Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 17:11:05 -0500
Subject: Re: FEAST 6 November
From: Joy Schroeder <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Reply-to: [log in to unmask]
>Today, 6 November, is the feast of ...
>* Christina of Stommeln, virgin (1312)
>- an extraordinary case: at 13 became a beguine at Cologne; had many
>visions (e.g. Satan, disguised as St Bartholomew, tried to get her to
>kill herself)
I am a graduate student working on "Sacred Space and Sacred Time in the
Religious Experience of Angela of Foligno." This incident involving a
demonic apparition to Christine of Stommeln reminds me of a similar
occurrence in the "Liber" of Angela of Foligno (d. 1309), who received a
locution from a demon claiming to be "St. Bartholomew who was flayed
alived." The demon claimed it was his (i.e., Bartholomew's) feast day,
when, in fact it was the feast of St. Clare. St. Bartholomew's feast day
was two weeks later on August 24. This demonic visitation resulted in a
10-day period of melancholia, which wasn't rectified until Angela made a
pilgrimage to Assisi on the Octave of the Assumption.
Does anyone know of a tradition regarding demonic impersonation of St.
Bartholomew? Are there other examples of demonic pseudo-Bartholomews? Is
there some reason why Satan would specifically choose to impersonate this
particular saint?
Joy A. Schroeder
University of Notre Dame
What seem significant is St. Bartholomew's skin. Foligno is near to Perugia
where in 1260 the *disciplinati* or *battuti* began their revival which swept
across central and northern Italy. When were the first confraternities of
flagellants established in Foligno? In any case, I'd check all the motifs of
self-laceration in the *vita* of Angela of Foligno.
Gary Dickson
University of Edinburgh
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