I can't think of any other flashing clerics, but there are a few male
Sheelas, or rather Sean-na-gigs: at Ballycloghduff in West Meath on
the gatepost of an old mill, at Grey Abbey in Co Down, and at Margam
in Wales. To my knowledge, the literature has largely ignored these
male figures.
Maeve
>To All,
>
>Being blissfully ignorant of the niceties and protocol regarding
>cross-posting, I herewith do it anyway. I'm not really sure how much
>subscriber overlap there is between the celtic-L and med -rel lists, hence:
>
>Yesterday, I was showing my neighbor (a retired doctor) some prints of pics I
>had taken on my last Irish trip this past September. I showed him one which
>was a closeup of figure-carving high up on the east window of Kilfenora
>Cathedral, Co. Clare, which showed a group of "dwarf clerics" (see p.6,
>Cunningham's "Burren Journey West" booklet, for a similar - but, of course,
>inferior photo of the same carvings). His first response upon seeing it was
>"a fine example of priapism". I looked at it again, and, sure enough. How
>could I have missed it?
>
>A few pictures earlier, I had been showing him the sheela-na-gig (various
>spellings allowed - "sheila" seems too Australian) over the doorway at
>Killinaboy, also Clare. I got to wondering if the priapismic clerics were
>considered, at the time, as a male equivalent of the sheela, i.e., a
>fertility symbol? Are there other, similar carvings of clerics "exposing
>themselves" in other stonework of the period? I can see that I have many
>hundreds of prints to re-examine now.
>
>Any and all comments gratefully accepted.
>
>Pete Schermerhorn, in the glorious Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts
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