 |
 |
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Colette of Corbie (d. 1447). A reformer of the Poor Clares, Colette was the daughter of poor, elderly parents of Corbie in Picardy. Like the similarly elderly and childless parents of St. Nicholas of Tolentino they prayed to St. Nicholas of Bari for a child. Having been granted their wish, they named their issue after this patron of children: _Colette_, in Latin _Coletta_, is an aphaeretic form of _Nicolette_ / _Nicoletta_. Colette had a very religious upbringing. At the age of eighteen, when her parents were already dead, she entered a Beguine community at Corbie. Finding the life there insufficiently austere, she by turns entered a local house of Benedictine nuns and then a convent of Poor Clares at Senlis, offering herself as a servant and not taking religious vows. Still dissatisfied, Colette returned to Corbie and took up life as a recluse. In 1406, at about the age of twenty-five and prompted by visions, Colette persuaded the Avignon antipope Benedict XIII (Pedro de Luna) to permit her to reform the Poor Clares in his jurisdiction and to establish new convents. During the remainder of her time on earth she founded some seventeen of these, mostly in francophone territories. Her Colettine Poor Clares went barefoot, embraced total poverty, and performed perpetual fasting and abstinence. When she was not organizing her reform Colette spent her time in prayer and meditation, receiving visions and repelling the assaults of the devil. Miracles were reported both in her lifetime and afterward, especially during a pestilence in 1469 at several locations including Gand / G(h)ent, where Colette was buried. In 1604 Clement VIII granted an Office for Colette to her community at Gand / G(h)ent; this was later extended to all the Spanish Netherlands. She was beatified in 1740 and canonized in 1807. Her remains now repose in a châsse at the Monastère Sainte-Claire at Poligny (Jura) in Franche Comté, founded by Colette in 1415. A page of expandable views of scenes from Colette's life as depicted in a later fifteenth-century illuminated copy of Colette's _Vie_ by her confessor Pierre de Vaux (Gand / G[h]ent, Convent of the Poor Clares, ms. 8; a gift to that house from Margaret of York at some point during the years 1468-1477): http://www.saintecolettedecorbie.fr/manuscrit-de-gand.html A larger view of that manuscript's illumination of Colette's passing into eternal life: http://tinyurl.com/obp73lr Best, John Dillon (matter from an older post lightly revised) On 03/06/15, Matt Heintzelman wrote: > > https://www.facebook.com/604882972899463/photos/a.624764970911263.1073741830.604882972899463/789198504467908/?type=1&theater > > > > “After her parents died in 1399, Nicole--henceforth known as Colette--joined the Beguines but found their manner of life unchallenging. She received the habit of the Third Order of St. Francis in 1402, and became a hermit under the direction of the Abbot of Corbie, living near the abbey church. After four years of following this ascetic way of life (1402–1406), through several dreams and visions she came to believe that she was being called to reform the Franciscan Second Order, and to return it to its original Franciscan ideals of absolute poverty and austerity.” (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Colette) > ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: subscribe 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: unsubscribe 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/medieval-religion