> >> Also is there any significance in the re-dedication of wells in the name
> of the Virgin or Saint Mary?
> >
> >Re-dedication in this way was very common here in Sweden during the
> catholic era (until circa 1540), when the church understood the value of
> turning many popular prechristian wells christian!
>
> I would be very interested to know details of these wells before the
> catholic era - what evidence is there for them being 'holy'??? As this list
> is probably already aware, there is real debate about whether any British
> wells ever were 'holy' in prechristian times (although quite possibly
> venerated, as with the ones that are annually 'dressed' in Derbyshire)
> rather than made holy as part of the whole pacake of the 'cult of saints'
> that was imported wholesale from Mediterranean christianity in the 8th/9th
> century [Tristan Hulse has done much work on this although little has been
> published!] and then further developed up to the Reformation in England (and
> until the present day in Ireland).
>
> Bob
> Bob Trubshaw [log in to unmask]
>From my personal point of view the distinction between 'holy' and 'venerated' is not important. What is important is that they were considered powerful in different ways, and thus much visited. I never said they were ever defined as 'holy' by then..
Carl-Henrik
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