medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Well, how fascinating this all is, and quite new to me - though I
realise now it has been pointed out how many night-time church
activities I have come across, and never linked them up:
-- yes, pilgrims often spent the night, or several nights, with saint's
shrines. There are many examples of this among the miracle accounts for
English saints
-- an all-night vigil was a major part of any self-respecting funeral.
The Rites of Durham gives funerary practices for different grades of
monk, and I believe all of them involved an all-night vigil. St Hugh of
Lincoln's Carthusian funeral in Lincoln Cathedral involved his naked
body being placed (from memory) on a cross of ashes in the church and
people keeping watch over it. There are many accounts of senior
aristocrats' bodies spending the night in the cathedral choir or
presbytery, on a hearse surrounded by torches, before burial: Prince
Arthur at Worcester comes to mind.
-- there seems to have been a tendency for saint's translations, or at
least inspections of saints' tombs, to be done partly at night. This may
not be a religious thing, so much as a sign that the community concerned
has some nervousness about what they will find. So Cuthbert's tomb was
checked at night by the monks of Durham before his official translation
took place in the early years of the c12, just to be sure he really was
in there and really was incorrupt; St Wulfstan of Worcester appeared to
his monks in the late c12 and asked to be translated - but when the
community responded by digging him up at night, the Worcester saints
were furious: the bishop was dead within three weeks, and St Oswald had
warned them in a vision not to raise the saint 'irreverently and by
night'.
-- it does make me wonder about the function of spaces such as the Holy
Hole beneath the Winchester feretory platform. I've been in it and it
would just be possible to curl up in there for a time, though a night
would be uncomfy. I have to say, using strictly non-academic criteria,
that I found the experience electrifying. And then there is the
artifical 'night' produced by crypts, which were I believe the location
for saints' shrines long before they became located behind the high
altar or elsewhere in the main body of the church. The approaches to the
c7 crypts at Hexham and Ripon seem particularly designed to induce a
cave-like feeling of disorientation.
I find it rather touching that similar practices could translate
'downwards' to the porch of a humble parish church. I may even try it
some day... it certainly seemed to work for those Greek nuns!
Jon Cannon
-----Original Message-----
From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious
culture [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ferzoco,
G.P.
Sent: 31 January 2006 23:40
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [M-R] incubation (was RE: [M-R] doors)
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
culture
Dear Paul (and other friends),
The practice known as incubation was particularly widespread in
classical Greece (especially in the cult of Aesculapius), and 'more
recently' in the Mediterranean basin (as far as I'm aware). The main
aspects of incubation were: night sleep in a holy place; visionary
dreams during that sleep; and resulting curative miracles. Some sources
include:
Author : Deubner, Ludwig, 1877-1946.
Title : De incubatione capita quattuor; accedit Laudatio in
miracula Sancti Hieromartyris Therapontis e codice Messanensi denuo
edita.
Published : Lipsiae, In Aedibus B.G. Teubneri, 1900.
Author : Ehrlich, Ernst Ludwig.
Title : Der Traum im Alten Testament.
Published : Berlin, Töpelmann, 1953.
Author : Meier, C. A. (Carl Alfred), 1903-
Title : Ancient incubation and modern psychotherapy [by] C. A.
Meier. Translated by Monica Curtis.
Published : Evanston, Northwestern University Press, 1967.
[There is a 2003 (third) edition of this, entitled *Healing dream and
ritual: ancient incubation and modern psychotherapy* (Einsiedeln :
Daimon ; Enfield : Airlift, 2003).]
Author : Sophronius, Saint, Patriarch of Jerusalem, ca. 560-ca.
638.
Title : Los Thaumata de Sofronio : contribución al estudio de la
incubatio cristiana / por Natalio Fernández Marcos.
Published : Madrid : Instituto Antonio de Nebrija, 1975.
An article on the subject:
Author: SANSTERRE, Jean-Marie
Title of Article: Apparitions et miracles ŕ Ménouthis: de
l'incubation paďenne ŕ l'incubation chrétienne.
Further Information: Discusses cures and attempted cures at
this site c.20 km E. of Alexandria, Egypt
Title of Publication: Apparitions et miracles. Ed. Alain
DIERKENS (Problčmes d'histoire des religions, 2). Pp. 190. Bruxelles:
Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles
Volume, (year), pages: -, (1991), 69-83
In central Italy, very recent (if not actual) incubation has been noted
at the church of Santa Maria della Libera in Pratola Peligna. In the
nearby hermitage of San Venanzio in Raiano, there is a very narrow
passage leading under the altar of the chapel (to tie back to our
earlier discussion). And I think one can infer from the wording of Pope
Celestine V's bull celebrating his papal coronation that incubation
might be at work -- to celebrate this event on the feast of the
beheading of John the Baptist, he decreed: 'Ut igitur ipsius
decollationis festivitas in dicta ecclesia precipuis extollatur
honoribus et populi Domini devota frequentia tanto devotius et
ferventius honoretur, quanto inibě que rentium Dominum supplex
postulatio gemmas Ecclesie donis micantes spiritualibus sibi reperiet in
eternis tabernaculis profituras, omnes vere penitentes et confessos qui
a vesperis cuiusdem festivitatis vigilie usque ad vesperas festivitatem
ipsam immediate sequentes ad premissam ecclesiam accesserint annuatim de
omnipotentis Dei misericordia et beatorum Petri e Pauli apostolorum eius
auctoritate confisi a baptismo absolvimus a culpa et pena quam pro suis
merentur commississ omnibus et delictis.'
Sweet dreams ...
George
--
George Ferzoco
University of Leicester
University Road
LEICESTER LE1 7RH
UNITED KINGDOM
tel +44 (0)116 252 2654
fax +44 (0)116 252 3633
e-mail [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious
culture on behalf of Paul Chandler
Sent: Tue 2006-01-31 22:42
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] doors
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
culture
Diana Wright wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
culture
>
> Again, this is a practice still done at particular churches in Greece.
>
> DW
>
Could you tell us more? Is the ideal to remain awake or to sleep? If to
sleep, is there any association with dreams or visions? Is the practice
associated with a church as such, or with particular shrines or tombs or
icons of particular saints?
The cathedral at Chartres, so I heard on a tour, has side aisles
slightly sloped for easy cleaning after groups of pilgrims had been
accomodated there for great feasts. Is that true, does anyone know, and
was this purely pragmatic overflow accomodation when the Holiday Inn was
full, or was there particular spiritual significance in spending the
night inside the church?
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