Keeping Body and Spirit Together: The Volatile Life of St Christina the Marvellous

dc.citation.epage50
dc.citation.spage39
dc.contributor.authorLee, Brian S.
dc.contributor.editorHouliston,Victor
dc.date.accessioned2019-09-03T12:13:21Z
dc.date.available2019-09-03T12:13:21Z
dc.date.created2001
dc.date.issued2001
dc.description.abstractThomas of Cantimpré’s biography of Christina, written eight years after her death in 1224, contains such incredible stories that but for the authority of the celebrated Jacques de Vitry he would not have dared repeat them; they are so lurid that it is easy for us to overlook the less fanciful anecdotes supplied by eye-witnesses like her fellow recluse Ivetta. As a result of such divergent sources, Thomas portrays Christina both as a wild eccentric capable of the most irrational or miraculous behaviour, and as a sober, pious supporter of many persons who respected her and depended upon her for spiritual advice and enlightenment. This essay seeks to examine not so much what she thought of herself (it argues, indeed, that in common with most of her contemporaries she was little given to introspection) but what those who witnessed to her life had in mind when they did so. It was the physical manifestation of her inward spirituality that seems to have caught their attention. How should we read a biography like Thomas’s?
dc.description.abstractThomas of Cantimpré’s biography of Christina, written eight years after her death in 1224, contains such incredible stories that but for the authority of the celebrated Jacques de Vitry he would not have dared repeat them; they are so lurid that it is easy for us to overlook the less fanciful anecdotes supplied by eye-witnesses like her fellow recluse Ivetta. As a result of such divergent sources, Thomas portrays Christina both as a wild eccentric capable of the most irrational or miraculous behaviour, and as a sober, pious supporter of many persons who respected her and depended upon her for spiritual advice and enlightenment. This essay seeks to examine not so much what she thought of herself (it argues, indeed, that in common with most of her contemporaries she was little given to introspection) but what those who witnessed to her life had in mind when they did so. It was the physical manifestation of her inward spirituality that seems to have caught their attention. How should we read a biography like Thomas’s?
dc.description.librariannlewinen_ZA
dc.description.urihttps://sasmars.wordpress.com/sasmars-journal/
dc.identifier.issn1017-3455
dc.identifier.urihttps://www.sasmars.wordpress.com
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12430/549139
dc.journal.titleSouthern African Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies
dc.journal.volume11
dc.language.isoEnglish
dc.publisherThe Southern African Society for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (SASMARS)
dc.subjectMiddle Ages -- Periodicals.en_ZA
dc.subjectRenaissance -- Periodicals.
dc.subjectMiddle Ages.
dc.subjectRenaissance.
dc.titleKeeping Body and Spirit Together: The Volatile Life of St Christina the Marvellous
dc.typeJournal Article
local.PlaceUniversity of the Witwatersrand, Braamfontein , Johannesburg
local.dctitlejournal.AbbreviationSAJMRS
local.roman.epage50
local.roman.spage39
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