medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I'm sorry, I may not have been paying attention, but did we ever get an explanation as to why the bishop was wearing women's clothing? It seems awfully advanced - indeed, even as we speak, the Vatican is making special arrangements to accommodate Anglicans who object to that sort of thing...
John Briggs
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: John Dillon <[log in to unmask]>
>
> For what little this is worth, the cross-dressing episode in the
> probably monastic, perhaps late twelfth- or early thirteenth-century
> legendary Vita of the early medieval St. Vitalian of Capua (BHL 1254)
> envisions a situation in which V.'s wearing women's clothing while he
> celebrates Matins in his cathedral (an adaptation of a similar
> incident in legendary Vitae of St. Jerome) only becomes apparent to
> others as it grows light. Which in turn means that the Vita's
> audience is expected -- if it thinks about this -- to imagine a
> chancel insufficiently lit at the outset of the service to permit
> observation of the nature of the celebrant's clothing.
>
> This seems more likely to reflect dimness on the part of the Vita's
> author than actual darkness in the chancel at Montevergine (or
> wherever the Vita was written) when Matins began. Still,...
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