To: internet:[log in to unmask]
Thank you, Joe Pope, for the reference to Usuard's martyrology. I'm guessing
that there are probably several levels of interest in St Mary M present in this
discussion, ranging from the spread of her cult in the calendars to the festal
activities surrounding her cult in the late M.A.. For my part, I am
*starting* to become curious as to when and why her cult "jumped out" of the
calendars, and into such other texts as litanies and relics and translationes.
I *wonder*, might this cultic development be associated with the monastic
reform of the 10th and 11th centuries? I recall Abbo of Fleury's famous
comparison of the monastic order to the hybrid Mary Magdalene (i.e., the Mary
who is Martha's sister who annoints Jesus' feet in John + the woman [=Mary
Magdalene in tradition] who annoints his feet in Luke); Abbo of course makes
this comparison in the context of a passionate argument for monastic exemption.
I too have begun to run across Mary M in 11th and 12th century texts of
Corbie, which is one of the more interesting (and least well-known!) stories of
the struggle for exemption (Corbie had papal exemption from the 850's, but had
to fight hard to preserve it from ca. 1016-1050, and even beyond). Is it
possible that Mary M's cult mutated a bit, and also expanded a bit, around the
year 1000? I am very curious indeed if list-members might have any suggestions
to support or counter-indicate this very tentative hypothesis?
Dave Van Meter
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|