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Thecircumcision of Jesus is an event from the life ofJesus, according to theGospel of Lukechapter 2, which states:
And when eight days were fulfilled tocircumcise the child, his name was called Jesus, the name called by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.[1]
The eight days afterhis birth is traditionally observed 1 January. This is in keeping with theHalakha, which dictates that males should be circumcised eight days after birth by aMohel in aBrit Milah ceremony, at which they are alsogiven their name. The circumcision of Christ became a very common subject inChristian art from the 10th century onwards, one of numerous events in theLife of Christ to be frequently depicted by artists. It was initially seen only as a scene in larger cycles, but by theRenaissance might be treated as an individual subject for a painting, or form the main subject in analtarpiece.
The event is celebrated as theFeast of the Circumcision in theEastern Orthodox Church on 1 January inwhichever calendar is used, and is also celebrated on the same day by manyAnglicans. It is celebrated byRoman Catholics as theFeast of the Holy Name of Jesus, in recent years on 3 January as anOptional Memorial, though it was for long celebrated on 1 January, as some other churches still do. A number of relics claiming to be theHoly Prepuce, theforeskin of Jesus, have surfaced.
Luke's account of Jesus's circumcision is extremely short, particularly compared toPaul the Apostle's much fuller description of his own circumcision in the third chapter of hisEpistle to the Philippians. This led theologiansFriedrich Schleiermacher andDavid Strauss to speculate that the author of the Gospel of Luke might have assumed the circumcision to be historical fact, or might have been relating it as recalled by someone else.[2]
In addition to the canonical account in the Gospel of Luke, theapocryphalArabic Infancy Gospel contains the first reference to the survival of Christ's severed foreskin. The second chapter has the following story: "And when the time of his circumcision was come, namely, the eighth day, on which the law commanded the child to be circumcised, they circumcised him in a cave. And the old Hebrew woman took the foreskin (others say she took the navel-string), and preserved it in analabaster-box of old oil ofspikenard. And she had a son who was a druggist, to whom she said, "Take heed thou sell not this alabaster box of spikenard-ointment, although thou shouldst be offered three hundred pence for it. Now this is that alabaster-box which Mary the sinner procured, and poured forth the ointment out of it upon the head and feet of our Lord Jesus Christ, and wiped it off with the hairs of her head".[3]
Thecircumcision controversy in early Christianity was resolved in the 1st century, so that non-Jewish Christians were not obliged to be circumcised.Saint Paul, the leading proponent of this position, discouraged circumcision as a qualification for conversion to Christianity. Circumcision soon became rare in most of the Christian world, except theCoptic Church ofEgypt (where circumcision was atradition dating topre-Christian times) and forJudeo-Christians.[4] Perhaps for this reason, the subject of the circumcision of Christ was extremely rare in Christian art of the 1st millennium, and there appear to be no surviving examples until the very end of the period, although literary references suggest it was sometimes depicted.[5]
One of the earliest depictions to survive is a miniature in an importantByzantineilluminated manuscript of 979–984, theMenologion of Basil II in theVatican Library. This has a scene which shows Mary and Joseph holding the baby Jesus outside a building, probably theTemple of Jerusalem, as a priest comes towards them with a small knife.[6] This is typical of the early depictions, which avoid showing the operation itself. At the period of Jesus's birth, the actual Jewish practice was for the operation to be performed at home, usually by the father,[7] and Joseph is shown using the knife in anenamelled plaque from theKlosterneuburg Altar (1181) byNicolas of Verdun, where it is next to plaques showing the very rare scenes (in Christian art) of the circumcisions ofIsaac andSamson.[8] Like most later depictions these are shown taking place in a large building, probably representing the Temple, though in fact the ceremony was never performed there. Medieval pilgrims to the Holy Land were told Jesus had been circumcised in the church atBethlehem.[7]
The scene gradually became increasingly common in the art of the Western church, and increasingly rare in Orthodox art. Various themes in theologicalexegesis of the event influenced the treatment in art. As the first drawing of Christ's blood, it was also seen as a forerunner of, or even the first scene of, thePassion of Christ, and was one of theSeven Sorrows of Mary. Other interpretations developed based on it as the naming ceremony equivalent to Christianbaptism, the aspect which was eventually to become most prominent in Catholic thinking. Both in this respect and in terms of finding a place in a pictorial cycle, consideration of the circumcision put it in a kind of competition with the much better establishedPresentation of Jesus; eventually the two scenes were to be conflated in some paintings.[9]
An influential book byLeo Steinberg,The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion (1983, 2nd edition 1996), explores the explicit depiction of Christ's penis in art, which he argues became a new focus of attention in late medieval art, initially covered only by a transparent veil in the early 14th century, and by the second half of the century completely uncovered, and often being the subject of the gaze or gestures of other figures in the scene. This emphasis is, among other things, a demonstration of Christ's humanity when it appears in depictions of theMadonna and Child and other scenes of Christ's childhood, and also a foreshadowing of Christ's Passion to come in the context of theCircumcision.[10]
Having borrowed the large architectural setting in the Temple of thePresentation, later scenes may show the high priest alone holding the baby, as he or amohel performs the operation, as in theSt Wolfgang altarpiece byMichael Pacher (1481), or Dürer's painting (right) and his influentialwoodcut from his series on theLife of the Virgin. This reflected what had by then become, and remains, standard Jewish practice, where the ceremony is performed in thesynagogue and the baby is held by the seatedrabbi as themohel performs the operation.[9] Such an arrangement is seen in a miniature from a GermanPentateuch in Hebrew from about 1300, showing theCircumcision of Isaac.[11] Other depictions show the baby held by Mary or Joseph, or both. Many show another baby in the background, presumably the next in the queue.
Other late medieval and Renaissance depictions of circumcision in general show antipathy towards Judaism; caricatures show the procedure as being grotesquely cruel and themohel as a threatening figure;Martin Luther'santi-Judaic treatise of 1543,On the Jews and Their Lies, devotes many pages to circumcision.[12] Some late-medieval German depictions depict theCircumcision of Christ in a similar vein, with the baby not held by his parents and the officiating Jewish officials given stereotypic features. In at least one manuscript miniature women are shown performing the rite, which has been interpreted as a misogynistic trope, with circumcision represented as a form of emasculation.[13]
By the 15th century the scene was often prominent in largepolyptychaltarpieces with many scenes in Northern Europe, and began to be the main scene on the central panel in some cases, usually when commissioned by layconfraternities dedicated to theHoly Name of Jesus, which were found in many cities. These often includeddonor portraits of members, though none are obvious inLuca Signorelli'sCircumcision of Christ commissioned by the confraternity atVolterra. The devotion to the Holy Name was a strong feature of the theatrical and extremely popular preaching of SaintBernardino of Siena, who adopted Christ'sIHS monogram as his personalemblem, which was also used by theJesuits; this often appears in paintings, as may a scroll held by an angel readingVocatum est nomen eius Jesum.[14]
A smaller composition in a horizontal format originated with theVenetian painterGiovanni Bellini in about 1500 and was extremely popular, with at least 34 copies or versions being produced over the following decades;[15] the nearest to aprime version is in theNational Gallery, London, though attributed to his workshop. These appear to have been commissioned for homes, possibly asvotive offerings for the safe birth of an eldest son, although the reason for their popularity remains unclear. They followed some other depictions in showingSimeon, the prophet of the Presentation, regarded by then as a High Priest of the Temple, performing the operation on Jesus held by Mary. In other depictions he is a figure in the background, sometimes holding up his hands and looking to heaven, as in the Signorelli.[16] An altarpiece of 1500 by another Venetian painter,Marco Marziale (National Gallery, London), is a thoroughgoing conflation of the Circumcision and Presentation, with the text of Simeon's prophecy, theNunc dimittis, shown as if inmosaic on the vaults of the temple setting. There were a number of comparable works, some commissioned in circumstances where it is clear that theiconography would have had to pass learned scrutiny, so the conflation was evidently capable of theological approval, although some complaints are also recorded.[17]
The scene was often included in Protestant art, where this included narrative scenes. It appears on baptismal fonts because of the connection made by theologians with baptism. A painting (1661,National Gallery of Art, Washington[18]) and anetching (1654) byRembrandt are both unusual in showing the ceremony taking place in a stable.[19] By this period large depictions were rarer in Catholic art, not least because theinterpretation of the decrees of the final session of theCouncil of Trent in 1563 discouraged nudity in religious art, even that of the infant Jesus, which made depicting the scene difficult.[20] Even before this, 16th-century depictions like those of Bellini, Dürer and Signorelli tended to discreetly hide Jesus's penis from view, in contrast to earlier compositions, where this evidence of his humanity is clearly displayed.
Poems on the subject includedJohn Milton'sUpon the Circumcision and his contemporaryRichard Crashaw'sOur Lord in His Circumcision to His Father, which both expounded the traditional symbolism.[21]
The circumcision of Jesus has traditionally been seen, as explained in the popular 14th-century work theGolden Legend, as the first time theblood of Christ was shed, and thus the beginning of the process of theredemption of man, and a demonstration thatChrist was fully human, and of his obedience toBiblical law.[22] Medieval and Renaissance theologians repeatedly stressed this, also drawing attention to the suffering of Jesus as a demonstration of his humanity and a foreshadowing of his Passion.[23] These themes were continued by Protestant theologians likeJeremy Taylor, who in a treatise of 1657 argued that Jesus's circumcision proved his human nature while fulfilling the law of Moses. Taylor also notes that had Jesus been uncircumcised, it would have made Jews substantially less receptive to hisEvangelism.[24] However, the Ethiopian Orthodox church has traditionally held that Jesus was divinely circumcised and prophesied that his blood would not be shed until he was crucified.[25]
The "Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord" is aChristian celebration of the circumcision, eight days (according to the Semitic and southern European calculation of intervals of days)[26] after hisbirth, the occasion on which the child was formally given his name, Jesus, a name derived fromHebrew meaning "salvation" or "saviour".[27][28] It is first recorded from a church council held atTours in 567, although it was clearly already long-established.
Thefeast day appears on 1 January in theliturgical calendar of theEastern Orthodox Church.[29] It also appears in thepre-1960 General Roman Calendar and is celebrated by churches of theAnglican Communion (though in many revised Anglican calendars, such as the 1979 calendar of theEpiscopal Church, there is a tendency toward associating the day more with the Holy Name of Jesus[30]) and virtually allLutheran churches.Johann Sebastian Bach wrote several cantatas for this Feast, "Beschneidung des Herrn" ("Circumcision of the Lord"), includingSinget dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 190, for 1 January 1724 in Leipzig.
It finds no place in the present Roman Calendar of the new form of the Roman Rite, replaced on 1 January by theSolemnity of Mary, Mother of God, but is still celebrated byOld Catholics and also bytraditionalist Catholics who worship according to the classical Roman Rite (that follows the General Roman Calendar promulgated in 1962). It was for many centuries combined on January 1 with theFeast of the Holy Name of Jesus, before the two were separated, and now that the Feast of the Circumcision has disappeared as such from the official Catholic calendar, the other feast may be regarded as celebrating this too.
At various points in history,relics purporting to be theholy prepuce, theforeskin of Christ, have surfaced and variousmiraculous powers have been ascribed to it. A number of churches in Europe have claimed to possess Jesus' foreskin, sometimes at the same time.[31] The best known was in theLateran Basilica in Rome, whose authenticity was confirmed by a vision of SaintBridget of Sweden. In its gold reliquary, it was looted in theSack of Rome in 1527, but eventually recovered.[32]
Most of the Holy Prepuces were lost or destroyed during theReformation and theFrench Revolution.[33] ThePrepuce of Calcata is noteworthy, as thereliquary containing the Holy Foreskin was paraded through the streets of this Italian village as recently as 1983 on theFeast of the Circumcision, which was formerly marked by theRoman Catholic Church around the world on January 1 each year, and is now renamed as the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. The practice ended, however, when thieves stole the jewel-encrusted case, contents and all.[33] Following this theft, it is unclear whether any purported Holy Prepuces still exist.
Other philosophers contended that with theAscension of Jesus, all of his body parts – even those no longer attached – ascended as well. One,Leo Allatius, reportedly went so far as to contend that the foreskin became therings of Saturn; however, this reference is unverifiable.[34]
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