Given that our founder, Sir Thomas Pope, decided to dedicate the College to “the Holy and Undivided Trinity”, it is no surprise that Trinity Sunday, the feast day on which the Church celebrates the fiendishly tricky theological concept of God as ‘three persons in one substance’, should be an important date in our calendar.

The College was formally opened on 30 May 1556, the eve of Trinity Sunday, when the first President, Fellows and Scholars swore their oaths before a public notary. On Trinity Sunday itself, Matins and Mass were celebrated in the Chapel, followed by an impressive feast comprising rabbit, chicken, capons, lamb, mutton, suckling pigs, goslings, young pigeons, an ox, venison, wine and (the vegetarian option?), strawberries. In his great wisdom, the founder had earmarked a significant portion of the endowment he provided for the celebration of feast days.

Under the terms of our original statutes, Trinity Monday was the day of the College’s most important annual meeting, when new Fellows and Scholars were elected. By the early 19th century, the Sunday feast had moved to Monday so as to follow this meeting.

Our archivist, Clare Hopkins, to whom I am as ever indebted, has unearthed some menus from Trinity Monday feasts in the mid-1890s. Meat is slightly less dominant than it was in the 16th century, and there is also reference to ‘Salade à la Trinity’. This was the creation of a celebrated former Bursar, Robert Raper, and based on Homer’s descriptions of a kykeon of onion, honey, barley and cheese in the Odyssey and Iliad. Head Chef Jules created a modern make-it-at-home version during Covid.

Many College members and guests have enjoyed the Trinity Monday feasts over the years, although some have disapproved of the behaviour they encourage. Our saintly alumnus John Henry Newman, of whom I wrote again last week, complained:

“If there be one time of the year when the glory of our College is humbled, and all appearance of goodness fades away, it is Trinity Monday. O how the angels must lament over a whole society throwing off the allegiance and service of their Maker… and showing themselves the true sons of Belial… This Gaudy does more harm to the College than the whole year can compensate.”

How very different from present-day Trinity celebrations. Last night, as usual, we extended the Founder’s Prayer at Evensong to celebrate a longer list of our benefactors, and our Senior Tutor, Rebecca Bullard, preached. Trinity Sunday sermons are famously prone to heresy, as unwitting preachers come up with dodgy metaphors for the three-in-one, but Rebecca deftly avoided any hint of modalism, subordinationism, tritheism or partialism.

Tonight’s Trinity Monday feast will offer healthier eating and a wider guest list than in earlier centuries. We will welcome our second-year undergraduates, first-year graduates, junior deans and representatives of our fantastic staff. Catherine Royle, the new Principal of Somerville College, will say a few words. And from further afield we will welcome the Master and guests from Churchill College, our sister institution in Cambridge.

I shall say a few words at the outset, partly to warn sternly against the excesses that St John Henry warned about. But I shall keep it brief. Sixty years ago, members of the SCR bet on the length of the President’s Trinity Monday speech, and it came in at 14 minutes. I have no intention of trying to break that record.