medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On 2 July 2013 01:28, John Shinners <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
.... wasn't there once also a theory that the "11,000" came from misreading the meaning of a Roman mile-marker near Cologne?
Rather from a misreading of "XI M V" for "undecim martyres virgines" (11 virgin martyrs) as "undecim millia virgines" (11,000 virgins). Or so it is said. Farmer repeats this plausible speculation in the Ursula article in his
Oxford Dictionary of Saints.
John, why not send a brief email inquiry to the Bollandists in Brussels <
[log in to unmask]>? They could perhaps give you a quotable rough estimate of the number of known saints' cults, or at
least the number known to the compilers of
Acta Sanctorum. -- Paul
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