medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I have to say, what you're noting here is very interesting. I've always heard/read the phrase "odor of sanctity" but would there be a Latin (or other) phrase
that is more precisely translated "odor of piety/piosity"? What sources are there on the subject?
I seem to recall that foregoing baths was seen as a pious practice among the early Monastic Fathers, though I forget the exact references at the moment. I
suspect that it was rooted in the association of the Baths with the luxurious decadence (real or imagined) of the late Imperial period. But then, would not
earlier practices like those described in Job be related to not bathing (covering oneself with ashes, etc. as a sign of penitence/fasting)?
There is also a story in the Arabian Nights in which a man of some stature conceals his identity by assuming the clothes of a local holy man only to discover
the Sufi's clothes are infested with lice. . . again, I'll have to comb thru my translation of the "Nights" to find exactly where. . .
This is very interesting.
George
On Wed, 2 Jan 2008 13:02:52 -0500, V. Kerry Inman wrote:
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>I appreciate your response. Certainly he was odorous, but was this a real
>accomplishment in the middle ages? I think there is a difference between the
>odor of piety (some would call this piosity)--a very real odor which I have
>smelled many times--and odorless sanctity. The problem is there were no
>instruments to measure this in the middle ages and we are dependent upon the
>noses and descriptions of middle evilians, mostly hagiographers, who did not
>always distinguish between piety and sanctity. I realize I am not
>documenting--being a stickler on documentation--but according to one late
>medieval source the reason the Muslims lost Spain to the Christians was that
>the Muslims bathed regularly where as the Christians were more pious.
>V. K. Inman
>There is another list I am on, on which everything I have said would be taken as
>academic proliferation and challenged with recommendations like--read the
>Wikipedia article by Jedd Klampet on this subject. Right Rochelle, Bob?
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