“Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns! One a penny, Two a penny, Hot cross buns! If you have no daughters, Give them to your sons, One a penny, Two a penny, Hot cross buns!”
Seventy years ago, I heard this nursery rhyme from a somewhat older phonograph record — the 78 rpm discs made of shellac. Hot cross buns (recipe here) were no mystery to me in my youth. My parents enjoyed pastries, and Van De Kamp’s made the iced buns available during Lent.
By long-standing custom each year, the Church devotes the entire month of April to adoring Jesus Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Fittingly, Holy Thursday in 2023 occurs on April 6. On that day is celebrated the anniversary of Our Lord’s institution of the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the rites of which are so intimately connected to His atoning Crucifixion on Good Friday. By giving us the wondrous Gift of Himself in Holy Communion, Jesus fulfills the promise He made to the Twelve, “I will not leave you orphans” (John 14:18).
This present tale about the origin of hot cross buns is found in a little book of legends and plays called The Little Flowers of Saint Francis. It should be taken neither too seriously — nor too lightly.
When Francis of Assisi first came to Rome in 1209 to gain Pope Innocent III’s tacit approval of his order of friars, the “Little Brothers,” Cardinal Ugolino dei Conti di Segni supported the effort and gave Francis much assistance. Some years later, upon receiving written authorization from Pope Honorius III, Francis requested Cardinal Ugolino be named cardinal protector for the Franciscans, both men and women.
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