Though i'd not heard the story before, Jim Bugslag's recounting of the
fabulous adventures of FitzEisulf, Gimp, et al. sounded perfectly
resonant with and typical of the examples given and examined by Patrick Geary
(_Living With the Dead_), as best i can remember them.
Looking over the previous discussion of these matters in the list's archives,
i note that Megan McLaughlin turned us (me) on to an
interesting essay by Thomas Head, "The Development of Hagiography and the Cult
of the Saints in the Later Middle Ages..." at the Orb site:
http://orb.rhodes.edu/encyclop/religion/hagiography/france.htm
And, Phyllis Jestice noted Lester Little's "examples of the ritual humiliation
of saints in his _Benedictine Maledictions_."
Luciana's admonition to us to refrain from "seeing devotions to the
saints as a quaint, if often charming, mental aberration" sounds about right
to me, but i'm afraid we'll have to part company if she meant to imply much of
a correspondance between "believers, modern or medieval," even though it may
well be that to both "saints are real people...."
To my belief, belief, by definition, is precisely "mental construction," and
Medieval (or Ancient, Pre-Columbian, Australian aboriginal, yadda) mental
construction is/was as markedly different in kind from that of a "Modern"
denizen of the "First World" as, well, their respecitve architectural
constructions.
And "German idealism and Marx" are just the tip of the iceburg seperating
these universes.
This idea and five bucks will get you a cup of coffee pretty much
anywhere in California.
Best to all from here,
Christopher
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