Thanks to all who contributed! It´s clear that the event I described was meant as an argument for Guðmundr's sanctity. There were other similar stories, and if anyone knows of an organization that will fund translation of the saga about him (B version, the one with all the miracles) please let me know! A diplomatic text should be out by the end of this year. It had just suddenly occurred to me that if the washing had something specific to do with the liturgy (another example is explicitly connected to water that has been used at Mass on Palm Sunday) I should include this in my account. Looks like the answer to my original query was a resounding 'no', so I am leaving what I have written (in a forthcoming article) as is. When the article comes forth, I will be happy to let anyone interested know. Don´t hold your breath, though, it will be a while.

The Icelanders never did manage to get Guðmundr canonized, but he was locally venerated as a saint in his former diocese, Hólar. Like so many other 'unofficial' saints who never received papal canonization, if it was believed that they could perform miracles, people didn´t worry about what the pope thought when they were choosing an intercessor - what mattered was whether the person was thought to be able to deal with their problem, whatever it was. What kind of dirt? Who knows. He wouldn´t have been working in the fields, but there are all kinds of ways to get one's hands dirty, including eating, blessing people by touching their heads, and just plain travelling across dry areas (and Guðmundr travelled a lot).

A good weekend to everyone,

Meg

From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Richard Legault <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, October 12, 2018 6:00 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] washing hands before confession

medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

(The thanks of this humble beginner in Latin go out to the list member who discreetly reminded me off-list that the plural of tympanum is tympana and not tympani. For my penance, I promised I would practice...)

Paul's answer to the charge of sorcery is 100% correct I think, but not for the reasons he cites. A determined advocatus diaboli would ask:

Non-sequitur: If there can be no relics until a person dies, how can an appeal to the sanctity and power of relics be relevant?
Qui iudicent?: How can Guðmundur decide for himself that he is a saint and thereby entitle himself to perform miracles by virtue of his own brandea
Abundat fabulas: Of what value are abundant stories, however well attested they may be, if all who perform miracles in their own name, without invoking the Lord, are equally guilty?
Absolutus sit peccatum: Can sins absolved by virtue of their being undetected or not mentioned?

Ergo: In the absence of ante invocationem, the cure was unorthodox.

Sed in defensionem: The saving grace is that by virtue of his holy orders, everything Guðmundur did, acting as priest, confessor and healer, was done, implicitly, in God's name.

Ergo: A secondary and explicit invocation by Guðmundur at the moment of this hand-washing and cure would have been redundant and not required.

Onera dimissa: Charges dismissed.

Etiam: By 1237, the year of Arason Guðmundur's passing, the prerogative of conferring sainthood (canonization) had been withdrawn from bishops and reserved to the exclusive purview of the Holy See. See:

Etiam: Reportedly, by the time a concerted effort was made to establish Guðmundur's sainthood in the first half of the fourteenth century, papal permission was not only necessary it was expensive. While Guðmundr did become a local saint, the Roman Catholic Church has to this day not acknowledged his sainthood. This according to:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gu%C3%B0mundur_Arason#Sainthood

Ergo: In the absence of a Papal decision, the sainthood of Guðmundr remains a tad iffy.

En passant: Could the common French surnames Gaumond and Gaumont possibly be derived from the Icelandic Guðmundur?

Cheers,

Richard J Legault

On Thu, Oct 11, 2018 at 1:42 AM Paul Chandler <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

On Thu, 11 Oct 2018 at 15:04, Richard Legault <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

.... Using it to effect a miraculous cure, without having invoked the name of the Lord would make Guðmundr's miraculous cure some sort of diabolical black magic, no?

No. There are abundant stories of using a relic of a saint--body parts, items of clothing, brandea (contact relics)--including even of living saints, to effect a miraculous cure, without invocations, and much less without any mention of diabolical black magic. -- Paul

--

Paul Chandler, O.Carm.
Holy Spirit Seminary | PO Box 18 (487 Earnshaw Road) | Banyo Qld 4014 | Australia
office: (07) 3267 4804 | mobile: 044 882 4996
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