For the feast of the martyr St George, who is patron of England, Georgia, Catalonia and many other places (the first I knew of course but the others I discovered by using Wikipedia), we are told:
That is the Gospel according to St John 15,1. The Greek of the last clause reads:
In illo témpore: Dixit Iesus discípulis suis: Ego sum vitis vera et Pater meus agrícola est.
That is the Gospel according to St John 15,1. The Greek of the last clause reads:
... καὶ ὁ πατήρ μου ὁ γεωργός ἐστιν.
The Latin agricola is derived from ager, territory, domain, field, and is used where the Greek uses γεωργός, which is likewise derived from γῆ, earth, land, estate, farm. The name is in fact spelled Georgius, Georgios and it is happenstance, I imagine, that this is the day's Gospel lesson; maybe not.
Later, in the evening before Compline. Sometimes my lack of cleverness is concerning. It only occured to me, perhaps ten minutes ago, to look in the Missale Romanum where, sure enough, John 15,1 sqq is appointed the Gospel lesson for feasts of one martyr in Paschaltide. My fantasies of Farmer George were just that.
Later, in the evening before Compline. Sometimes my lack of cleverness is concerning. It only occured to me, perhaps ten minutes ago, to look in the Missale Romanum where, sure enough, John 15,1 sqq is appointed the Gospel lesson for feasts of one martyr in Paschaltide. My fantasies of Farmer George were just that.
The reason I began this, however, is that the French version used at Mass this morning at Saint Eugène translated vigneron, which is perfectly right, of course: the tender of vines is the vigneron. It is also the case that the Latin and the Greek, while more often being used to mean 'farmer', means also 'vine-dresser' or vigneron, husbandman or peasant, or even boor.
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