medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
In the legend of St. Musa (thank you, John) I found the following
quite amusing:
"In Heaven it was high festival. But on festal days - this is
contested by Saint Gregory of Nyssa, but maintained by his namesake
of Nazianzen - it was the custom to invite the Muses, who were
sitting in Hell, into Heaven to lend a hand. They were well
entertained, but when their work was done, they had to go back to the
other place."
(Later in the story, the Muses attempt to sing the praises of
God, in order to earn their way into Heaven. But their song is so
discordant that they are banished forever!)
I'll mention St. Musa, but since in order to dance in Heaven she had
to _give up_ all dancing on Earth, I'm not sure what they'll think.
> Villana de Botti and Lucy of Narni, among the blessed, I am afraid
> probably not well known, but they had joyful visions of dancing
> with the
> saints.
St. Villana sounds more promising; I 'll take a look. St. Lucy of
Narni has the disadvantage (for high school students) of sounding all
too much like Lucy of Narnia. (If I don't think of these things,
surely someone esle will!)
Salome's dancing is supposed to have been rather risqué, if I
remember correctly. and her dancing also resulted in St. John the
Baptist getting killed (indirectly, and due to her wicked mother, but
still not a good precedent).
Dancing just does not seem to have a good reputation among the
sanctified! <g>
____________________________________________________________
O Chris Laning <[log in to unmask]> - Davis, California
+ http://paternoster-row.org - http://paternosters.blogspot.com
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