medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
A related topic is impediments to ordination posed by physical defects. I
was told back when that no one could be ordained priest who lacked the
fingers used to elevate the host.
BTW Deathbed clothing with religious habits are mentioned occasionally in
Italian sources.
Tom Izbicki
At 10:15 PM 1/30/2002 +0000, you wrote:
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
>On the other hand I have come across in several necrologies (death
>commemoration registers) references to people who became Religious "ad
>succurrendum", that is, they joined the Order at the end of their life, or
>when in mortal sickness, in order to die with the benefits of being
>professed. These people must have been in need to care and help even tho'
>they were not expected to live long. I am not clear whether this was a
>matter of days, weeks or months. But just as in the modern hospice movement,
>some may have recovered and / or lived a great deal longer than was
>anticipated. There was no way an Order would throw out someone who had been
>Professed in this way.
>
> I am thinking in particular of Duke Alan IV Fergent of Brittany who became
>a monk "ad succurrendum" in 1112, in broken health as a result of his
>service in the First Crusade. He may well have been an invalid because he
>took the cowl hastily at the ducal monastery at Redon near Vannes in
>Brittany while lying sick on what he believed to have been his death-bed.
>However he recovered (from a stroke ? a heart attack ?) eventually dying
>with a reputation for sanctity in 1119 . He took his "ministres" into the
>cloister to become monks with him, so I suppose these men (his 4
>ministerales ?) would have been responsible for his physical care. He - and
>his son & heir - also made a fat donation to the monastery to cover the
>expenses of his life there.
>
>So clearly there were circumstances in which the sick / disabled / dying
>might enter the cloister. Maybe it depended on rank and cash, but to be
>fair, I have not (yet) identified this in correction with other references
>in other places.
>
>I would also suspect that there was less long-term disability in the Middle
>Ages. The less than hardy tended to die young and everybody had a much
>shorter expectation of life.
>
>I also have a faint memory of a document from the 14th ? century which
>applies for a dispensation for a young man (who was blind in one eye as the
>result of being hit in the face with a carrot during a student rumpus) to be
>ordained priest. This would suggest that there was some kind of bar on the
>ordination of the less-than-perfect but that (like a lot of things) the ban
>could be got round if the circumstances were right.
>
>To be personal - if this is not an impertinance - my mother (now aged 95 and
>still fighting) has had scoliosis since her teens so I am very well aware of
>all the disabilities under which you are suffering.
>
>Brenda MC
>
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Thomas M. Izbicki
Collection Development Coordinator
Eisenhower Library
Johns Hopkins University
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Telephone: 410-516-7173
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