>. . . not
>willing to support his political aims. So he attacked the monastery and
>raped the abbess. He told the church authorities that the abbess must be
>removed, they agreed, and an abbess of his choosing was put in her place.
>
> I'm not sure whether this was a simple case of the chieftain
>"persuading" the authorities to see things his way, or whether this was an
>established attitude. However, it may be worth considering that in Irish
>tradition, a maimed leader could not remain in the leadership.
>
> Francine Nicholson
>
Yes, that Irish attitude was the norm - the St Kentigern anecdote was from a
15th century Life, as I remember, and presented as an example of his unusual
attitude. I don't think we should take that example as evidence of a
widespread attitude - I think the implication was that by pronouncing her
virgin, she was magically "restored".
I don't believe that virginity was about mortifying the flesh in the Middle
Ages. I think it was about beauty as a conduit to God.
You could also relate this intactness or "perfect condition" to the business
of keeping reliquaries in good repair. In Ireland there is abundant
evidence of that, and you can see the object becoming less and less worth
repairing as it gets more battered - I remember speculating in my thesis
that there seemed to come a point when the object was considered "past
praying for".
Pippin
Pippin Michelli, Ph.D
Assistant Professor of Art History, St Olaf College
http://www.stolaf.edu/people/michelli/index4.html
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