I just wanted to add one of my "favorite" misconceptions about the Middle
Ages. I have all-too-frequently encountered discussions of the cult of
relics that assert that the cult was foolish because there are, for
example, at least 5 heads of John the Baptist (not to mention the 30 some
bodies of St. George, etc.) The often-repeated misconception is that the
cult of relics can thus be "proven" to be either a great hoax or evidence
of staggering credulence and self-contradicion within "the Church". This
assumes that there was absolute control and unity in the Church. Certainly
there are multiple claimants to the head of John the Baptist - but this
does not mean that it was believed that the Baptist was a hydra. Rather,
each claimant to possession of his head asserted that they, and they alone,
possessed the one true relic (the others being false relics). This is
illustrated in chapter 9 of the Pilgrim's Guide to Santiago de Compostela,
in which the author states that the body of James could not be moved from
the place ("May transmontaine rivals blush, therefore, who claim to have
any part of him or his relics. The whole body of the Apostle is
there......).
To this we might add the presence of numerous nails from the True Cross.
Again, no one claimed that dozens of nails were used to affix Christ to the
Cross. However, dozens of nails from the True Cross exist (I can't recall
the count of my last tally....). This can be partially explained by the
practice of taking shavings from an acknowledged relic of one of the nails
and adding this fragment to additional metal from which a new nail was
fashioned. This new nail thus partakes of the True Nail and is itself
understood as a nail from the True Cross. Two key concepts are at work in
informing this phenomenon. First, the idea of "pars pro toto" - the
fragment implies the whole. This was held to be true for the bodies of the
saints, thus the complete "praesentia" and "potentia" of the saint in even
the smallest fragments of her/his body. The same extends to the nail from
the True Cross. The second key factor here is the idea of tertiary or
contact relics - the idea that the radiating "potentia" of the relic can be
passed onto an object that touches it. Thus, the additional metal in the
"new" Nail relic becomes something of a tertiary relic, through its contact
with the innitial relic (in this case a secondary relic - the nail from the
True Cross). Thus, the new nail becomes an interesting composite of both
secondary and tertiary relics. Because only a small fragment (or shavings)
of the original relic is needed, many such nails can be produced.
Sorry for going on so long. I hope some of you find this interesting.
Cheers,
Scott B. Montgomery
The University of Iowa
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