Mass of Saint Gregory

The Gregor Fair, also called Gregoriusmesse, is a picture theme of Christian art. Shown is the legend that Pope Gregory the Great Mass in the church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome celebrated, as doubts about the Church's doctrine of transubstantiation came to him during the conversion, so he doubted whether Christ in the bread and wine is truly present. To dispel his doubts was then Christ appeared as the Man of Sorrows in the flesh with the instruments of torture and his blood was flowed into the measuring cup.

The earliest picture of this legend is a mosaic icon from the 13th/14th century. Century, which is now in the treasury of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme and was allegedly given by Gregory himself in order, after having had the appearance. In the second half of the 15th century, the motif of the Gregor Fair experienced a downright explosive growth, particularly north of the Alps. One reason was surely that prayer before the altar of images representing this motif itself was increasingly connected with a drain for the prayer.

Known representations submitted by Bernt Notke for the Lübeck Marienkirche ( Gregor Fair ( Bernt Notke ); burned in 1942 ) and Albrecht Dürer. The so-called masters of Gregor fairs, named after those two panels motif in Aschaffenburg ( BStGS Inv 6270 and 6271 ), was identified by Andreas Tacke as Simon Franck, court painter to Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg.