Dear Maeve,
Thank you for your references and your interest. Yes, I would be interested
in whatever references you could provide me re: Irish suckling saints. It is
always better to have surplus information rather than a lack of same! No,
because of the nature of my research, and the relative scarcity of material,
I am not focussing on any one area of Ireland. However, I have decided to
deal only with the Gaelic world where possible, as, this world has not, to
date, been explored in any great depth in the area of popular belief. Thanks
again for all your help.
Regards,
Salvador.
>From: "Maeve B. Callan" <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re:
>Date: Mon, 8 May 2000 12:43:47 -0500
>
>Salvador,
>
>You might find Michael Richter's Ireland and Her Neighbours in the Seventh
>Century (1999) useful, especially the beginning of chapter 7: ubera
>sapientiae:
>
>"Dic mihi, quaeso, quae est illa mulier quae innumeris filiis ubera
>porrigit, quae quantum sueta fuerit, tantum inundat? Mulier ista est
>sapientia ('Tell me, I ask you, who is that woman that extends her breasts
>to innumerable sons, who, even though she is sucked, is always full to
>bursting point? That woman is wisdom.')
> "Like a flash of lightning, this bold metaphor opens a florilegium by an
>anonymous Irish author who wrote in the late seventh century [Pseudo-Bede,
>Collectanea, PL 94, 359]. No manuscript of this text is known. It is
>likely that the author took the sentence from the Epitomi of Virgilius Maro
>Gramaticus, who is likewise believed to have been an Irish author of the
>later seventh century. The phrase larga ubera sapientiae occurs in yet
>another anonymous Irish work, this time of a narrowly exegetical kind. The
>metaphor does not occur in other early Christian Latin metaphors and thus
>can be regarded as typically Irish. Occurring as it does in three works
>from the second half of the seventh century, it can be taken to have been
>well-known then in Ireland." p. 159
>
>There's also the tale of the seven-year-old CúChulainn's taming from his
>battle frenzy, as told in the Táin: "The women of Emain went forth, with
>Mugain the wife of Conchobor mac Nessa at their head, and they stripped
>their breasts at him. 'These are the warriors you must struggle with
>today,' Mugain said." (Kinsella's trans, p92) While modesty rather than
>mercy seems to have had the greater effect in calming the boy, destruction
>is averted through the baring of the women's breasts. I couldn't imagine a
>better resource than Kim McCone as to the degree of native and/or foreign
>(Christian or classical) influence, though I don't think he discusses the
>incident in his Pagan Past and Christian Present in Early Irish Literature.
>
>If you're interested, I could provide you with a few references to Irish
>suckling saints, male and female, and for Marian queries in general, I have
>found Hilda Graef's Mary: A History of Doctrine and Devotion(2 vols)
>particularly useful.
>
>Your project sounds fascinating. Are you focusing on a particular part of
>Ireland during this time?
>
>Maeve
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