Dear Jan,
This is not quite what you asked for, but it might be useful. In the
Middle English Charter of the Abbey of the Holy Ghost, the Daughters of God
enter the Abbey of the Holy Ghost as nuns after the abbey has been refounded
by the risen Christ.
Best regards,
Nancy Warren
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Utah State University
Logan, UT 84322-3200
>===== Original Message From [log in to unmask] =====
>Dear Learned Ones,
>
>I am hoping someone on the list may be able to help me with further
>information on a narrative motif that is perhaps a variant of the Four
>Daughters of God.
>In this narrative it is the Holy Ghost who has six daughters, and founds
>a convent for them. In his absence, Satan sends his own daughters in and
>they take over the convent, then the Holy Ghost returns and restores
>order. I came across this while doing some work on the French texts of
>the Abbey of the Holy Ghost. The French and English versions have only
>the second part of the story, where Satan's daughters infiltrate the
>convent. In this version, the Holy Ghost is the Visitor of the convent,
>not the father of the nuns. The story as I have outlined it above occurs
>in some 15th century German manuscripts.
>What I am hoping someone may be able to tell me is whether this story,
>or parts of it, occur anywhere else, in exempla for instance. One of the
>German manuscript versions has quite a folk-tale feel to it: the Holy
>Ghost sets up the convent, then tells his daughters he is going away for
>a while and not to let anyone in during his absence. Of course, the
>interdiction is broken and disaster ensues.
>
>Many thanks,
>Jan Pinder
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