Dear colleagues:
Often in miracle collections, a man healed of an illness like paralysis or
blindness then lives with the monastic community whose saint healed him.
Most often the text indicates that the person actually joined the
monastery, "monachalem habitum ferens" or "conversatus." In the latter
circumstance, sometimes the text says the man lived in the monastery until
death, but many stories say he lived there "for many years afterwards" or
"for a long time thereafter."
Am I splitting hairs, or is there some suggestion here of temporary
monasticism, perhaps of a penitential sort? If so, are there other
references to it or writing about it that list-members know of? How common
might it have been that someone lives as a monk for only a limited time,
then leaving without being thought an apostate? (These same texts, by the
way, also contain the trope of the monk who flees the monastery, but then
is induced by the saint to return.)
Any help you can give would be appreciated.
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Patrick J. Nugent
Department of Religion
Earlham College
Richmond, Indiana 47374 USA
(765) 983-1413
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