"Ammon, monk (350): After 18 years of continent marriage, he and his wife
separated: he to the desert, she remaining in her house with other
religious women, who were visited and directed by Ammon twice a year.
Became friend of Antony the Great, who saw in a vision Ammon's soul
ascend to Heaven when he died (despite being very far away)."
I have just begun to work with Northumbrian saints and know that Cuthbert
saw the soul of St. Aehtewold ascend to heaven. Legend says that this is
the event which "encouraged" Cuthbert to enter tohe monastery. Is an even
such as this witnessing of a soul ascending into heaven a topos in
literature?
Arlene
Arlene Catherine Hilfer
Assistant Professor of English
Hanover College
Box 890
Hanover, Indiana 47243
[log in to unmask]
812-866-6843
Gylden is se Godes cwide,
gimmum astæned. . .
he bið sefan snytro
and sawle hunig;
and modes meolc,
mærða gesæligost.
--Salomon and Saturn
127-8, 133-136
Golden is the word of God,
stoned with gems. . .
it is wisdom of the breast
and honey of the soul;
milk of the mind,
most blessed of glories.
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