTS database is a collection of so-called "fingerprints": it provides both a detailed annotation resource for protein families, and a diagnostic tool for newly determined sequences. A fingerprint is a group of conserve ...

that were often copied by artists, notably ten different

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...

s of the subject by

Israhel van Meckenem Israhel van Meckenem (c.1445 – 10 November 1503), also known as Israhel van Meckenem the Younger, was a German printmaker and goldsmith, perhaps of a Dutch family origin. He was the most prolific engraver of the fifteenth century and an impor ...

and a

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...

of 1511. Many of these included printed indulgences, usually unauthorised. The oldest dated Aztec feather painting is a ''Mass'' of 1539 (see gallery) following one of the van Meckenem indulgence prints (not the one illustrated). The print illustrated began with a "bootlegged" indulgence of 20,000 years, but in a later

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

the plate has been altered to increase it to 45,000 years. With the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, an image that asserted both divine approval of the

Papacy The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

and the doctrine of the

Real Presence The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is the Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist, not merely symbolically or metaphorically, but in a true, real and substantial way. There are a number of Christian denominati ...

was attractive to Catholics, and the iconography continued to be used.

Gallery

File:Mestre da Família Artés - Juízo Final.jpg, As part of a Spanish ''

Last Judgement The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...

'', 1500–1520 File:Bernt Notke Gregorsmesse Arhus.jpg,

Bernt Notke Bernt Notke (; – before May 1509) was a late Gothic artist, working in the Baltic region. He has been described as one of the foremost artists of his time in northern Europe. Life Very little is known about the life of Bernt Notke. The No ...

File:Hieronymus Bosch 062.jpg,

Hieronymus Bosch Hieronymus Bosch (, ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on oa ...

, the outer covers for his

triptych A triptych ( ; from the Greek language, Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) t ...

of The ''Adoration of the Magi'' in the Prado File:Mass_of_St._Gregory,_c._1490,_attributed_to_Diego_de_la_Cruz,_oil_and_gold_on_panel_(Philadelphia_Museum_of_Art).jpg, ''Mass of St. Gregory'', c. 1490, attributed to Diego de la Cruz (

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

) File:Huanitzin.jpg, Aztec feather painting made by or for Diego Huanitzin, nephew and son-in-law of

Moctezuma II Moctezuma Xocoyotzin ( – 29 June 1520; oteːkˈsoːmaḁ ʃoːkoˈjoːt͡sĩn̥), nci-IPA, Motēuczōmah Xōcoyōtzin, moteːkʷˈsoːma ʃoːkoˈjoːtsin variant spellings include Motewksomah, Motecuhzomatzin, Montezuma, Moteuczoma, Motecu ...

to present to

Pope Paul III Pope Paul III ( la, Paulus III; it, Paolo III; 29 February 1468 – 10 November 1549), born Alessandro Farnese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 October 1534 to his death in November 1549. He came to ...

, dated 1539.Pierce, 96 File:Albrecht_Dürer_-_The_Mass_of_Saint_Gregory_(NGA_1943.3.3673).jpg, ''Mass of St. Gregory'' by

File:Messe de saint Grégoire.jpg, ''Mass of St. Gregory'', c. 1500, by an anonymous master of Bruxelles

Notes

References

* Field, Richard, ''Fifteenth Century Woodcuts and Metalcuts'', National Gallery of Art, Washington (Catalogue), Washington, 1965 * Kamerick, Kathleen; ''Popular Piety and Art in the late Middle Ages: Image Worship and Idolatry in England, 1350–1500'', Palgrave Macmillan, 2002, ,
Google books
* Parshall, Peter, in David Landau & Peter Parshall, ''The Renaissance Print'', Yale, 1996, * Pattison George, in W. J. Hankey, Douglas Hedley (eds),''Deconstructing Radical Orthodoxy: Postmodern Theology, Rhetoric, and Truth'', Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2005, ,
Google books
* Pierce, Donna et al.; ''Painting a New World: Mexican Art and Life, 1521–1821'', University of Texas Press, 2004, ,
Google books
* Rubin, Miri, ''Corpus Christi: The Eucharist in Late Medieval Culture'', pp. 120–122, 308–310, Cambridge University Press, 1992, ,
Google books
* Schiller, Gertrud, ''Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. II'', 1972 (English trans from German), Lund Humphries, London, {{ISBN, 0-85331-324-5 * Shestack, Alan; ''Fifteenth Century Engravings of Northern Europe''; 1967, National Gallery of Art, Washington (Catalogue), LOC 67-29080

External links

biblical-art.com
Large selection of images, mostly from manuscripts

Individual paintings in depth:

by

Hans Baldung Grien Hans Baldung (1484 or 1485 – September 1545), called Hans Baldung Grien, (being an early nickname, because of his predilection for the colour green), was a painter, printer, engraver, draftsman, and stained glass artist, who was considered th ...

1511
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Master of the Aachen Altarpiece, c. 1505

Anonymous English wall painting
Getty Museum
Three miniatures and a painting Iconography of Jesus Christian iconography Gothic art Pope Gregory I Passion of Jesus in art by theme

History of the story and the image

Gallery

Notes

References

Further reading

External links