George,
The quick and dirty answer is that I've never seen another incident like
this, but it is a fascinating question and I shall keep it in mind. My death
project is at a relatively early stage and could evolve in a variety of
directions -- so who knows? My work on discernment has focussed mostly on
the question of how individuals with supernatural powers were categorized by
their local communities and/or by representatives of the ecclesiastical
hierarchy. The question of demonic vs. divine inspiration opens up a series
of questions about how social and religious categories were constructed
around particular individuals; how essentially ambiguous miraculous powers
should be evaluated; and how different social sectors varied in their
judgements about these things.
Otfried,
Thanks for the goodies! I already knew most of these, but there are some new
titles in there for me. As I said above, this project is a relatively new
one (in fact, I'm going to have to put it aside for a while soon while I
finish the other work), and I'm not sure exactly where it will end up. Thus
far, I've concentrated on specifically bodily return from the dead (cf. Past
and Present #152, August 96, "Wraiths, Revenants, and Ritual in Medieval
Culture," if you're interested) and on spirit possession of the living by
spirits of the dead. I've looked at the Fournier register a little bit, and
plan on using it more extensively once this project moves to the foreground
of my research plan.
--NC
At 04:30 PM 1/15/98 +0100, you wrote:
>Nancy, it's a pleasure for me to read of your interests. The last one you
mention
>-- regarding the role of the dead in folklore -- is one I've been attracted
to as
>well, though I've never dedicated any research to it. Well, a LITTLE research:
>I've worked on hagiography regarding St Peter of Morrone, and in his
>'autobiography' there's an episode that to me is quite curious, where Peter's
>dead father appears to Peter's godmother ('commater') to declare how happy
he is
>that Peter's mother is sending the boy to school. The passage has made me
wonder
>whether there was, in folklore (or theology, for that matter), the notion of
>spiritual discernment on the part of godparents, but I've never been able
to find
>out whether this was the case. If you have encountered this elsewhere,
could you
>let me know? Thanks! -- George
>
>George Ferzoco tel ++ 44 (0)116 252 2654
>Director of Studies for Italian fax ++ 44 (0)116 252 3633
>University of Leicester e-mail [log in to unmask]
>School of Modern Languages
>LEICESTER LE1 7RH UNITED KINGDOM
>
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|