medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Thanks as ever, John, for your posts. I had the pleasure of visiting
Monte Sant'Angelo just over a couple of weeks ago. One of your links
(http://tinyurl.com/4vtpuz) provides, as you say, a good view of the
cave church. When we were there, a Sunday mass was being celebrated,
and the place was utterly packed -- and unlike most such crowded
scenes, it was extremely evocative. I was there with my camera and a
selection of lenses, but there were signs everywhere threatening bad
things to those who took photos, so I didn't. Hence no photo of the
footprint to show you all, although I regret not having sneaked a
photo of the crowd; it was really impressive -- medieval, even.
If you are ever in that part of the world, don't miss the eight-
kilometer drive from Monte Sant'Angelo to the abbey of Santa Maria di
Pulsano -- like the shrine to Michael, this too is largely carved
into the rock. For photos and Italian text, visit http://
www.garganonline.net/Pulsano.html
We had lunch in Cagnano Varano, but missed out on the cave church
there. Next time ...
George
P.S.: Ever see Fellini's *8 1/2*? Remember the scene where Guido
fantasizes of a harem, in which a woman takes a microphone and
announces that one of the other women is to be banished 'upstairs'
forever because she is turning 30? (Check the clip at http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceGxYrRaqxE, ignore the bad synching, and pay
attention at the 8:22 mark.) I speak the truth: after the mass at
Monte Sant'Angelo's cave church, a nun with an eerily similar voice
and 'look' (albeit in a habit) stood inside the church and announced
two or three times a minute into a microphone: 'Silenzio,
silenzio ... [I translate] This is the house of God, remember to
treat it as such ... Silenzio, silenzio ...' Regardless of the
content of her utterances, I found this to be one of the more surreal
experiences I have had. I suppose you had to be there, but trust me,
it was weird.
--
George FERZOCO
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On 29 Sep 2009, at 21:04, John Dillon wrote:
> Today (29. September) is the feast day of:
>
> 1) Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, archangels (still living).
<snip>
>
> Some views of medieval representations of M. from Monte Sant'Angelo
> and elsewhere will be found here:
> http://tinyurl.com/3pnrah
> and here (with a good view of M.'s cave church at the shrine):
> http://tinyurl.com/4vtpuz
> Does anyone have a good view to link to of M.'s supposed footprint
> in the rock of his cave church at Monte Sant'Angelo?
>
> Success brings imitation. Elsewhere on the same peninsula, at
> today's Cagnano Varano (FG), is another cave church, said to be
> attested from 1054, dedicated to M. (not unusually: M. was very
> popular among the region's Greeks and Lombards). But local
> tradition (not attested medievally) has it that M. appeared there
> as well and that one can see footprints left by his horse on the
> cave's right wall and traces of the angel's wings on the left. An
> illustrated, Italian-language account of this site is here:
> http://tinyurl.com/4toz4q
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