 |
 |
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture At 1:05 AM +0000 8/11/04, Marjorie Greene wrote: >Today (11. August) is the feast day of: > >Clare (d. 1253) Clare has always struck me as a tragic figure. She >was a native of Assisi and so impressed by Francis' teaching that >she ran away from home to join him. But of course a woman couldn't >go wandering the roads and preaching like a friar. So she was >shoved in a convent and ended up presiding over the first house of >Poor Clares---very austere, very poor, and very enclosed. Clare >herself was credited with many miracles and was canonized only two >years after her death. Oddly, she is the patron saint of >television. [MG speaking here: this is an instance, I think, of word >play. As Lucy (lux, lucis) is the patroness of good eyesight, so >Clare (clarus, clara) would be a good choice for TV. Who wants a >blurry screen? Gabriel the Archangel and Martin de Porres are also >patrons of television. Who knew?] Pius XII declared St. Clare patron of television in 1958, because of a story that one Christmas Eve, Clare was too ill to go to Midnight Mass, but was able to see it anyway, displayed on the wall of her cell. I'm also told that the very first Poor Ladies did go out, on a limited and very local basis, to minister to the poor (at least they did once they got out of the Benedictine monastery and into their own place). But the Powers That Be thought it was too dangerous, so the Ladies obediently stopped. There's also a story (irrelevant to television, though) that she was very nearly canonized at her burial service -- the presiding bishop was all set to use the texts for the Common of Virgins -- as for a saint -- rather than a Requiem Mass, and was only dissuaded by his assistants, who persuaded him that Such Things Were Not Done. -- _________________________________________________________ O Chris Laning, SFO | <[log in to unmask]> + Davis, California _________________________________________________________ ********************************************************************** 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