medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On 09/27/11, Christopher Crockett wrote:
>
> >where by the sixth century they had a famous cult center at which healing
> miracles reportedly occurred during incubation.
>
> "incubation" in this rather obscure (and non-middlevi?) sense:
>
> 4. Ancient Greek Hist. The practice of sleeping in a temple or sacred place
> for oracular purposes.
>
> 1871 E. B. Tylor Primitive Culture II. 111 This place was celebrated for
> the worship of Æsculapius, in whose temple incubation, i.e. sleeping for
> oracular dreams, was practised.
>
> --OED
Hardly non-medieval and, _pace_ the OED (whose limitations when it comes to the scholarly vocabulary of the study of the Christian religion have been noted not so long ago on this very list), certainly not restricted to ancient Greek history. As Jacques Le Goff notes (_The Medieval Imagination_ [Univ. of Chicago Press, 1992], p. 209), "Incubation ... survived under Christianity. The hagiographic compilations of Gregory of Tours mention numerous instances of incubation near the tombs of saints in the hope of receiving a healing formula in a dream [but the bit specifically about a formula is often _not_ mentioned by Gregory --JD], and instances of incubation were still being recounted in the late Middle Ages." For an overview of Christian instances during the Middle Ages, see Mary Hamilton, _Incubation: or, The Cure of Disease in Pagan Temples and Christian Churches_ (St. Andrews : W.C. Henderson & Son; London : Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., 1906), pp. 109-173. In a post to this list in 2006 providing some bibliography (mostly on ancient pagan incubation) George Verzoco adduced some probable instances from modern Italy. See <http://tinyurl.com/4x8yf29>.
For some medieval examples previously mentioned on this list, see (e.g.):
St. Abraham of Clermont <http://tinyurl.com/3tq2ltp>
Sts. Cyrus and John <http://tinyurl.com/44hcsdp>
St. Elias the Speleote <http://tinyurl.com/3h8xkbc>
and Amatus of Montecassino's story about archbishop John III of Salerno (d. 1057) summarized in this entry on St. Matthew the Apostle: <http://tinyurl.com/3e984u3>
A late antique bishop's practice of incubation (though in this instance not perhaps in the hope of healing) is referred to by pope St. Gregory the Great in _Dialogi_, 3. 38 (on St. Redemptus of Ferentino or Ferento; see, on this list, <http://tinyurl.com/3nq67cq>).
Best,
John Dillon
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