Friday, January 6, 2023

It is the 6th of January, 2023. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

It is the 6th of January and thus the celebration of Epiphany- the manifestation of Jesus to the world and, in the Christian tradition, the day of the visiting of the Magi. We talked about this last year, so we will move our attention to someone whose feast day has historically been tomorrow on account of his death on the 6th of January, and that already is a major feast. But we are not bound by tradition- and today, I want to go way back to the 1100s in Catalonia to Raymond of Penyafort- one of the more important lawyers of his day and perhaps partly responsible for one of Thomas Aquinas’s most important works. 

Raymond was born to a wealthy family- he studied at Barcelona and Bologna and taught law at Bologna before being offered a job teaching the same closer to home. You may know how common it is to see someone in the Middle Ages studying “law,”- but this isn’t like modern law school- it was inherently theological as you would study both civil law and canon, or church, law. Often the two were bound together. 

And over the first few centuries of the Medieval church, there were various copies and interpretations of Canon law. And Canon law was tricky because not only did it tie the religious life to the life of a citizen, but it could change. This wasn’t understood as diminishing papal authority- after all, at different times and places where the law might need to be reinterpreted. But with so many versions of the laws, there needed to be one agreed-upon version- enter Pope Gregory and his call to Raymond to make the definitive text of canon law. This would be Raymond’s 5 volume Decretals. The Decretals would be the standard text of Canon law until 1917.

Raymond was a member of the Dominican order and also served as the co-founder of the order of Mercedarians- these were brothers dedicated to purchasing back prisoners (in the late 1100s and 1200s, we are in the time of the Crusades and prisoners of war). Raymond also wanted to convert those against whom the Latin West was fighting. He argued for the teaching of Hebrew and Arabic in cathedral schools and colleges. It is also said that he was the Dominican who convinced a young Thomas Aquinas to write his Summa Contra Gentiles- that is, Aquinas’ theology an apologetic approach- this would make sense as Raymond was concerned with taking the faith to the Moors and Jewish people on the Iberian peninsula and into North Africa.

A story is told of Raymond taking a trip to Majorca- that Island in the Mediterranean. He went with and at the behest of James the King of Aragon to preach the Gospel to the natives. However, James brought along his mistress. When he refused to abide by Raymond’s request to send her home, the story goes that Raymond would leave. James said he would punish any sailor who took Raymond home, and so the monk went to the ocean's edge, took off his Dominican black gown, spread it on the water- took his staff to create a sail, and left miraculously on the Mediterranean back home. King James, so taken by the miracle, is said to have reformed his life from this point on. It’s a nice story and a weird story, and we will leave it at that.

For his work, he was offered the position of Archbishop, but Raymond turned it down, instead desiring to remain a simple Dominican friar. But in 1238, his fellow Dominicans insisted he becomes the Master General of the Dominican Order. He accepted (he was only the third General and second after Dominic himself). Despite his advanced age, he made the trek to as many Dominican houses as he could - working for reform in both piety and education. Raymond of Penyafort would live until the remarkable age of 100- dying in Catalonia on this, the 6th of January in 1275, having been born the previous century in 1175. Today we remember him on the anniversary of his death and not his feast day, which has been pushed to tomorrow because of Epiphany today.

The last word for today comes from the daily lectionary from Isaiah 60- a good Epiphany text:

60:1 Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.

60:2 For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you.

60:3 Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

60:4 Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses' arms.

60:5 Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 6th of January 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. 

The show is produced by a man whose only Canon Law is that you should stand behind it… He is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who can tell you- canon with one n means a rule while two n’s make it a weapon- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.