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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Dear John, and all, Yes, I understand these historical roots. Forgive me if I wasn't clear. I'm looking for some contemporary evidence (ca. 1300) that this was still something people were actively worrying about. It seems to me obvious that it would be better for proponents of any given saint that they should be martyrs. On Sun, 8 Dec 2002, John B. Wickstrom wrote: > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > > There is a huge bibliography on this issue. Perhaps Peter Brown's _Cult of > the Saints_ is the best intro. The idea is ancient, as hereunder suggested. > Martyrs were considered the only "holy men" (and women) united with God > after death owing to their heroic "confession" of belief. When martyrdom was > no longer frequent, after Constantine's conversion, a number of different > "martyrdoms" were created; most notably the "white" martyrdom of the > monastic life--which involved a "death to self,"--equivalent to the bodily > death of "red" martyrdom. But still, martyrdom has always been considered in > the Catholic tradition the "superior" form of sainthood. > > ********************************************************************** 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