medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I like the way Farmer starts his article about Catherine of Alexandria in
his Oxford Dictionary of Saints:
"There is no ancient cult of this saint, no mention in early Martyrologies,
no early works of art. The cult began in the 9th century at Mount Sinai,
to which her body was supposed to have been transported by 'angels', though
this may have been a misinterpretation of 'monks', often described in
antiquity as living an 'angelic' life."
Since she is supposed to have lived in the early fourth century, that seems
a long time of silence before the first word on Catherine is extant. So it
seems that the Vatican's complaint was that C's cult *wasn't* ancient,
despite the antiquity of the monastery that produced the legend.
Phyllis
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
>Doctissimi,
>
>Phyllis' recent posting RE Philomena reminded me of a
>question I've been meaning to pose. If it's naive or
>would require a huge and complicated response, feel
>free to ignore it. Here goes:
>Why was a saint as popular as was Catherine of
>Alexandria, and whose cult is so very ancient, have
>had her cult suppressed? I can see cutting out utterly
>fantastic stuff, but as I recall, her legend was not
>so bizarre. It would seem to me that the extent of
>devotion to her and the longevity of her cult would
>argue FOR at least a kernel of a real person at the
>core of the legend (forgive the mixed metaphor). Saint
>Denis' (of Gaul) legend is rife with nonsense yet no
>one suggests that he didn't exist.
>Thanks in advance for any enlightenment.
>MG
>
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