medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: Steve Cartwright <[log in to unmask]>
> I had always thought--or at least was taught--that Bernard's sermons were
not so much sermons preached to a listening audience but literary compositions
intended for wider dissemination (though given reading practices at that time,
they would likely have been read out loud, perhaps in Chapter or the
refectory).
yes, definitely (again, i speak with the Authority of Blissful Ignorance) a
"literary genre" --rather like letter collections, in that way(?)-- but one
apparently based (like letters) on a seminal "performance," assembled from the
(perhaps) extemporaneous delivery made as the Spirit Moved the Man of God,
then polished up for later "publication" (and, no doubt, recitation in, as you
say, the Chapter or refectory of every Cistercian house in Europe).
as i said in the first post i made to this string, it is the source of the
quotation
>http://www.salon.com/2012/04/25/information_hoarders_salpart/?source=newsletter
>"Taking notes during sermons started in the Middle Ages. The work of a great
sermonist like Bernard of Clairvaux survived because he would plant a
secretary in the audience to take notes while he preached. Bernard would
finalize his sermon based on these notes and release it for 'publication' by
copying."
which i am particularly interested in finding --and the more detailed
discussion which surely went with it.
i suspect that that is to be found somewhere in Jean Leclercq's
"Recueil d’études sur Saint Bernard et ses ecrits" (Rome: Edizioni di
Storia e letterature, 1962), but where?
alternatively, the source for the idea in the secondary literature must surely
be based upon one of the several primary Lives of Bernie --at least one of
which much have made something close to the statement that "he would plant a
secretary in the audience to take notes while he preached."
where's the expert on the _vitae_ of Bernie in this audience?
c
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