tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post5422570367496773351..comments2023-10-19T07:54:32.841-04:00Comments on Quod She: On relics, medieval and modern, sacred and secularDr. Viragohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960384082670286328noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-72640294845162942212010-09-21T14:06:37.678-04:002010-09-21T14:06:37.678-04:00Relics are cool to be precisely BECAUSE they creep...Relics are cool to be precisely BECAUSE they creep me out a bit. A couple years back, in getting a Tylenol out of my mother's purse, I notice for the first time a very small golden round little container with a tiny window in the back, in the little bag where she keeps spare pills. <br /><br />"What's that?"<br /><br />"Oh, it's a bit of St. John Neumann's leg bone," she said.<br /><br />"WHAT????"<br /><br />Apparently, when he was canonized, they removed one leg bone and broke it into tiny splinters and gave them to people who came. My Granddad went, since, after all, the first saint in Philadelphia struck him as a big deal. He got one for my mom and one for my aunt. Being a thoroughly modern Catholic, it never occurred to my mother to pray to St. John Neumann, just to carry around a sliver of his leg bone in her purse. A medieval would think that a shocking waste of a relic. So much for religious continuity in the Catholic church.<br /><br />Also, I think more recent altars may not always have first-degree relics in them (i.e. the bit of a person's body)--my understanding was that the rule got relaxed. The (supposedly) biggest collection of Catholic relics outside Rome is actually in Pittsburgh: <br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Anthony%27s_Chapel_(Pittsburgh,_Pennsylvania)<br /><br />Sadly, I don't even work on relics.<br />I work on saints' lives. And apparently have an unusual mother as a random bonus.Medievalists @ Pennhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13003127870992795467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-47812721129137065562010-09-09T08:04:55.348-04:002010-09-09T08:04:55.348-04:00Bardiac -- that's awesome!
Undine -- I've...Bardiac -- that's awesome!<br /><br />Undine -- I've never heard that before, although I kind of wish I had because I would have entertained myself in the same way. At any rate, since I grew up in a church that built a new church while I was at the parish school, I don't think such a story would fly under those circumstances. We would have been breaking into the construction site daily! :) Anyway, if the nuns didn't make it up, maybe they sincerely believed a myth they'd been told?Dr. Viragohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03960384082670286328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-73914195492491644192010-09-08T23:39:25.116-04:002010-09-08T23:39:25.116-04:00I don't know whether that's actually true,...I don't know whether that's actually true, come to think of it: the nuns may have made it up to keep us entertained, though I kind of doubt it. (They weren't the fun-loving type.)undinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05589384016564587214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-3990469355138591122010-09-08T23:38:19.872-04:002010-09-08T23:38:19.872-04:00Interesting! When I first learned about relics as ...Interesting! When I first learned about relics as a little kid in church school, the bit of knowledge that every altar stone had to have one livened up a lot of dull times at mass. Finger bone? Wrist bone? Which saint? You could speculate endlessly about this, if you had imagination and a lot of time.undinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05589384016564587214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-64896624893715425942010-09-05T21:38:02.154-04:002010-09-05T21:38:02.154-04:00So, here goes the short and dirty. Metaphors are ...So, here goes the short and dirty. Metaphors are ways of talking about something (let's call it X) without saying X, or in its absence. (Think about how language works as a sign to represent but not the thing itself.)<br /><br />Metonymy and Synechdoche are special sorts of metaphor.<br /><br />Relics are ways of memorializing or recalling an absent being (or thing). If Jesus were actually hanging around with someone, s/he wouldn't need any replacement. So, in a way, relics are special sorts of metaphor, replacing the absent being.<br /><br />Relics are either a part of the absent thing (the foreskin of Jesus, for example), a sort of synechdoche. Or they're something closely associated with the thing (the shroud of Turin, for example), a metonymy. It also works for Elvis relics (a lock of hair or a shoe; I suppose it gets more difficult if there's a sweat drenched towel...).Bardiachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-38164778101554926352010-09-05T12:34:10.478-04:002010-09-05T12:34:10.478-04:00You missed the bit out about how King's studen...You missed the bit out about how King's students apparently played football down the Strand with Jeremy Benthams head and his body may or may not be wheeled into UCL council meetings. Mascotry has a long tradition between the various London colleges, UCL stole King's mascot Reggie the Lion and castrated him (he is a metal lion, and now kept in a glass box)! The Black Friar is amazing, especially for the quotes around the walls.Jennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03760659823315607666noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-83762068122888109612010-09-05T10:28:20.627-04:002010-09-05T10:28:20.627-04:00Oh, and Karl, tell ALK that it *does* look like a ...Oh, and Karl, tell ALK that it *does* look like a penny slot toy! I dare someone to steal it and take it on Antiques Road Show (they *love* those penny slot toys).Dr. Viragohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03960384082670286328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-443938718596870492010-09-05T10:25:11.243-04:002010-09-05T10:25:11.243-04:00Bardiac -- How? Say more!
Susan -- I'm glad ...Bardiac -- How? Say more!<br /><br />Susan -- I'm glad I'm not the only one weirded out. And the more you tell me about weird things to see in Norfolk, the more I realize I have to spend more time there!<br /><br />Karl -- that picture is *hilarious*! But it makes the former Angelena in me *very* nervous.Dr. Viragohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03960384082670286328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-48451133193672521752010-09-05T09:32:43.262-04:002010-09-05T09:32:43.262-04:00I use relics to teach my students the difference b...I use relics to teach my students the difference between metonymy and synechdoche. It helps, weirdly enough.Bardiachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-72393603756505798702010-09-05T01:18:19.792-04:002010-09-05T01:18:19.792-04:00In the village of Stow Bardolph, in Norfolk, there...In the village of Stow Bardolph, in Norfolk, there is a chapel where members of the Hare family are buried, and a young, unmarried Hare daughter from the 18th C asked to have an effigy preserved with her wearing her favorite dress. You can still open this cabinet and see the effigy and the dress... very very strange.<br /><br />I was completely weirded out by the parts of St. Anthony you could see in Padua.Susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09716705206734059708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-84717752574405288732010-09-04T20:20:18.769-04:002010-09-04T20:20:18.769-04:00Fun post. I can only speculate about furta sacra o...Fun post. I can only speculate about furta sacra of heads.<br /><br />BTW, in Siena the ALK, my wife, suggested that if you put a euro a Catherine's mouth that the jaw would chatter and go nomnomnomnom. Try it!<br /><br />ALSO, in re your back hurting. Have you tried writing standing up? I propped my external monitor up on a couple of milkcrates, and, well, a picture is probably easier: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/medievalkarl/4691833882/" rel="nofollow">here.</a> I don't have back problems, but I do have 'falling asleep while I write' problems. This certainly helps, something similar might help your back?medievalkarlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12440542200843836794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-51044309394368080712010-09-04T15:41:42.975-04:002010-09-04T15:41:42.975-04:00Oh, btw, I find it hilarious that when you do an i...Oh, btw, I find it hilarious that when you do an image search for Jeremy Bentham now, you get John Locke from Lost in his coffin!Dr. Viragohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03960384082670286328noreply@blogger.com