The Vernacular
Devotional Cultures Group is sponsoring three
sessions at the 52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies at
Kalamazoo for 2017:
In the second half of the thirteenth century, the female monastery of Helfta played a significant role in the cultivation of Western European mysticism. The circle of nuns comprising three visionaries and their abbess—Mechtild of Hackeborn (1240-1298), Gertrud the Great of Helfta (1256-1302), Mechtild of Magdeburg (1207-1282/94, a beguine who joined Helfta later in life), and Gertrud of Hackeborn (1232-1292, Abbess of Helfta and sister of Mechtild), respectively—were responsible for several important visionary treatises (including Liber Specialis Gratiae, The Book of Special Grace, and Das fließende Licht der Gottheit, The Flowing Light of Divinity) that defined German mysticism for their time: for example, they developed nuptial mysticism using imagery of holy women as Brides of Christ, and dedicated themselves to the Devotion of the Sacred Heart as part of their active program of female education, piety, and community. This interdisciplinary session will allow scholars and students to showcase recent research on the Helfta nuns and explore how these holy women expanded and changed traditional paradigms, as well as to compare this material with that of other late-medieval mystics.
Please send abstracts of no more than 300 words and a completed Participant Information Form to the co-organizers of this session by 15 September 2016. Electronic submissions are preferred.
Session Organizers:
Dr C. Annette Grisé
Dept. of English and Cultural Studies
McMaster University
1280 Main St. W.
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
L8S 4L9
Dr Barbara Zimbalist
Department of English
Hudspeth Hall, Room 113
500 W. University Ave.
El Paso, Texas 79968-0526
The Syon Abbey Society and the Vernacular Devotional Cultures Group invite paper abstracts for its joint session “Syon Abbey and its Associates” which treat any aspect of writing associated with the intellectual and spiritual culture that flourished at the abbey. Syon’s reputation as a stalwart centre for orthodox reform and prolific source of vernacular devotional writing since its foundation in 1415 has been well-documented and long-recognised. This session seeks to examine the channels of connection beyond the convent walls, both in terms of the abbey’s impact on contemporary thinkers, patrons, printers, and lay readers, as well as the influence—material and spiritual—the world beyond its walls may have exerted on the abbey.
A nodal point for high-ranking aristocrats and intellectuals in late medieval and Tudor England, Syon attracted a diverse body of individuals ranging from Margaret Beaufort and Katherine of Aragon to Richard Pace, Thomas More, and John Fisher. These connections are often noted but seldom explored. How, for example, were ties forged and maintained between the Birgittine community, secular elites, printers, and the reading public? For over a century, Syon both ministered to and depended upon a vast network of lay support for its pastoral initiatives and its commitment to reinvigorating—and, finally, preserving—monastic life. This session aims to probe the nature of this long-nurtured relationship between the spiritual and the secular which accounts for the formidable authority and longevity of Syon Abbey.
Papers may address the movement and circulation of books to or from the Abbey; consider particular relationships between authors or patrons on either side of the convent walls; or examine specific texts or translations associated with the abbey for traces of broader associations. Any and all disciplinary and methodological approaches are welcome.
Please send abstracts of no more than 300 words and a completed Participant Information Form to either co-organizer of this session by 15 September 2016. Electronic submissions are preferred.
Dr Brandon Alakas
Department of Fine Arts and Humanities
University of Alberta, Augustana
4901 - 46 Avenue
Camrose, AB T4V 2R3
Canada
[log in to unmask]
Dr Stephanie Morley
Department of English
Saint Mary’s University
923 Robie Street
Halifax, NS B3H 3C3
Canada
[log in to unmask]
The pseudo-Bonaventuran Meditationes vitae Christi (MVC) is considered the single most influential devotional text written in the later Middle Ages. This paper panel will explore how the textual tradition of the MVC and related gospel meditations fostered creative forms of imitating Mary, or imitatio Mariae. While imitatio Christi has received scholarly attention, imitatio Mariae merits more fruitful consideration - especially as it compasses texts and images that engage both laity and religious in imitating the Virgin’s virtues. This panel will focus on performative rituals and texts used to recapitulate her life events, such as the Annunciation. How did imitatio mariae enrich the "devout imagination" of the faithful? How did readers perform Mary’s own performance of speech, silence, and prayer? We hope to solicit abstracts that tap into the variegated traditions of the MVC from across Europe, in Latin and multiple vernaculars.
Please send abstracts of no more than 300 words and a completed Participant Information Form to the co-organizers of this session by 15 September 2016. Electronic submissions are preferred.
Session Contacts:
Dr Leah Buturain
[log in to unmask]]USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology
1946 N. Serrano Ave.
LA, CA 90027
Dr Laura Saetveit Miles
Department of Foreign Languages,
University of Bergen
Postbox 7805, N-5020 Bergen, Norway
The Vernacular Devotional Cultures Group seeks to fill the gap left by the departure of the Mystics Quarterly sessions at Kalamazoo, with a broadened focus to include vernacular spiritual writings of the late Middle Ages--championed by female visionaries, but also written and disseminated by clerics and monks, and read by women religious as well as by the laity. We sponsored our first session in Kalamazoo 2016 for scholars and students of late-medieval, vernacular devotional culture. We wish to complement the work being done by such groups as the Syon Abbey Society, the Lollard Society, and the Anchoritic Society.
Our mandate for the Vernacular Devotional Culture includes making up for the loss of the Mystics Quarterly sessions (no longer taking place at Congress) by sponsoring sessions on medieval mystics and mysticism, fostering collaboration among societies devoted to religious cultures, and showcasing recent scholarship on vernacular spiritual traditions in medieval Western Europe.
Cathy Grisé, McMaster University ([log in to unmask])
Barbara Zimbalist, University of Texas at El Paso ([log in to unmask])
Jennifer Brown, Marymount Manhattan College ([log in to unmask])
Stephanie Amsel, Southern Methodist University ([log in to unmask])
Website: https://macblog.mcmaster.ca/vernacular-devotional-cultures/
Listserv: is just being established. Please email Cathy Grisé at [log in to unmask] for details, or look for upcoming information on the website.