medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Chris Laning wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> What continues to puzzle me is the very active church on the corner
> near where I work, which is dedicated to St. Philomene.
>
> Didn't she get pretty well documented as totally fictitious, back in
> 1969? And removed from calendars?
From the informative article, signed M.A. Tilley, in the New Catholic
Encyclopedia (2nd ed.), 2003 (v. 11, p. 274):
"In 1961 the Congregation of Rites struck her feast from the Roman
calendar for lack of historical evidence of her existence, along with
that of St. Christopher.. The rise of Philomena's cult and her
continuing veneration into the twenty-first century need to be read
against the background of the duel between traditional religiosity and
modern rationalism. ... Her omission from the calendar was not a
prohibition of private devotion ..."
Thus, pre-Vatican II; though, since the books (missal) weren't replaced
at once, the feast was still there to be read in the calendar.
According to the same article, her cult arose following some
archeological discoveries in 1802 in the Catacomb of St. Priscilla.
A strong element in all this, one which may often be overlooked because
it's taken for granted, is simply human behaviour. We don't like (most
of us, if not all) summarily being told to stop doing things we've done,
and valued; we may accept a substitution (another saint to venerate
instead, another route of pilgrimage, another prayer); we may accept an
addition to our routine; but removal leaves a gap, an empty space which
irritates. And, hypothetically, reading this back into the medieval
situation, saints (and other liturgical feasts) could easily be added to
the calendar, with masses, rituals, processions and celebrations, all of
which are social events -- private devotional practices weren't common
-- whereas removing a saint meant putting a hole in social routines.
Human behaviour is puzzling; the intersection between human behaviour
and religious practice is no less so.
Hal Cain
Joint Theological Library
Parkville, Victoria, Australia
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