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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Actually, I think the family fortune had very little to do with her decision. She wanted to avoid a trial because at trial her husband and children would have been compelled under oath to testify against her (they could not lie without sinning, but if they told the truth, it would convict her of the capital crime of aiding Catholic priests). She wanted to spare them that dilemma. Incidentally, this is why, in the penal days in Ireland, at Catholic Masses held in the hills in rocky dens under cover of darkness, a sheet was hung to veil hid from sight both the priest and the Mass servers. This meant that if villagers were arrested and interrogated under oath, they could truthfully say they could not identify the priest or the servers. Dennis Martin >>> [log in to unmask] 03/25/05 11:24 AM >>> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Margaret Cltherow: I'm pretty sure that being pressed to death was the sentence not for someone who had pleaded guilty or not and been found guilty but for someone who refused to plead - and so could not, strictly speaking, be 'found guilty'. By refusing to plead I think you ensured that your family inherited your goods, whereas if you had properly been found guilty they were confiscated. So she went to heaven knowing she had saved the family fortune as well. Rosemary Hayes ----- Original Message ----- From: "Phyllis Jestice" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Friday, March 25, 2005 5:05 AM Subject: [M-R] saints of the day 25. March > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > > Today (25. March) is the feast day of: > > Good Friday, by western Christian reckoning. Of course not a feast > day, but I felt I ought to mention it. > > The Annunciation, which feels strange to celebrate on Good Friday. I > assume that Good Friday trumps the Annunciation. Is the A. moved to > another day in years like this one? > > Dismas (d. c. 29) Dismas is the name given to the Good Thief > crucified with Jesus. An Infancy gospel includes the story, popular > in the Middle Ages, that Dismas and Gestas (the Bad Thief) were > highwaymen and robbed the holy family on the way to Egypt. Gestas > wanted to kill them; Dismas bought him off with 40 drachmae; the > infant Jesus then predicted that the two would be crucified with him > and that D. would go to paradise. > > Barontius (d. c. 695) Barontius a pleasure-loving sort of guy who > decided to become a monk at Lonray in Francia. He gave his wealth to > the poor---but secretly kept some back for a rainy day. He soon fell > severely ill and had a series of visions of several saints, hell and > purgatory. After that he gave away the last of his possessions, made > a pilgrimage to Rome, and then settled down as a hermit near Pistoia. > > Hermenland (d. c. 720) Hermenland was born near Noyon. He became a > courtier at the Merovingian court, but convinced his father to let > him become a monk at Fontenelle. H. later led a group of 12 monks to > establish a monastery in the Loire estuary and evangelize the area > around Nantes. H. was a famous miracle-worker, and was also > recognized as a prophet. > > A modern saint: Margaret Clitherow (d. 1586) Margaret was the > daughter of a prosperous candlemaker, who married the butcher John > Clitherow in 1571. A few years after the marriage, M. converted to > Catholicism. She was notorious. Her husband was repeatedly fined > because Margaret wouldn't attend the services of the Church of > England; she was even imprisoned for two years, and on her release > set up a Catholic school. She even sent her oldest son to Douai to > study, for which she was put under house arrest for over a year. M > was also a prominent hider of fugitive priests. In 1586 her house > was searched, and a missal and mass vessels were discovered. She was > found guilty of hiding priests and executed at York by being pressed > to death. M. was canonized in 1970 as one of the 40 Martyrs of > England and Wales. > > ********************************************************************** > 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