medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I think I started the "Pio" discussion by pointing out
that reputable scholars (and non-Vatican bashers) have
demonstrated that stigmata are USUALLY associated with
hysteria and are no proof of sanctity. My husband was
living in Italy at the height of Pio's popularity and
vividly remembers throngs of people pressing in for
Pio's blood on any sort of cloth they could put their
hands on. That is probably a source of Vatican
hesitation in his canonization. I know many clergy are
uncomfortable with several of JPII's new saints, Pio
among them.
The Visitation, as is the case with many other events
in the "Birth of the Messiah," was PROBABLY invented
by Luke and/or Matthew (no ref. books at hand, not
even a Bible) to associate events in Jesus'
infancy/childhood with similar events in OT. This is
Raymond Brown's thesis, hence my deliberate use of the
title of his book on the subject; I'm in no position
to pontificate on the subject so please don't pound on
me! So dating events that possibly never occurred is
tricky, to say the least. Theoretically, once the
(purely fictional) date of Christmas was set, all
other dates (as was the case with the Annunciation)
should have followed from that date.
As for "planting trees," the quote I'm familiar with
is "I'd go on cultivating my garden," and is
associated with Saint Francis. If memory serves me
correctly, "cultiver son/mon jardin" is currently used
in French as the rough equivalent of "go about
one's/my affairs" and has its source for most French
in Voltaire's "Candide," whose intent was parodical
(is that a word?).
MG
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