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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Following on from this, I have as part of my folk lore the notion that a woman who died in childbirth died absolved from her sins no matter what her previous life or state of mind/soul was / had been. I have NO IDEA where I got this superstition from, but I would be interested to know if anyone else has come across it, at what date and if it has any (mediaeval) theological underpinning. Brenda M. C. ----- Original Message ----- From: Aline Hornaday <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2001 6:46 PM Subject: Re: de[con]secration/de-secration (bloodshed) > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > > It's perhaps a little late to contribute to this thread, but for the sake > of completeness it seems worth mentioning that some canonists upheld a > prohibition against holding a church funeral for women who died in > childbirth, explicitly stated in Johannis Beleth summa de ecclesiasticis > officiis, CCCM 41-41a, 2:315-316 & Honorius Augustodunensis, Gemma animae, > PL 172, coll. 583, 589. But the canonist Guillaume Durand de Mende > disagreed, noting that if great care is taken to avoid soiling the church > with blood, the dead woman's funeral may be held in church (Gullielmi > Duranti rationale diuinorum officiorum, CCM 140, 1:62). It is pollution > with blood that seems to be the main concern here. > > Aline Hornaday > > At 06:58 AM 2/13/01 -0500, you wrote: > >Women were not supposed to enter the altar area at all--though I suspect > >this was often ignored when it was a question of cleaning. Nevertheless, > >purists would not allow women to touch the sacred vessels either. Thus any > >untoward effect of women's natural functions was contained reasonably well. > >There is a famous letter attributed to Gregory the Great in Bede's > >Ecclesiastical History denying the idea that women could be considered > >"polluting" when menstruating or giving birth or otherwise functioning > >according to God's plan but in general ecclesiastical authorities were > >inclined to take no chances. > > > >Jo Ann > > > >The law locks up the man or woman > >Who steals the goose from off the common > >But leaves the greater villain loose > >Who steals the common from the goose. > > > >-----Original Message----- > >From: Stephanie Budin <[log in to unmask]> > >To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> > >Date: Monday, February 12, 2001 9:46 AM > >Subject: Re: de[con]secration/de-secration (bloodshed) > > > > > > > Many Greetings from a new member, > > > > > > Concerning bloodshed and sexual acts as defiling, was there any > > >prohibition against giving birth within church space? > > > > > > Stephanie Budin > > ********************************************************************** > To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME > to: [log in to unmask] > To send a message to the list, address it to: > [log in to unmask] > To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion > to: [log in to unmask] > In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: > [log in to unmask] > For further information, visit our web site: > http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html > ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html