medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> Dear Learned Ones,
> I have recently been trying to make sense of a passage in Pierre de Roissy's
> Manuale de mysteriis Ecclesiae, a sort of early 13th-century precursor of Durandus
> by a chancellor of Chartres Cathedral. In other words, it is a symbolic interpretation
> of the fabric and decoration of a church. This is what he says on doors:
>
> De [h]ostio. [H]ostium est Christus, qui dicit: Ego sum [h]ostium [John X, 7]. Si
> autem sint plura [h]ostia, significant prelatos, per quos intratur ad Christum; et sunt
> versus meridiem et aquilonem, quia aliqui de utroque populo intrant. Unde Ysaias :
> Dicam aquiloni : Da ; et austro : Noli prohibere.
>
> My (undoubtedly faulty) translation of this is:
> The door is Christ, who said: "I am the door". If, however, there are more doors,
> they signify prelates, by whom one enters to Christ; and they are toward the south
> and north, because some of the people enter from both directions. Whence Isaiah:
> it is said to the north: give [them up], and to the south: do not hold them back.
I've forgotten the little Latin I had, but isn't "sint" subjunctive -- "But if
there were several doors ...." Then "some enter from each people." As for Isaiah,
it is in the first person (dicam) "I will say to the north 'let [them] go,' and to
the south 'don't restrain [them].'" The context of Isa 43.6 is the regathering of
the scattered Israelites. I'm sure that there is a long tradition of commentary on
this passage, although I don't have it at my fingertips. About medieval church
doors and who would use them, I know only what you people tell me!
Bob Kraft
> His parting reference to Isaiah XLIII, 6, is not at all clear to me. Does it simply
> signify that people would be welcome through either door? Or is there something
> more to it? Can anyone enlighten me with a comprehensible exegesis of this
> reference?
>
> Cheers,
> Jim Bugslag
> PS Any and all "improvements" to my translation would also be welcomed.
--
Robert A. Kraft, Religious Studies, University of Pennsylvania
227 Logan Hall (Philadelphia PA 19104-6304); tel. 215 898-5827
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http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/kraft.html
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