medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
An interesting thing about Galagano's canonisation process is that his mum
Dionisia was one of the witnesses, a quite rare event, I suspect. Also
interesting is that she testifies about a number of elements which
Arbesmann, in his study of the vitae, dismissed as hagiographical
conventions ("The Three Earliest Vitae of St Galganus", in S. Prete, ed.,
Didascaliae: Studies in Honour of Anselm M. Albareda (New York, 1961),
1-38.)
Arbesmann seems not to have been aware of the close similarities between the
vitae and the depositions at the canonisation process. He dismissed as
merely conventional topoi details which seem to be drawn directly from
Dionisia's testimony: a vision of St Michael with which he thought the
hagiographers had clothed a "severe inner crisis"; the Roman pilgrimage,
perhaps "a later fiction" modelled on that of St Francis; the round
hermitage, which he thinks an etiological story to explain the round church
which later rose over the grave; the omens, voices and miracles which he
considers merely "stock incidents of medieval hagiography", etc. Possibly
these conventional elements had shaped even his mother's memories, but it is
interesting that they were not the conventions of hagiographers alone. Or is
it perhaps a warning to make our scepticism less automatic?
Many thanks to John Dillon for all these wonderful posts and the marvellous
links to pictures. -- Paul Chandler
--
Paul Chandler, O.Carm. | Institutum Carmelitanum
via Sforza Pallavicini, 10 | 00193 - Roma | Italy
tel: +39-06-68.10.08.1 | fax: +39-06-68.30.72.00
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which is here, near St Peter's and Castel S. Angelo: <
http://tinyurl.com/r79nd> (A marks the spot)
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