Anthony Gervase Mathew (14 March 1905 – 4 April 1976) was a Catholic priest and British academic. A member of the Dominican Order, he taught at Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford. His elder brother, David Mathew, served as a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church.

Early life

Gervase Mathew was born on 14 March 1905. His father, Anthony Mathew, was a barrister, who elected to educate his two sons at home rather than send them away to boarding school.^[1]

In 1924 Gervase followed his brother, David, to Balliol College, Oxford, where he read Modern History under Sir Maurice Powicke.^[2] Following his graduation from Oxford, in 1928 Mathew studied at the British School at Athens. In the same year he joined the Dominican Order. He was ordained in 1934.^[2]

Academic career

In 1934 Mathew returned to Oxford to take a post at Blackfriars Hall. He delivered lectures at both the School of Theology and Blackfriars.

Matthew's publications covered a range of fields, including classical antiquity, Byzantine art and history, historical theology, patristics, and fourteenth-century English literature and politics. In collaboration with the Chair of Modern Greek studies, Professor John Mavrogordato, Mathew instituted Byzantine Studies at the University of Oxford.^[3] From 1947–1971 he held the post of University Lecturer in Byzantine Studies, and in 1965 he was Visiting Professor at the University of California.^[4]

While at Oxford, Mathew was a guest member of a literary group, the Inklings, which was also frequented by J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, David Cecil, and Owen Barfield.^[4]

Selected bibliography

• The Prayer of Quiet (Oxford: Blackfriars Publications, 1936)
• Justice and Charity in The Vision of Piers Plowman (Oxford: Blackfriars Publications, 1948)
• Byzantine Painting (London: Faber and Faber, 1950)
• The Origins of Eucharistic Symbolism (Oxford: Blackfriars Publications, 1954)
• Byzantine Aesthetics (London: J. Murray, 1963)

References