Dear list-members, especially the hagiography experts among you...
I wonder if you could help me by either pointing me in the right
direction for references, or by disabusing me of my half-memory that one
of the typical ways of describing the saint is as a kind of spiritual
horticulturalist? *cultor dei* is the phrase that is haunting me, but
some latinate bit of my subconscious might have made that up. I'm
particularly interested in references to patristic texts and
early medieval saints' lives, but any information would be helpful.
Imagery of an organic nature associated with the saint, with evangelical
activity or with narratives of conversion is the kind of
thing I'm after - there seems to be a lot of in C8 Northumbrian
hagiography, which is what has sparked my interest. Here's a brief
example of the kind of thing I mean...
Vir quoque temporibus sanctus fulgebat in illis,
angelicam Cuthbertus agens in corpore vitam...
...doctor apostolicus fuit hinc et presbyter almus,
et loca fructiferis implens inculta virectis
fontibus aeternis sitientia prata rigebat;
divina et cunctos firmans virtue sequaces
dogmatis aetherei radios spargebat ubique
discutiens tenenbras errorum luce serena
Another holy man shone at that time, Cuthbert, who led the life of an
angel while still on this earth...he was a teacher of the gospel and an
holy priest, filling the wastelands with flowering greenness, watering
the dry meadows with eternal fountains and strengthening all his
followers in virtue; he spread everywhere the rays of heavenly teaching,
dispelling the shades of error with serene light.
Alcuin: Versus de Patribus,Regibus et Sanctis Euboricensis Ecclesiae,
ll. 646...56, ed. P Godman (Oxford, 1982)
Thank you in advance for your help.
Kate Rambridge
University of Bristol
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