medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
St. Cecilia of Rome continued to preach for three days after a botched
beheading that left a flap of skin connecting her head to her body.
-----Original Message-----
From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious
culture [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Pat
McIntosh-Spinnler
Sent: Friday, March 02, 2007 6:37 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] Odd Saints
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Jon Cannon posted:
>
> http://www.godchecker.com/ does a mean side-line in the wilder realms of
> the Christian saints; as other posters have noted, the saints of
> Britanny, Cornwall, Ireland and Wales in particular seem to have an
> above avergage Oddness Quotient: try Googling 'celtic saints' for some
> examples.
I'm very partial to St Columba, who despite his status was quite high in
oddness quotient. The tale of his encounter with the Loch Ness Monster is a
good one, as is his retrieval of an abbatial staff-- was it his or his
visiting friend's?-- by causing it to fly to his hand from another island.
St Kentigern (or Mungo)'s history is also good, particularly his dubious
origins and his mother's shipwreck on the shores of Fife, and the precise
theological import of the business with the salmon and the Queen's ring has
always struck me as dubious.
But what I love about the Celtic saints, apart from their liking for
wind-surfing on tombstones on the Irish Sea and its tributary estuaries, is
the casual ease with which they dealt with beheading. St Winifred and the
fellow at Blue Anchor in Somerset come to mind but there are many more who
simply picked up their heads, put them back on and carried on with their
lives. I'm not sure what patronage that would qualify them for-- maybe
crashed computers?
Pat
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