Imitatio Mariae in the Meditationes vitae Christi Traditions across Europe

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Vernacular Devotional Cultures Group

Organizer Name

Leah Buturain Schneider, Laura Saetveit Miles

Organizer Affiliation

Univ. of Southern California, Univ. i Bergen

Presider Name

Laura Saetveit Miles

Paper Title 1

Responsive Imitation: Mary's Suffering in Renaissance Castile

Presenter 1 Name

Jessica A. Boon

Presenter 1 Affiliation

Univ. of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Paper Title 2

"Take Ensaumple of Marye": A Consideration of Nicholas Love's Ave Maria Meditation

Presenter 2 Name

Joseph Morgan

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Indiana Univ.-Bloomington

Paper Title 3

Imitatio Mariae in the Book of Margery Kempe

Presenter 3 Name

James Noble

Presenter 3 Affiliation

Univ. of New Brunswick

Paper Title 4

Enacting the "Devout Imagination" in Imitatio Mariae

Presenter 4 Name

Leah Buturain Schneider

Start Date

13-5-2017 3:30 PM

Session Location

Schneider 1355

Description

The pseudo-Bonaventuran Meditationes vitae Christi (MVC) is considered the single most influential devotional text written in the later Middle Ages. This paper panel will explore how the textual tradition of the MVC and related gospel meditations fostered creative forms of imitating Mary, or imitatio Mariae. While imitatio Christi has received scholarly attention, imitatio Mariae merits more fruitful consideration - especially as it compasses texts and images that engage both laity and religious in imitating the Virgin’s virtues. This panel will focus on performative rituals and texts used to recapitulate her life events, such as the Annunciation. How did imitatio mariae enrich the "devout imagination" of the faithful? How did readers perform Mary’s own performance of speech, silence, and prayer? We hope to solicit abstracts that tap into the variegated traditions of the MVC from across Europe, in Latin and multiple vernaculars.

Laura Miles