Thanks to all who have responded to my query about the episode in Catherine
of Siena's "hagiography", particularly to Professor Dinzelbacher for the
suggestions for parallels. I wonder that noone has studied saintly failure
as a hagiographic trope--perhaps someone else on the list knows of such a
study?
Perhaps it's not Catherine's failure that strikes me as so odd in the
episode, but the failure of the episode as hagiography. It emphasizes the
danger Catherine poses to potential followers, and it ends badly. Given
that Catherine's mixing in the world of men was clearly one of the aspects
of her career that troubled people (there's evidence of this in Raymond of
Capua's Leggenda as well as in contemporary letters), it is remarkable to
find sexual danger emphasized in such a way in a work otherwise devoted to
her miracles and virtues. In this important sense, the young religious in
the Catherine story isn't really like the young rich man in Matt. 19:16-30;
this young man's "cattivo amore" is clearly lust for Catherine--a failing
of the disciple, yes, but one that nevertheless draws attention to a danger
posed by the "saint".
Also, as Donald Uitvlugt points out, there might be an echo of Miracoli
story in Raymond of Capua, but the way Raymond deals with it makes my
point, I think. In section 407, as one of a series of examples of
Catherine's enemies being defeated, Raymond tells of a "wretched man" who
hated Catherine so much that he planned to kill her. This man eventually
goes mad and kills himself, and is buried in a dunghill. Raymond makes it
clear that this fate was Christ's punishment of the man for his opposition
to Catherine. If this is a retelling of the Miracoli story, Raymond has
changed it in such a way as to bring it within the bounds of hagiographical
purposes. It resolves the tensions of the story in such a way as to draw
attention to Catherine's sanctity. But maybe Donald Uivlugt has in mind
another episode in Raymond or in the work of Tomasso Caffarini. I don't
know of any more direct parallel to the Miracoli story, but I would be
grateful to learn of one.
Many thanks,
Tom Luongo
-----------------------------------
F. Thomas Luongo
Assistant Professor
Department of History
Tulane University
New Orleans, LA 70118
[log in to unmask]
-----------------------------------
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|