medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Mon, 17 Dec 2007 12:12:40 -0500, Cormack, Margaret Jean wrote:
>From: McDaniel, June E.=20
>Sent: Saturday, December 15, 2007 10:13 PM
>To: Doire, Louise M.; Cormack, Margaret Jean; Religious Studies
>Subject: RE: [M-R] St. Joseph disrespected
>When I was in Chicago, the newspapers had a recent origin story for this
>practice. Somebody in one of the suburbs had been praying to St Joseph
>as a saint of success (I suppose his son could be called successful)-
>and when the person's house didn't sell, he threw out the statue into
>his backyard. The statue landed on its head. The next day, his house
>was sold. This story made the newspapers, and a rash of people were
>buying statues of St. Joseph and throwing them on their heads, in order
>to repeat the success of the original.
>Hey, it worked once...
>=20
When I lived in New Orleans I seem to remember that turning the statue on its head was part of the instructions that came with the kit. . . but could be
wrong about that point. It's been awhile and I wasn't paying much attention at the time.
> Oh and... I think it is the perfect example to illustrate that
>Catholics of the Roman Rite do not venerate the material object itself,
>but have every faith and confidence in the power of the spirit of the
>figure the object represents (on their own or as an intercessor). Now,
>if a member of the Eastern Orthodox faith were to bury an icon of St.
>Joseph in the ground (upside down or otherwise), now THAT would be
>disrespectful!
> =20
Under certain circumstance the same would be true in the Roman Rite. Its important to bear in mind that apparently some images it was/is acceptable to
"disrespect" as part of the devotional practice, and others that it is not. Defacing the sanctuary crucifix in Santa Maria Novelle would have been seen as
sacreligous while spitting upon the icon of Mary which was kept in a chapel outside Florence and carried in procession was not. In fact, I seem to recall
that the icon was retained for the purpose of "disrespect."
Its also true that the Orthodox and Eastern Catholics have a significantly different theology (or rather more developed theology) of the image than in the
Roman and other Western Rites. Probably in part due to the Iconoclast controversies and the theological developments of people like John of Damascus
(which lead to the definitions of Nicea II). In the Eastern view, the icon is an anti-type of the Incarnation. Anti-type being properly understood here as a sort
of secondary manifestation. In other words, just as Christ is the physical manifestation of the Father (type) the Icon is the physical manifestation or extension
of that which it depicts (anti-type). I'm sure there are others on the list who can explain the typological construct here better than I.
So, for the Icon to be defaced in the East is tantamount to defacing that which it represents. There is obviously nuance here, since it is perfectly possible
that the intent of the defacing party may be to attack something represented by the image other than that which is represented. Going back to the Kiev
example, attacking the icon was a form of attacking the city. One sees this frequently in the West, particulary during the 16th and 17th C. religious wars.
Also, in the East (again flowing from Iconoclastic Controversies) the Icon came to be seen as a visual scripture sometimes indistinguishable from the Bible.
In the West, because Iconoclasm never had the same impact, the image never achieved the same character.
As is well known, even today it is much more challenging and involved to become a bona fide iconographer than it is to become a liturgical artist.
And now I've forgotten what my original point was.
George R. Hoelzeman
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