I am intrigued by the passage from A. Franz that Nancy Caciola cites,
because it flies in the face of the evidence I work with, in which
exorcisms are dramatic and messy affairs. What period exactly is Franz
writing about, and what is his evidence? Of course, the need for such
instructions may well suggest that things were done precisely the opposite
way. You don't need to legislate against violations people aren't
committing.
Patrick Nugent
>Apropos of Bill East's comments about the more loosely structured crowd
>dynamic he observed at Eastern Orthodox festivals, and whether a similar
>atmosphere might not have prevailed during the Middle Ages. How about the
>following description of the crowds at an exorcism -- obviously a major
>social event:
>
>"The possessed person should be carefully watched when they are led to the
>sacrifice.... If the possessed person sings and shouts in church during the
>mass, nobody will be cured. ...The people should be solemn when the
>possessed person is conjured: no one should laugh; and no one should be
>going in and out while the conjuration is taking place in the church; in
>particular, the dogs should be shut out, and the women should be on their
>best behavior."
>
>Sounds like one of those cocktail parties in a New Yorker cartoon!
>
>The quote is taken, by the way, from Adolph Franz, *Die Kirchlichen
>Benediktionen im Mittelalter.* Freiburg-im-Breisgau, 1909. If anyone knows
>of a copy of this for sale, it's on my most-wanted list.
>
>-Nancy Caciola
> Department of History
> University of California, San Diego
__________________________________
Patrick J. Nugent
Department of Religion
Earlham College
Richmond, Indiana 47374 USA
(765) 983-1413
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