"....In times of trouble, when they thought that their patron had
deserted them, monastic communities sometimes performed a ritual humiliation
of that saint's relics, in which they were taken out of their shrine,
scattered on the floor of the church, and cursed as a means of forcing the
saint to reverse the sagging fortunes of the community."
(from Thomas Head's essay "The Development of Hagiography and the Cult of
the Saints in the Later Middle Ages: The Example of the Kingdom
of France from the Capetian accession to the Reformation" at:
http://orb.rhodes.edu/encyclop/religion/hagiography/france.htm )
Well I'll be jiggered.
Keep this up and a young fellow could learn something most every day.
Thank you, Professor Head.
Are suchlike practices documented in more than one place, I'm wondering?
The ritual recorded in Customarios of some kind?
Anyone with similar, slightly bizarre (by modern lights) stories to tell?
Best to all from here,
Christopher
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