 |
 |
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Suicide, as a consequence of despair, was/is also regarded as a sin against hope. Regards, Jim Kerbaugh >===== Original Message From Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture <[log in to unmask]> ===== >medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > >Alexander Murray's work on medieval suicides would doubtless be a good place >to look for an answer, but my understanding is that suicide is a mortal sin >where it indicates lack of faith in God's infinite mercy ie the person >considers themselves beyond redemption, and thereby places themselves beyond >redemption. It might then be that Pelegia avoided this Catch 22 since she >killed herself out of personal faith, rather than due to the lack of it. >The Al-Quaida suicide bombers seem to have followed a similar logic of >martyrdom. > >Laura >----- Original Message ----- >From: Rosine <[log in to unmask]> >To: <[log in to unmask]> >Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2001 10:20 PM >Subject: Re: [M-R] saints of the day 8. October > > >> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture >> >> > > Pelagia of Antioch (c. 283 or perhaps c. 300) Also commemorated on 9. >> > > June. Pelagia was a fifteen-year-old girl of Antioch, caught up in >> either >> > > Numerian's or Diocletian's persecution. The prefect sent soldiers to >> > > arrest her, upon which she asked for a few minutes to put on her best >> > > clothes. She then when upstairs and threw herself to her death. John >> > > Chrysostom praised her courage and faith. >> > >> > How does *this* square with the usual prohibition on suicide and its >> > definition as a mortal sin ? >> > >> > Brenda M. C. >> >> It was my understanding that by Roman law, no "innocent" could be >guilty >> of a death-worthy lawbreaking. Any virgin was considered "innocent before >> the law", so it was a common practise to make condemned women (I don't >know >> about young boys) and girls available for the sexual pleasure of guards >and >> gladiators, in order to insure that the condemned were no longer in a >state >> of innocence. Given the choice between loss of virginity followed by loss >of >> life, or simply loss of life, the church (I believe) took the stand that >> staying pure was sufficient reason for self-murder if death was a >certainty >> in any case. Later virgin saints did not face death following rape >(usually >> they just wished to avoid marriage), and so they were stuck taking such >> measures as self-mutilation or starvation, which, when it resulted in >death, >> usually did not count as suicide. >> >> This is a quickie armchair scholar answer. True scholars will soon read >> my words and issue much for authoritative and documentably supported >views. >> Right, Oh Academians? >> >> >> Terri Morgan >> >> ********************************************************************** >> 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 ********************************************************************** 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