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Views from the Choir Loft

The Ascension Depicted in the Rabbula Gospel Book

Fr. David Friel · May 13, 2021

NCIENT Christian manuscripts vary quite a bit. Some are practical, while others are luxury items. Some are spartan in appearance, but others are rife with decorative elements. Some are thick, and some are thin. They can be difficult to categorize, as well, since their creators often did not have in mind the formal genres we like to identify today (e.g., missal/sacramentary, book of hours, antiphonary, epistolary, Gospel book, capitularium, etc.).

One very famous manuscript is the Rabbula Gospel Book. All sorts of facts about this evangelarium are available on the Internet (like here and here), so I won’t rehash them all here. Suffice it to say that the Rabbula Gospel Book is a 6th-century manuscript produced in Syria, completed in AD 586 at the Monastery of St. John of Zagba. The texts of the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles are presented in Syriac. This is one of the earliest Christian manuscripts to be illuminated with (the oxymoronic) “large miniatures.” The manuscript, which is held by the Biblioteca Mediceo Laurenziana in Florence (cod. Plut. I, 56), is especially notable for its use of bright colors and the miniaturist’s interest in conveying movement.

My reason for mentioning the Rabbula Gospel Book today is twofold. First, fol. 13v features a large miniature (33 x 25 cm) of today’s feast, the Ascension.

Ascension of Christ, Rabbula Gospel Book (fol. 13v)

This is a very interesting image, framed with multi-colored geometric forms. In the upper half, the Lord is shown within a mandorla, ascending into heaven on a chariot. Many of the features in this portion of the miniature—the four living creatures (tetramorph), the four wheels, the hand of God—are drawn from the prophet Ezekiel’s mystical vision of God (c.f., Ezek 1).

In the lower half, the miniaturist gives great prominence to the Blessed Virgin Mary, despite the fact that the scriptural accounts do not specify her presence on this occasion (c.f., Mk 16:19-20 and Lk 24:50-51). She stands out in blue, and she is the only disciple given a halo/nimbus. The Blessed Mother is flanked by angels—the “two men dressed in white garments” (c.f., Acts 1:10)—each with a halo/nimbus. Mary and Jesus are the only two characters in the scene shown facing forward. The Blessed Mother is shown praying, and she distinctly does not share in the state of confusion manifest among the other disciples.

The remaining characters number twelve, although neither Judas nor Saint Mathias is included. Instead, Saint Paul is portrayed with his characteristic attributes of a long beard and a book of his letters. This is an anachronistic interpolation, inasmuch as Saul of Tarsus had not yet been converted to Christ by the time of the Ascension.

The second reason for highlighting the Rabbula Gospel Book today is that it presents a very uncommon image related to tomorrow’s feast of Saint Mathias. On folio 1v of the manuscript, one finds the scene of Saint Mathias being chosen to fill Judas’ place among the Twelve (c.f., Acts 1:15-26).

Election of St. Mathias, Rabbula Gospel Book (fol. 1v)

This image is interesting in its own right, but all the more so since, in later art, this scene has rarely been depicted.

Curiously, the Rabbula Gospel Book includes more illustrations of scenes from the Acts of the Apostles than from the four canonical Gospels. This is a good reminder not to neglect our study of Acts, particularly throughout Eastertide.

“While they were gazing into heaven as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven.'” (Acts 1:10-11, RSV)

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

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Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Traditional Catholic Artwork Last Updated: May 13, 2021

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    PDF Download • “Polyphonic Extension” (Kevin Allen) for Gloria III
    EVIN ALLEN was commissioned by Sacred Music Symposium 2025 to compose a polyphonic ‘middle section’ for the GLORIA from Mass III, often denoted by its trope name: Missa Kyrie Deus sempiterne. This year, I’m traveling from Singapore to serve on the symposium faculty. I will be conducting Palestrina’s ‘Ave Maria’ as well as teaching plainsong to the men. A few days ago, I was asked to record rehearsal videos for this beautiful polyphonic extension. (See below.) This polyphonic composition fits ‘inside’ GLORIA III. That is, the congregation sings for the beginning and end, but the choir alone adds polyphony to the middle. The easiest way to understand how everything fits together is by examining this congregational insert. You may download the score, generously made available to the whole world—free of charge—by CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED:
    *  PDF Download • Gloria III ‘Middle Section’ (Kevin Allen)
    Free rehearsal videos for each individual voice await you at #24366. Related News • My colleague, Jeff Ostrowski, composed an organ accompaniment for this same GLORIA a few months ago. Obviously, the organist should drop out when the polyphony is being sung.
    —Corrinne May
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Yahweh” in church songs?
    My pastor asked me to write a weekly column for our parish bulletin. The one scheduled to run on 22 June 2025 is called “Three Words in a Psalm” and speaks of translating the TETRAGRAMMATON. You can read the article at this column repository. All of them are quite brief because I was asked to keep within a certain word limit.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962
    There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop
    —Veronica Brandt
    The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum
    Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.
    —Daniel Tucker

Random Quote

“Angularis fundamentum” is typically sung at the dedication or consecration of a church and on church anniversaries. For constructions too numerous to list in recent generations, it would be more appropriate to sing that Christ had been made a temporary foundation. A dispirited generation built temporary housing for its Lord, and in the next millnenium, the ease of its removal may be looked back upon as its chief virtue.

— Fr. George Rutler (2016)

Recent Posts

  • PDF Download • “Polyphonic Extension” (Kevin Allen) for Gloria III
  • “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
  • PDF Download • “Text by Saint Francis of Assisi” (choral setting w/ organ: Soprano & Alto)
  • “Yahweh” in church songs?
  • “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday

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