>Must have missed something!:
Did only i receive the message?
Have i been thus singled out for some higher purpose?
Dobtful; this is the message to which i responded.
Best,
jmichael
I came across absolution for the dead used in instances of post-mortem
revenancy. In some cases when a body was said to be wandering from its grave
at night, the proposed method of laying it to rest was to exhume the body
and place a letter of absolution on its breast. Other apparent variants on
this idea include sprinkling the corpse with holy water; and making sure
that the grave is properly marked with a cross. I think these crop up in
12C- texts, but there could be later examples. If you're interested, I
discuss these cases in "Wraiths, Revenants, and Ritual in Medieval Culture,"
*Past and Present* 152, August 1996: 3-45. My apologies for the
self-promotion...
--Nancy Caciola
History, UCSD
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|