Suffrages, fol. 170v

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Trinity: Trinity

Hours of Henry VIII
Illuminated by Jean Poyer

France, Tours
ca. 1500
256 x 180 mm

Gift of the Heineman Foundation, 1977

MS H.8, fols. 170v–171r
Description: 

Trinity: Trinity
Border: Angels (fol. 171)

The Christian conception of a triune God, each part equal and indistinguishable, is the subject of this miniature. (The same corruption can be seen in Poyer's Prayer Book of Anne de Bretagne, M.50, fol. 1.)

The Three Persons of God, seated on a golden rainbow within an aureole surrounded by clouds, are physically and hierarchically identical: they each appear as a young Christ holding an orb. It is tempting to identify the central blessing figure as God the Father, flanked by Christ at his right hand (as in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds) and the Holy Spirit at his left.

Three Persons of God
The Athanasian Creed (sometimes called the "Quicunque vult" from its opening words in Latin), which specifically emphasizes the equality of the Three Persons of the Trinity, is included as the last text in the Hours of Henry VIII (fols. 196–99v).

Trinity Sunday, the feast day dedicated to the Trinity, was not originally celebrated in the early Christian Church. Although it was observed regionally in the tenth century, it was not universally accepted until 1334, when Pope John XXII (r. 1316–34) ordered it to be generally observed. (Feast day: the first Sunday after Pentecost, or the eighth Sunday after Easter)

Nine Orders of Angels
The nine celestial angels kneeling in adoration and prayer below may recall nine orders of angels, a hierarchy codified in the fifth century.

The ranks of the nine orders of angels were codified in the fifth century in De Hierarchia Celesti, a work that was attributed to Kionysius the Areopagite, the convert St. Paul. The choirs were grouped hierarchically:

  1. Seraphim, Cherubim, Theones
  2. Dominations, Virtues, Powers
  3. Princedoms, Archangels, Angels

The first group perpetually adored God, while the second group made the stars and elements. The princedoms protected earthly kingdoms, and the last two were messengers.