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| St. Benedict, from the Benedictional of St. Ethelwold (c. 980). Ethelwold was Bishop of Winchester and one of the most important figures in the English Benedictine Revival. A benedictional (from Latin benedictus, "blessed") is a liturgical book containing prayers of blessing of the people, recited after the consecration and before the giving of communion. A Latin poem at the beginning of the manuscript tells that Ethelwold commissioned Goodman, one of his monks, to write it: "He commanded also to be made in this book many frames well adorned and filled with various figures decorated with numerous beautiful colours and with gold." The manuscript is the outstanding exemplar of the Winchester School of Book Illumination and may have been made to celebrate the consecration of Winchester Cathedral, which Ethelwold had restored toward the end of the tenth century. St. Benedict holds his rule in his right hand and a crown in his left. The letters around him read "Sanctus Benedictus, Abba" (Saint Benedict, Abbot). |