> In this line, are eagles associated with any saint besides John, esp. with
> any visionaries?
> tom izbicki
Dear Tom,
Eagles associated with saints appear in different situations, the
most frequent is the one mentioned by Martin Howley: the saint's
corpse is watched by an eagle/eagles (St. Prisca; Adalbert of
Prague; Antonin of Pamiers, etc.).
The second frequent situation (don't ask me why) is when eagle,
spreading his wings over saint's head, protects him from rain (Medard
of Soissons, Bertulphus).
Sometimes eagles show the place for the monastery to be founded (this
is how St.Albert founded the Carmel's monastery) although usually it
is a dove's prerogative (St. Pietro de Morone and many- many others).
There are eagles testifying the distinguished personality of a saint
(the mother of Eligius , while pregnant, saw an eagle above her bed);
finally, there are eagles not at all connected with any, even
posthumous events of saint's life, purely symbolic, such as the
winged companions of St. John the Evangelist, Elisaeus the Prophete,
Thomas Becket, etc.
Some of these saints are visionairs, some not. One thing is clear -
eagle as an attribute does not indicate special inclination to having
visions... Or does it?
Elena Lemeneva
[log in to unmask]
Central European University
Medieval Studies Department
Nador utca 9, 1051 Budapest
HUNGARY
Pannonia utca, 49/B, IV/3
1133 Budapest Hungary
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