At 09:25 AM 9/22/00 -0500, you wrote:
>At 08:44 PM 9/21/00 +0000, you wrote:
>>> I had the occasion to witness the 'botafumeiro' -- the giant liturgical
>>> vessel used to burn incense -- being swung like a carnival ride at the end
>>> of a Sunday mass. Does anyone know of similar liturgical showmanship in
>>> other churches?
>
> Perhaps one of the most spectacular liturgical "special effects" was the
>spontaneous lighting of the candles at the church of the Holy Sepulcher on
>Easter Eve. This was so celebrated that, as a phony miracle, it was cited
>to justify al-Hakim's destruction of the church in 1009. It was featured
>in crusade propaganda as a true miracle. However, it was a source of some
>embarassment to the Westerners when, after they had taken Jerusalem and
>evicted the Eastern clergymen from the church, the lights did not come on
>as scheduled. To restart the wonder the eastern clergy had to be summoned.
surprise, surprise. it also failed, acc to radulfus glaber, in 1033.
> This is one of those historical phenomena that appears tangentially in a
>variety of sources. Does anyone know of a single coherent study of the
>"miracle" of the candles of the Holy Sepulcher?
no, but it wd be most valuable. i have an account in german of a trampling
triggered by it in 1900.
rlandes
>
> --John Howe, Texas Tech
>
>
>
>
Richard Landes
Boston University
History Department
617-353-2558 (of)
617-353-2556 (fax)
Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University
704 Commonwealth Ave. Room 205
http://www.mille.org/
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617-358-0226 (of)
617-358-0225 (fax)
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