medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
The responses so far seem to confirm my own suspicion that dancing may just
be too physically pleasurable for medieval piety to contemplate as a saintly
activity. But I do know of one instance, in the life of Burgundofara,
concerning one of her nuns, Sisetrud, who died and then was snatched from
the chorus line dancing before the heavenly throne and sent back to earth to
complete a forty day period of cleansing she had undertaken in anticipation
of her coming demise. She begged to go back and continue her dancing but
had to stay alive for three days before her request was granted.
Another possibility I offer with some trepidation. A dear friend of mine,
deceased a few years ago, was admired as a saint by many nuns and other
religious people who looked to her for leadership during the troubled years
that surrounded Vatican Two. She was Ritamary Bradley, founder of the
Sister Formation Movement and editor of its Newsletter. She taught at Saint
Ambrose University and in her later years wrote a number of articles on
medieval mysticism and particularly Julian of Norwich. Ritamary lived well
into her eighties but never gave up her love of dancing. When she died, her
friends comforted themselves with the idea that she would dance forever in
heaven. She was a spiritual innovator in her lifetime, a nun and a deeply
religious woman. Why should she not be an innovator in death and lead a
movement for dancing saints?
Jo Ann McNamara
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Laning" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2007 11:09 AM
Subject: [M-R] Patron saint of dancers?
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> The (Catholic) high school I work for is instituting a couple of new
> awards for excellence in dance (it has a strong performing arts program)
> and would like to find suitable names for them. Considering that the
> highest music award is named after St. Cecilia and the drama award after
> St. Genesius, it would be nice to find a saint to name a dance award
> after.
>
> The only candidates I can find, however, are St. Philemon (who no one's
> ever heard of), St. Pelagia (whose name unfortunately, and of course by
> sheer coincidence, brings up the Pelagian heresy), and St. Vitus! Somehow
> I don't think that one would go over too well, either....<g>
>
> There is also Miriam (sister of Aaron) from the Old Testament, although
> there she is leading the dancers rejoicing over the destruction of the
> Egyptian army, which might put some people off. Most of the other
> mentions of dance I can find in saints' lives seem to be of pagan and/or
> licentious dancing, and that won't do at all.
>
> Suggestions? Female saints preferred (it's a girls' school) but all ideas
> are welcome.
> ____________________________________________________________
>
> O Chris Laning <[log in to unmask]> - Davis, California
> + http://paternoster-row.org - http://paternosters.blogspot.com
> ____________________________________________________________
>
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