medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> > I'm forwarding a query that has me stumped, in the hope that somebody on
> > this list will be able to answer it. There's a story in Christine de
> > Pisan's Book of the City of Ladies that is somewhat similar to the legend
> > in question, but there the daughter is a Roman matron who has recently
> > borne a child of her own, and the parent she succors is her mother. Can
> > any of you recall a story of this kind about a virgin saint?
> >
> > Sherry Reames (English Dept., Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison)
Dear Sherry,
I was experiencing uncomfortable feelings of deja vu with this thread
(as if it had cropped up in this list before) until I realized
what it was reminding me of. Just a little while ago I finally got
around to reading Caroline Walker Bynum's Holy Feast and Holy Fast,
and I am certain that she treats virgin saints of this nature,
although all I could easily track down was a reference to the Roman
tradition, on p. 270: "Medieval writers and artists were fond of the
theme, borrowed from antiquity, of lactation offered to a father or
other adult male as an act of filial piety." She gives as reference
Adolph de Ceuleneer, "La Charite romaine dans la litterature et dans
l'art," Annales de l'Academie Royale d'archeologie de Belgique, 67
(Antwerp, 1919), 175-206. Although it does not involve her father,
the Virgin Mary appeared to many medieval adult males and suckled
them or offered her milk; St Bernard is a well-known example.
Cheers,
Jim Bugslag
P.S. Does Bynum talk about the cutting off of noses, as well? This
also rings bells, but "nose" is not in her index.
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