Sorry Ingegerd and anyone else who thought I knew something
they didn't. It was just a throwaway thought really, but I
remember it striking me when reading one of the early
accounts of the episode, (which is very atmospheric in
describing the lights and voices resounding through the
woods at night) that by taking the devotion out of the
church and into the woods, as well as by using live animals,
St Francis may have been attempting to supplant some local
practice of pagan origin.
Laura
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