Socializing with Saints: Popular Reception and Experience of Saints' Cults in Medieval England

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Special Session

Organizer Name

Judy Ann Ford

Organizer Affiliation

Texas A&M Univ.-Commerce

Presider Name

Connie Meyer

Presider Affiliation

Texas A&M Univ.-Commerce

Paper Title 1

Space, Boundaries, and Apocatastasis in Anglo-Saxon Hagiography

Presenter 1 Name

Katayoun Torabi

Presenter 1 Affiliation

Texas A&M Univ.

Paper Title 2

Saints and Non-Christian Worship Communities in the Legenda aurea

Presenter 2 Name

Judy Ann Ford

Paper Title 3

Mary, Martha, and the Woman of Canaan: The Uses of Biblical Women in Wycliffite Sermons as Compared with John Mirk's Festial

Presenter 3 Name

Beth Allison Barr

Presenter 3 Affiliation

Baylor Univ.

Paper Title 4

Two Winifreds and One Well: Rival Hagiography and Community Formation in Early Seventeenth-Century England

Presenter 4 Name

Gina M. Di Salvo

Presenter 4 Affiliation

Northwestern Univ.

Start Date

12-5-2013 10:30 AM

Session Location

Bernhard 158

Description

The cult of saints served as one of the pillars of popular religion throughout medieval Europe but was not an exclusively religious phenomenon. Participation in saints’ cults, including the creation and consumption of hagiographic materials, could be understood by those involved as more secular than sacred, as belonging, for example, to social or political experience. This panel would explore the ways in which saints’ cults shaped and expressed facets of social identity, such as gender and membership in a community or sub-culture. The focus on a single geographic area, England, should encourage a useful discussion of both commonalities and change over time.

Judy A. Ford