medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> I don't know if it's in Bynum's book, but there was a very important
> cult of the Precious blood in Bruges (motets were written for it by
> Jacob Obrecht and Adrian Willaert in the fifteenth and sixteenth
> centuries); a yearly procession was (perhaps still is) held on the
> third of May, in honour of the relic kept at Bruges since 1150 in the
> chapel of St Basil, now with a small museum devoted to it.
Dear Bonnie,
I believe you can change that "was" to "is". Leastwise, when my wife and I visited the Chapel
of the Holy Blood in Bruges last summer, there was the most elaborate arrangements I've
ever seen for the ostension of the relic. One mounted stairs onto a platform, with a table, on
which was the reliquary, in the form of a crystal cylinder (one can see the red stuff in it!!).
The reliquary itself was protected by a curving piece of plexiglass that was screwed onto the
table, and behind the table sat a "relic custodian", a solemnly conscientious woman whose
job it was to make sure nobody got out of line, and occasionally to wipe off the plexiglass
after it had been touched and/or kissed. One then descended steps off of the platform. It
was a fascinating experience. Positively medieval!!
Cheers,
Jim Bugslag
PS I have photos if anyone would care to post them; that's a bit out of my digital range.
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