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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > I don't know if it's in Bynum's book, but there was a very important > cult of the Precious blood in Bruges (motets were written for it by > Jacob Obrecht and Adrian Willaert in the fifteenth and sixteenth > centuries); a yearly procession was (perhaps still is) held on the > third of May, in honour of the relic kept at Bruges since 1150 in the > chapel of St Basil, now with a small museum devoted to it. Dear Bonnie, I believe you can change that "was" to "is". Leastwise, when my wife and I visited the Chapel of the Holy Blood in Bruges last summer, there was the most elaborate arrangements I've ever seen for the ostension of the relic. One mounted stairs onto a platform, with a table, on which was the reliquary, in the form of a crystal cylinder (one can see the red stuff in it!!). The reliquary itself was protected by a curving piece of plexiglass that was screwed onto the table, and behind the table sat a "relic custodian", a solemnly conscientious woman whose job it was to make sure nobody got out of line, and occasionally to wipe off the plexiglass after it had been touched and/or kissed. One then descended steps off of the platform. It was a fascinating experience. Positively medieval!! Cheers, Jim Bugslag PS I have photos if anyone would care to post them; that's a bit out of my digital range. ********************************************************************** 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