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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture John Dillon wrote: > > Today (13. October) is the feast day of: Edward the Confessor In the Hereford Calendar, a Feast with three lessons. Saints normally have their principal feast on the day of their death, but Edward died (a trifle inconveniently) on the eve of Epiphany, 1066. In such circumstances, recourse is often had to a translation feast, which commemorates a saint's body being moved. But the most usual occasion for a saint's body to be moved is when the remains are removed from their original grave and placed in a shrine, following their canonisation. The translation feast thus, in effect, commemorates the canonisation. Edward was canonised in 1161, and his remains were accordingly enshrined with great ceremony on 13 October 1163. (Not coincidentally, the day before the anniversary of the Battle of Hastings.) A century later he had to be moved again, when Henry III built a new shrine for him in the present abbey church (having destroyed the Confessor's own church in the process of building the new church), but the date chosen for that was his Translation Feast, 13 October 1269! John Briggs ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html