A rare honour for an Old Sydneian

Christopher is Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Cambridge as well as Master of Corpus Christi College. He writes: “The sixth-century Gospels are the oldest surviving illustrated Latin Gospels in the world and the oldest non-archaeological artefact of any kind to have survived in England, continuously owned and in use for over 1,400 years. The Augustine Gospels contain 265 folios of the Latin version of the four Gospels. It was first in the possession of St Augustine of Canterbury and is the only surviving manuscript from the collection of books that was sent in AD 601 by Pope Gregory the Great to aid Augustine in his expedition to convert the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms to Christianity.

The Gospels have been embedded in the ceremony of enthronement for the last seven Archbishops of Canterbury and venerated on two papal visits (John Paul II in 1982 and Benedict XVI in 2010). It has never previously been part of a coronation.

The manuscript is held in the Parker Library at Corpus Christi College. The Parker Library is the College’s greatest national heritage treasure. It is internationally renowned for its important collection of medieval and renaissance manuscripts (including a substantial proportion of all extant Anglo-Saxon manuscripts), as well as valuable holdings of early printed books. It is one of the most significant surviving renaissance libraries in Europe. The collection was largely established by Matthew Parker (1504-1575) (Archbishop of Canterbury and Master of the College) in the late sixteenth century.

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, was founded after the Black Death in 1352 and is the only college in Oxford or Cambridge to have been founded by townspeople.

Pictured in header: Christopher Kelly (OS 1981) carrying the Augustine Gospels at the Coronation in Westminster Abbey

I had the honour and privilege as Master of the College (since 2018) to carry the Gospels in the Coronation. I processed from the altar screen with the Augustine Gospels down the aisle of Westminster Abbey and stood in front of Sarah Mullally, Dean of His Majesty’s Chapels Royal, who read Luke 4: 16–21 in English. The Gospels were open at the page showing the portrait of St Luke at the beginning of the Gospel of Luke (ff. 129v-130r). After the reading, I processed back; pausing before the King to show him the Gospels before taking the Gospels back behind the altar screen as the King began to get ready for the anointing.”

The School congratulates Christopher, albeit belatedly, on his prestigious undertaking.

Pictured: The portrait of St Luke as depicted in manuscript