The full figure appears in _Pelerinage de la vie humaine_ by Guillaume de
Deguileville, where is it is connected to Christ's last will and testament.
Think of a carpenter's square with the right angle pointing down and the
long arm stretching to the viewer's right. Now, being "rectus" means
having the proper relationship between the short arm which represents one's
Proximus, or neighbor; the right angle which represents Anima, one's soul;
and the long arm which represents Christus. Spell Xristos with a chi and
you get PAX. The scriptural context, of course, is the command to love God
first and one's neighbor as oneself.
I haven't traced this figure any earlier than the Pelerinage, which I think
comes from the late 13th c. I'm told the standard edition is from the
Roxburghe Club (1893), but I never had any luck tracking it down.
Lydgate's translation is in the EETS e.s. 77, 83, 92; also there is a
modern English translation by Eugene Clasby (Garland, 1990) which might
give you some help. May I ask which saint?
Jill
On Fri, 2 Apr 1999 05:23:35 -0800 (PST),
[log in to unmask] wrote...
>
>To this erudite list, I ask a question which will no doubt reveal my own
>ignorance.
>
>In my sources I keep coming accross the theme of my saint being just
>[rectus, iustus] with regard to God, neighbor, and self. My guess is that
>this is an old medieval trope (Bernard of Clairveaux? Augustine? Paul?).
>Could someone please enlighten me as to the tradition of this scheme? Is
>this something which has been written about?
>
>Many thanks in advance-
>Cecilia Gaposchkin
>UCB History
>
>
>
Jill Averil Keen
Department of Literature and Languages
Metropolitan State University
700 E. Seventh St.
St. Paul, MN 55016
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