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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Hello Margaret, Just judging from the miracle collections I am familiar with, most notably those of Canterbury and Chartres, what seems most instrumental in a vow is the very fact that it was made, and in the making was intended. St Thomas certainly seems to have been very well informed of the vows made to him, and whatever form they took, he held the vowees to the letter; and if they didn't comply with their vows, he was quick to punish and to punish severely. Similarly, in vows to the Virgin Mary, it seems that it was her invocation, in whatever form, that was the important aspect of whether she "heard" the petition or not. I rather think (on no very firm grounds, I'm afraid) that it was not so much a formula of any specific kind that was most important in these matters, but a direct communication between the devotee and a saint, who apparently had ears open to hear any sort of vow made to him or her. The "Church" -- with a capital C, of course -- appears to have been relatively irrelevant in such matters, and in fact, there are many aspects of medieval religion for which scholars all too readily, I believe, look in vain to the hegemonic pronouncements of the Church for answers. Cheers, Jim Bugslag On 25 Nov 2007 at 14:47, Cormack, Margaret Jean wrote: > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and > culture > > Greetings all, > I´m sure most list-members are quite familiar with the literature on > medieval > miracles and canonization procedures, but I´ve run across a query > which I don´t think I´ve ever seen addressed. Are there, in the > ancient or medieval traditions, official formulas or instructions for > making a vow? For what may be vowed? I am specifically interested in > vows to saints for health or other purposes, not (for example) > careless vows, as in the case of Jephtha´s daughter. I have the > feeling this was just common knowledge - everybody knew roughly what > to do - but I wondered whether theologians (or authors of > penitentials?) may have said about it, if anything. I´d be > particularly interested in learning of terms in other languages that > might correspond to the Icelandic 'confirm, formalize' - in the > Icelandic miracle collections, we are often told, after a vow, 'and > then s/he festa heitit', which I would translate as 'formally > confirmed (the English analogue for 'festa' is 'fasten') the vow. > There is, however, no indication of what was actually done in this > procedure (which happens when the vow is made, I am not talking about > paying the vow when the cure has been received, a different matter > entirely). I believe that both Vauchez and Finucane have written about > the 'power' of the vow being in the words themselves (so, at any rate, > claims the article I am reading.) I will dig out these references, but > wondered whether there is any further literature on the subject. I > would not, myself, have seen medieval vows as particularly good > examples of 'the power of words', but if there is literature on this > topic I´d like to know about it. Indeed, I´d be happy for a detailed > encyclopedia article on the general topic of vows in the Christian > tradition, if one exists. > Thanks in advance, > Meg Cormack > > ********************************************************************** > 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