>Canons do not have to be priests, in 12th C at least.
Brenda's comment (together with her examples) explains to me (something that
common sense should have told me long ago) why some Domesday (1086) fiscal
records of 'minster' churches in England refer to two or three priests when
a rather larger college of secular canons (perhaps as many as twelve) would
seem to be suggested by the size of parish and the attendant pastoral
duties.
>...there are a lot of things we don't know and I think it is very worth our
while to look at these unexplained situations as opportunities to question
our assumptions and even the claims of some of our sources.
Thanks to Jo Ann and the others who have commented, this thread has sent me
back to refresh myself on the basics regarding priesthood, diaconate,
ministry, ordination. Skimming through some of the entries in the Catholic
Encyclopaedia, I am struck by the use of such words as 'exaggeration' and
'abuse' in the on-line edition, and what to me seems like an attempt then
(1908) to interpret the historical record as justifying the distancing of
women from ordained ministry. (This is a 'medieval' List, but does anyone
know if women's ordination was in any way an issue a hundred years ago?) It
is possible to read the same record as a series of efforts through Late
Antiquity and on into the Middle Ages to keep women's ministry within
bounds. Of course nothing is as simple as that. Nevertheless, it is hard not
to feel that conciliar or synodical prohibitions make little sense unless
there is something already happening to prohibit (whether innovative or of
longer standing).
A friend whose wife carries out pastoral work in a Roman Catholic parish
said to me recently that there were numerous such parishes across Europe
where almost every duty in the church was now carried out by women in the
increasing absence of (male) priests. One day, he said, these women would
demand to carry out the one remaining major duty, i.e. consecration, and it
would be conceded. How frustrating that we don't have a proper handle on the
factors at work in the categorisation and definition of clerical duties and
women's share in them in earlier times. Dark tunnels, indeed.
Happy Christmas to one and all!
Graham
*****************************************************************
Dr Graham Jones
Stott Fellow
Prifysgol Cymru / University of Wales
Canolfan Uwchefrydiau Cymreig a Celtaidd / Centre for
Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies
Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / National Library of Wales
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion SY23 3HH
Wales
Tel: +44 (0)1970 626717, ext. 18
Fax: +44 (0)1970 627066
e-Mail: [log in to unmask]
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Web: http://users.aber.ac.uk/gkj/
http://www.le.ac.uk/elh/grj1/
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