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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

The OED gives a 16th century example but nothing earlier for Clapper in the liturgical use.

It gives nothing useful for Crotalus or Crotalum.

I ran both Latin words through a set of Latin databases & Latin dictionaries without finding anything useful.


Tom Izbicki


From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Paul Chandler <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, February 9, 2018 5:33:36 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] bells
 
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Maddy, I remember the clapper (proper Latin name crotalus) still being in use in Holy Week during my altar-boy career in the late-'50s and early '60s. I suspect most Catholic parishes would have had them and that they were not particularly rare (then):
    https://churchpop.com/2016/03/23/rarest-liturgical-objects-crotalus/
    http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01349b.htm

I think that in monasteries of Carmelite Nuns (and perhaps others) they were used as a wake-up device, though whether this was through the year or only in Holy Week I have no idea.-- Paul

On 9 February 2018 at 19:39, Renata Modráková <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear Maddy,

this custom is very popular in villages in the Czech and Slovac Republics. I copy to you some short information from Wikipedia:

  • In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the day is called Zelený čtvrtek or Zelený štvrtok respectively, again meaning "Green Thursday". It is because the typical meals of this day were made of fresh, green vegetables etc. From that day there is no usage of the church bells until Holy Saturday, here called "White Saturday", because "they have flown to Rome" (a euphemism), in some regions they are replaced by groups of children walking round their village (or around the church) and making noise with wooden rattles. This is to announce to the people approaching beginning of the liturgy and call the people to the church.

We meet information about this custom in many modern and early modern written and printed originals because because of a high popularity of this custom. When I was younger, I met these groups, but nowadays it is on retreat, just local in smaller villages. Nobody meet them in bigger cities or in Prague or Bratislava.

If you would like more information, I could give you a contact/name to my colleague here in Czech Republic, who is the main specialist for customs in medieval times here in Czech Republic.

With best regards from Prague

PhDr. Renáta Modráková
Manuscript Specialist
National Library of the Czech Republic



2018-02-09 10:15 GMT+01:00 Madeleine Gray <[log in to unmask]>:
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

I'm intrigued by the reference in Arnold and Goodson's article to the use of clappers instead of bells in Holy Week. Jeremy Harte of the Epsom & Ewell Museum says this is still a custom in Europe: clappers instead of bells are used during Lent. Children have traditionally imitated this with clappers of their own. He wonders whether this has any connection with the C19 Welsh custom of children performing with clappers during Lent - is it (like some other folk traditions) a survival of medieval practice but divorced from its meaning?

Has anyone else come across medieval examples of clappers being used instead of bells in Lent, or of children's rituals associated with them?

Maddy

---
Prof. Madeleine Gray
University of South Wales
http://www.heritagetortoise.co.uk
http://twitter.com/heritagepilgrim
'Lle taw Duw nid doeth yngan' (St Fagan, allegedly)


On 06/02/2018 15:03, John Shinners wrote:

medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

John H. Arnold and Caroline Goodson have an informative article, "Resounding Community: the History and Meaning of Medieval Church Bells," in Viator 43 No. 1 (2012) 99–130, which is available online as a pdf in several places, for instance at Academia.edu (!). It answers some of the questions raised in this thread but not the mention a restriction on the number of bells. It does mention that three was a recommended minimum, at least according to John Pecham's statues from c. 1279 or so: "tintinnabulo [for the Consecration, etc. I assume]," "campane manuales pro mortuis," and "campane in campanile et corde ad easdem."
 
 
And I share Gordon's praise for Tom's book on the Eucharist in Canon Law. It's a goldmine.
 
Best,
John
 

 --

John Shinners 
Professor, Schlesinger Chair in Humanistic Studies Emeritus 
Saint Mary's College 
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 
Phone: 574-284-4534 
Fax: 284-4855 
www.saintmarys.edu/~hust 

"Learn everything. Later you will see that nothing is superfluous." -- Hugh of St. Victor (d. 1141)
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--
PhDr. Renáta Modráková
Manuscripts Specialist
Department of Manuscript and Early Printed Books
National Library of the Czech Republic
@renatamodrakova
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Paul Chandler, O.Carm.
Holy Spirit Seminary  |  PO Box 18 (487 Earnshaw Road)  |  Banyo Qld 4014  |  Australia
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