medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Visiting the shrine of the 20th-C Orthodox St. Nektariou in Greece last summer, I was taken by its medieval flavor, especially since the portrait of him in his chapel was festooned with ex votos of all sorts of anatomical bits (esp. eyes and legs). This got me wondering just where one purchases an ex voto. I was going to pose this question to the group but first turned to Google a moment ago where my first hit took me to "milagromercado.com" featuring a nice selection of ex votos:
http://www.suenosimports.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=24
But does anyone have any ideas about whether there was any mass manufacturing of ex votos in the Middle Ages (insofar as anything was mass manufactured back then)? Where would one get an ex voto--ask a local artisan to craft one? I've seen mention of them made of wax, as we've mentioned, of precious and base metals (i.e, lead), of wood. Do they survive in any number? Would they be produced in mass quantities like pilgrim badges?
Best,
John
------------------------------------------
John Shinners
Professor of Humanistic Studies
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
Phone: 574-284-4494 or 574-284-4534
Fax: 284-4855
www.saintmarys.edu/~hust
"Learn everything. Afterwards you will see that nothing is superfluous." -- Hugh of St. Victor (d. 1141)
----- Original Message -----
From: Marjorie Greene <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thu, 6 Aug 2009 22:26:10 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: [M-R] 1157 inventory from Cefalu, Sicily
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Paul, No one would dream of accusing you of killing joy... Whenever votive offerings come up as a thread subject, I remind the list of Saint Roch Cemetery in New Orleans. No exciting body parts, just dust, roaches and the occasional ghost, called an "orb" in Voodoo-speak:
http://morbidanatomy.blogspot.com/2009/05/st-roch-cemetery-and-chapel-new-orelans.html
Marjorie Greene
http://medrelart.shutterfly.com/
--- On Thu, 8/6/09, Paul Chandler <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: Paul Chandler <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [M-R] 1157 inventory from Cefalu, Sicily
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Thursday, August 6, 2009, 8:59 PM
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture In the "Medical Imagery in Ex-Votos" gallery <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/exvotos/gallery.html> I especially like the one of a girl in a brightly painted jeep, with her hair steaming in the wind and her dog beside her, with the following text:
My sentimental life was a chaos. I was very sad and depressed, then my uncle gave me his old jeep and I give thanks to the Virgin of Guadalupe that he did that because now with the sun in my face and the wind in my hair, my depression disappeared and the speed makes me feel free and happy.
-- Paul Chandler
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