medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear All,
On Tuesday, October 20, 2009, at 10:50 am, I wrote:
> 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.
It has only struck me now -- dolt that I am -- that 1254, which I had copied from an old "saints of the day" notice, is an unlikely BHL number for a saint whose name begins with the letter V. The text in question (which is to be differentiated from V.'s Vita BHL 8687, preserved in two late eleventh-/early twelfth-century mss.) is a Vita in form of nine readings preserved by Michele Monaco, the earlier seventeenth-century historian of the church of Capua, in that treasure house of medieval Campanian hagiology, his _Sanctuarium Capuanum_. It's printed in the _AA.SS._, Jul. tom. IV., and lacks an entry in the BHLms. Where '1254' came from is beyond me (BHL 1254 is a Vita of Bernward of Hildesheim). Apologies for the misdirection.
Best again,
John Dillon
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