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> >Must have missed something!: > > >Did only i receive the message? >Have i been thus singled out for some higher purpose? >Dobtful; this is the message to which i responded. >Best, >jmichael Message now received. Thanks rendered. Josef Gulka > >I came across absolution for the dead used in instances of post-mortem >revenancy. In some cases when a body was said to be wandering from its grave >at night, the proposed method of laying it to rest was to exhume the body >and place a letter of absolution on its breast. Other apparent variants on >this idea include sprinkling the corpse with holy water; and making sure >that the grave is properly marked with a cross. I think these crop up in >12C- texts, but there could be later examples. If you're interested, I >discuss these cases in "Wraiths, Revenants, and Ritual in Medieval Culture," >*Past and Present* 152, August 1996: 3-45. My apologies for the >self-promotion... > >--Nancy Caciola > History, UCSD Josef Gulka [log in to unmask] Tel: 215- 732-8420 Fax (215) 732-8420 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%