Medieval Saints: A Reader

662 Pages·1998·32.674 MB·English

by  Mary-Ann Stouck

MEDIEVAL SAINTS
READINGS IN MEDIEVAL CIVILIZATIONS AND CULTURES: IV
series editor: Paul Edward Dutton

MEDIEVAL SAINTS
A READER
edited by
MARY-ANN STOUCK
ITTP
RMtfttfiCftiigher Education University of Toronto Press Incorporated 2008
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Originally published by Broadview Press 1999
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Medieval saints: a reader
Readings in medieval civilizations and cultures ; 4)
ISBN 1-44260-101-7
Previous isbn 1-55111-101-2
1. Christian saints - Biography - Early works to 1800. 2. Europe - Church history - Middle Ages,
600-1500. 3. Church history - Middle Ages, 600-1500 - Sources. I. Stouck, Mary-Ann, 1941-
II. Series
BX4654.M42 1998 282’.092*2 C98-932233-5
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CONTENTS
List of Illustrations • viii
Chronological Guide • x
Introduction , • XV
Suggestions for Further Reading • xxi
CHAPTER ONE: MARTYRS OF THE EARLY CHURCH • i
i. The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna • 3
2. The Martyrs of Lyons and Vienne • 10
3. The Passion of SS. Perpetua and Felicitas • 21
4. Tertulliani Address to the Martyrs • 33
5. Augustine Preaches on the Feast of SS. Perpetua and Felicitas • 39
6. The Trials and Execution of Cyprian • 43
7. The Age of Martyrs in Legend: The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus • 48
CHAPTER TWO:THE DESERT FATHERS AND MOTHERS • 55
8. Christianity in the Desert: St. Antony the Great • 57
9. Antony’s Disciples: Paul the Simple • 83
10. The First Hermit: St. Paul ofThebes • 87
11. A Harlot in the Desert: Mary of Egypt • 97
12. A Famous Pillar Saint: Symeon Stylites • 115
13. A Transvestite Saint: Mary/Marina • 127
CHAPTER THREE: BISHOPS, MONKS, AND NUNS • 135
14. St. Martin ofTours • 137
15. The Life and Miracles of St. Benedict • 167
16. Venantius Fortunatus’s Life of St. Radegund • 205
17. Radegund Writes to the Bishops • 218
18. An Irish Missionary: St. Gall, by Walahfrid Strabo • 223
19. A Mirror for Monks: The Life of St. Maiol, Abbot of Cluny, by Odilo,
Fifth Abbot of Cluny • 250
CHAPTER FOUR: ROYAL SAINTS • 265
20. Ælfric’s Life of St. Edmund, King and Martyr • 267
21. St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland • 273
CHAPTER FIVE: PILGRIMAGE 295
22. St. Augustine on the Rites at the Martyrs’ Tombs • 297
23. Pilgrimage and Miracles in North Africa • 299
24. Sæwulf Makes a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land • 307
25. The Pilgrim’s Guide to St. James of Compostella • 313
26. Pilgrimage as Metaphor: The Canterbury Tales • 328
27. Jerusalem Pilgrimage in 1480: the Tribulations of Brother Felix • 335
CHAPTER SIX: RELICS • 355
28. Gregory of Tours: the Power of Relics • 356
29. The Humiliation of St. Mitrias • 364
30. The Affair of St. Sergius’s Fingerbone • 366
31. Criticism of the Cult of Relics: Claudius ofTurin • 3Ó8
32. Theft of Relics: the Translation of SS. Marcellinus and Peter • 373
33. False Relics and Imposters • 395
34. Fundraising with Relics: the Monks of Laon • 398
35. Fire at the Shrine of St. Edmund • 402
CHAPTER SEVEN: NEW DIRECTIONS • 411
36. The New Hermits: Godric of Finchale • 412
37. Women’s Spirituality I: Christina the Astonishing • 436
38. Women’s Spirituality II: Umiltà of Faenza • 453
39. The Conversion of St. Francis of Assisi and the Founding of
his Order • 470
40. Humanistic Hagiography: the Writings of St. Francis’s
Companions • 488
41. The Official Life of St. Francis: the Stigmata • 497
42. The Canticle of Brother Sun • 504
43. The Canonization of St. Francis • 508
CHAPTER EIGHT: HAGIOGRAPHIC ROMANCES • 517
44. St. Ursula and the Eleven Thousand Virgins • 518
45. Four ‘Lives’ from The Golden Legend (Alexis, Mary Magdalene^ Eustace,
James the Dismembered) • 534
46. ‘Lives* of St. Christopher: the Irish Libar Breac • 561
47. ‘Lives’ of St. Christopher: The South English Legendary • 568
48. An Old French Life of St. Margaret of Antioch • 579
CHAPTER NINE: EPILOGUE • 593
49. A Reformer’s View of the Cult of the Saints • 595
50. A Heretic’s Confession • 598
51. Erasmus: A Pilgrimage for Religion’s Sake • 601
Index of Topics • 629
Acknowledgement of Sources in Copyright • 634
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
[Fig-1] Martyrdom of St. Ignatius, 1
[Fig- 2] Funeral lamp from the Catacombs, 3
[Fig- 3] SS. Cornelius and Cyprian, 6
[Fig- 4] St. Antony, 8
[Fig. 5] St. Antony tortured by demons, 8.3
[Fig- 6] Lives of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, 9
[Fig. 7] St. Jerome, 10
[Fig. 8] St. Paul and St. Antony, 10.11
[Fig. 9] St. Mary of Egypt, 11
[Fig. 10] St. Symeon Stylites, 12
[Fig-ii] St. Marina, 13
[Fig. 12] St. Martin, 14.1
[Fig. 13] Two events in the ‘life’ of St. Martin, 14,5,6
[Fig. 14] Exorcism of demons, 14.13
[Fig-15] Death of St. Martin, I4.b
[Fig. 16] St. Benedict, 15
[Fig. 17] St. Benedict and the rebellious monks, 15.3
[Fig. 18] St. Benedict exorcises the Devil, 15.9
[Fig. 19] St. Benedict reproves KingTotila, 15.15
[Fig. 20] Benedictine saints: Scholastica, Justina, Maurus, and Placidus with
St.Benedict, 15.33
[Fig-21] Death of St. Benedict, 15.37
[Fig- 22] St. Radegund, 16
[Fig- 23] The Long Gospel, St-Gall, 18
[Fig. 24] St. Edmund of East Anglia, 20
[Fig- 25] Richard II of England with SS. Edmund, Edward, and John the
Baptist, 20
[Fig- 26] Dunfermline Abbey, burial place of St. Margaret, 21
[Fig- 27] Tomb of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, 21.19
[Fig- 28] St. Louis of France, 21.29
[Fig. 29] Pilgrimage to Emmaus, 22
[Fig. 30] St. James the Great, 25
[Fig-31] St. James the ‘Moor-slayer,’ 25.7
[Fig. 32] Sufferers from St.Vitus’s Dance on a pilgrimage, 25.7
[Fig- 33] The Canterbury Pilgrims, 26
[Fig- 34] The island and harbor of Rhodes, 27
[Fig- 35] A family carrying out a vow, 27
[Fig. 36a] The Crown ofThorns, 28.5
[Fig. 36b] A fragment of the Lord’s Cross, 28.5
[Fig- 37] A thirteenth-century reliquary, 3 2.1.15
[Fig. 38] The Crown ofThorris received in Paris, 32.2.3
[Fig- 39] A relics procession, 34
£Fig. 40] Pilgrims approaching the relics of St. Philip, 35.14
[Fig. 41] The marriage of St. Francis to Lady Poverty, 39.24
[Fig. 42] St. Francis preaching to the birds, 40.51
[Fig. 43] St. Francis receiving the stigmata, 41.2
[Fig- 44] St. Francis encounters Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience, 43.122
[Fig. 45] A reliquary of St. Ursula, 44
[Fig. 46] St. Ursula as patron of young girls, 44.10
[Fig. 47] St. Mary Magdalene washes the feet of Christ, 45
[Fig. 48] St. Mary Magdalene, 45
[Fig. 49] The translation of St. Mary Magdalene, 45
[Fig. 50] St. Eustace, 45
[Fig. 51] Dogheaded men on a cross at Conchan, Isle of Man, 46
[Fig. 52] St. Christopher, 47
[Fig. 53] St. Christopher as a giant, 47
[Fig. 54] Three images of St. Margaret, 48
[Fig. 5 5] John Wycliffe, 49
[Fig. 56] Ruins of the gatehouse at Walsingham Priory, 51
[Fig. 57] Plan of Canterbury Cathedral, 51
A CHRONOLOGICAL GUIDE TO THE CONTENTS
(Numbers in brackets refer to selections in the Reader)
Death of St. Stephen, protomartyr [23]
C.35
I50-I60S Rise ofMontanism [3,4]
C.I56 Martyrdom of St. Poly carp [1]
160-220 Tertullian [4]
177 Martyrs of Lyons and Vienne [2]
Early 200s Tertullian’s Address to the Martyrs [4]
203 Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas [3]
249-251 Persecution under Decius [6,7]
250-356 St. Antony the Great [8,9]
257-258 Martyrdom of Cyprian [6]
260-339 Eusebius of Caesarea [2]
c.290-347 Pachomius [8]
312 Constantine’s victory at the Milvian Bridge, and his
conversion to Christianity [8]
C.316-397 St. Martin of Tours [14]
325 Council of Nicaea
328-373 Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, author of the Life of
St. Antony the Great [8]
347-419/20 St. Jerome, author of the Life of Paul of Thebes [10]
354 Birth of Augustine of Hippo [5,22,23]
385 Ambrose’s discovery and translation of the relics of
Gervasius and Protasius in Milan
393-466 Theodoret of Cyrrhus [12]
396-459 Symeon Stylites [12]
397 Sulpicius Severus’s Life of St. Martin [14]
c.400-450 Conversion of Ireland by St. Patrick [18]
C.400 Augustine’s sermons on the Feast of SS. Perpetua and
Felicitas [5]
408-450 Reign ofTheodosius, emperor in the east, used as the
setting for the second part of the account of the
Seven Sleepers of Ephesus [7]
410 Sack of Rome by the Visigoths [22,23]
413 Augustine begins writing The City of God [22,23]
419 Palladius’s Lausiac History, including Paul the Simple
[9]
430 Death of Augustine of Hippo [5,22,23]