medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Sunday, July 27, 2008, at 10:03 am, John Briggs wrote:
> John Dillon wrote:
> >
> > Could not one equally well say, "It seems ironical that in 1969, when
> > there was a purge of 'questionable, spurious or fanciful
> > hagiography', Anne should have been suffered to remain on the
> > Calendar."?
>
> Well, except for the Immaculate Conception, of course. They made the
> best of
> a bad job by merging two dubious feasts.
Yes, as far the merger is concerned. Previously Anne had a feast of her own on 26. July and Joachim had one on 16. August. But since neither day is the traditional one for the Conception of the BVM (8. or 9. December), it's not entirely clear that this joint feast relates primarily to the Immaculate Conception. One wonders whether, in 1969, promotion of the sanctity of marriage were not a major consideration here. Not unlike (to keep this post at least somewhat medievally oriented), the situation in the later Middle Ages when A. and J. were emblematic of family values.
<SNIP>
> > there's really little to distinguish the two: both are fictional and
> both
> > have cults of long standing.
>
> Not really - Anne is in all medieval calendars with a fairly major
> feast,
Limiting comment to medieval calendars _within the Roman Rite_ (as the discussion concerns changes to the Roman Calendar), one might observe that "all medieval calendars", even as hyperbole, is surely overbroad. Anne's feast doesn't seem to become widespread in the Latin West until at least the later twelfth century and I suspect it's still absent from a lot of thirteenth-century calendars.
> whereas Joachim's prominence is post-medieval.
Only up to a point. According to Grotefend, in the late fifteenth century J. is already in some German calendars (e.g., Basel, Mainz) on 9. December, the day following the feast of the Conception of the BVM.
> He achieves 'promotion' after
> the Immaculate Conception becomes a Dogma.
True. But he also achieves 'promotion' _before_ the Immaculate Conception becomes a Dogma. Julius II authorized J.'s feast, assigning it to 20. March (a promotion). Pius V suppressed it (a demotion) but it was restored in the early seventeenth century by Gregory XV (a promotion). In 1738 it became a movable feast held on the Sunday within the octave of the Assumption (a lateral arabesque?).
That said, J.'s really big promotion did come after the proclamation of the Immaculate Conception as dogma in 1854, when Leo XIII (1878-1903) raised his feast to a double of the second class. In the revision of the Breviary in 1913 it was listed as a primary double of the second class (as was also Anne's feast), along with three feasts of the Savior, four of specifically of Mary (the feasts of J. and of A. being of course also Marian), those of most of the apostles, and those of the Holy Innocents, St. Stephen, and St. Lawrence. 1913 was also when J.'s feast was moved to 16. August.
Best again,
John Dillon
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