Beyond and the marginalized: notes on their relationship on the Castilian hagiographies in the XIII Century
Andréia Cristina Lopes Frazão da SILVA and Thalles Braga Rezende Lins da SILVA
Original title: O Além e os marginalizados: apontamentos sobre sua relação nas hagiografias castelhanas do século XIII
Published in Paradise, Purgatory and Hell: the Religiosity in the Middle Ages
Keywords: After-life, Devil, Hagiography, Iberian Peninsula, Marginalized.
In this article, we analyze two hagiographies written in the second half of the XIII century, known as Milagros de Nuestra Señora and Liber Mariae. Both were written in the kingdom of Castile, respectively, by Gonzalo de Berceo and Juan Gil de Zamora, clergy members with university education. However, the last was a Franciscan, who maintained relations with royalty, while the first was a priest with strong links with the monastic life. In their writings, the moral and didactical appeal directed to the Christians believers is also remarkable. Thus, through a comparative perspective and considering the historical context of the period, we will examine the representations of the marginalized present in the selected hagiographies, making some parallels between the place of the miracles, their social situation and their postmortem fate. For a better understanding of the question, we are also resorting to the associations that are made on the texts between the marginalized and the characters of the Virgin and the Devil, justly because they exemplify the models of inclusion or exclusion in these narratives.
Painful Pleasure. Saintly Torture on the Verge of Pornography
Sarah SCHÄFER-ALTHAUS
Published in Pleasure in the Middle Ages
Keywords: Body, Hagiography, Pornography, Torture, Women Saints.
Within female hagiographical narratives, stimulating, pornographic, and often sadistic endeavours can be detected; gendering the tortured body parts such as the tongue, teeth or the breast and thus supporting the development of (negative) erotic fantasies. This paper will explore the connection between pornography, torture, and hagiography and investigate the ambiguity of this ‘painful pleasure’, which, despite any assumptions, is not only enjoyed by the male torturer when cutting off these symbolically significant body parts, but recurrently so it seems also by the saint herself, who more than once cheerfully exclaims that ‘the pains are my delight’ (St Agatha).
The Hagiographical Relations between Byzantium and the West during the Middle Byzantine Period
Spyros P. PANAGOPOULOS
Original title: Las relaciones hagiográficas entre Bizancio y Occidente durante el período bizantino medio
Published in War and Disease in Antiquity and the Middle Ages
Keywords: Byzantium, Hagiography, Middle Byzantine Period, Pilgrimage-relics, West.
In the present study a special reference is made to the hagiographical relations between Byzantium and the West. The first part is dedicated to the “communication” of Byzantium with the West, on the role played by the Lives of Byzantine Saints, the transfer and honor of their relics and pilgrimages. The phenomenon developed after the 4th century, when an attempt was made to create a liturgical and worship communication between the two Churches and the Roman Martyrologium was formed in the West. The second part is dedicated to the “communication” of the West in Byzantium through the honor of the western Saints. In the next paragraph, we talk about "communication" through the holy relics of the Saints, and it is found that the phenomenon mainly concerned Saints of the East. The paper closes with some introductory notes on translators’ translation options and techniques.
The holiness of the hagiographies Venancius Fortunatus
Ruy de Oliveira ANDRADE FILHO, João Paulo CHARRONE
Original title: A santidade nas hagiografias de Venâncius Fortunatus
Published in Monastic and Scholastic Philosophy in the Middle Ages
Keywords: Christianity, Hagiography, Problem, Sanctity, Venantius Fortunatus.
We chose to do a quick presentation about the authenticity of hagiographies of Venantius Fortunatus. Then began a debate on the concept of holiness and medieval saint. After this discussion, which this author worked with two main models of holiness: the acetic-monastic and episcopal. The first model is present in hagiographies devoted to Patern and Radegund. In these descriptions abound this lifestyle choice: the pursuit of withdrawal from the world, the martyrdom, miracles and temptations related to this kind of choice. However, their hagiographies have, in most cases, the model of episcopal sanctity. In this model, the sanctity appears as a condition for becoming a bishop, and more, the miraculous virtue is clearly a feature of such positions.
