Bill East wrote:
>Who told you she was a deaconess? There were no deaconesses in the west at
>this time, though the title is sometimes used as a courtesy title for nuns;
>I have never before seen it applied to Julian.
>
>Oriens.
I, too, have never heard of Julian referred to as a "deaconess," and
suspect that is an error; but in the Middle Ages Carthusian nuns had the
"unique privilege of the ancient blessing of deaconesses," (New Catholic
Encyclopedia, s.v. "Carthusians"), even being permitted to wear the stole
during the reading of the Gospel (Attwater's "Catholic Dictionary," s.v.
"Carthusians," which incidentally is much more contemptuous of the notion
of deaconesses than is the NCE).
__________________________________
Patrick J. Nugent
Department of Religion
Earlham College
Richmond, Indiana 47374 USA
(765) 983-1413
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