> From: Patrick Nugent [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
>
> The great literary templates for persons predicted to be holy even before
> their birth are the stories of the nativities of John the Baptist and of
> Jesus himself in the Gospel of Luke, and the story of Christ's nativity in
> the Gospel of Matthew. The influence of these texts upon hagiographic
> composition is not to be underestimated. Extracanonical texts, too,
> exercise their influence.
>
The motifs of wondrous births in Irish hagiography may not be
exclusively Christian in origin. The story of Cu/ Chulainn's birth, for
example, is accompanied by wonders.
The style of Irish hagiography changed substantially from the
earliest tales (seventh century) to that composed in the ninth century or
later (see Nagy's _Conversing with Angels and Ancients_). Native motifs
became more a standard part of Irish hagiography as time passed.
Francine Nicholson
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|