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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Another howler is the use of an > up-ended, half-buried bathtub to serve as a "shrine" for statues of > Mary. What was that discussion recently centering on our distance > from medieval superstitions? :-)) My point exactly, fairest Marjorie. I have often seen the bathtub shrines in New Hampshire, and reflected that if I had a parish there I would not have to keep a list of parishioners. I could simply stop and visit wherever I saw a bathtub shrine in the garden. And very nice too. Addressing the question of how far we are from 'medieval superstitions': I remember in the year 2000, the year of the Great Jubilee, leading a pilgrimage to Walsingham. I explained to my party, as one was being asked to do, that they could obtain a plenary indulgence on this pilgrimage, by visiting the shrine, praying for the Pope's intentions and making a confession. On the way home, one of the group handed me her rosary and asked if I could do the "Millennium Blessing" on it. Despite all my explanations she still thought a Plenary Indulgence was something you did to a rosary. Ask yourself what chance parish priests (even assuming they themselves were well instructed) had of explaining subtle points of doctrine in the Middle Ages, before the existence of amplifiers, of hearing aids, of loop systems . . . Bill. ===== ___________________________________________________________ALL-NEW Yahoo! Messenger - sooooo many all-new ways to express yourself http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com ********************************************************************** 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