scholarly journals Imaginative immersion in the Cistercian Cloister

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 133-160
Author(s):  
Line Cecilie Engh
Keyword(s):  
Lectio Divina ◽  
Yale University ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Rare Book ◽  
Transformative Experiences ◽  
Illuminated Manuscript ◽  
Biblical Narratives ◽  
Cistercian Monks ◽  
John Cassian ◽  
Santa Maria

This article uses analytical concepts from cognitive science to explore and deepen our understanding of how medieval monastics imagined themselves as characters within biblical narratives. It argues that Cistercian monks - and in particular Bernard of Clairvaux - used techniques of imaginative immersion to enter and blend themselves into biblical viewpoints and events, thereby engaging the monks in epistemically and personally transformative experiences. The article concludes that this served to build community and to enculture monks and converts. Specifically, the article offers a close reading of two of Bernard's liturgical sermons, Sermon Two for Palm Sunday and Sermon Two on the Resurrection, to show how his sermons 1) traverse time and space and 2) blend viewpoints. Examples are also taken from texts by John Cassian, Augustine, Gregory the Great, and William of St. Thierry. Keywords: Bernard of Clairvaux, blended viewpoint, deictic displacement, lectio divina, liturgical time and space.  On cover:Monks singing the Office and decorated initial A[sperges me.]. Gradual Olivetan Master (Use of the Olivetan Benedictines), illuminated manuscript on parchment ca. 1430-1439. Italy, Monastero di Santa Maria di Baggio near Milan, Ca 1400-1775.Beinecke Ms1184: The olivetan Gradual. Gradual. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

scholarly journals Homo renovatur de die in diem: Transforming Selves and Communities

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Line Cecilie Engh ◽  
Stefka G. Eriksen ◽  
Francis F. Steen
Keyword(s):  
Religious Practice ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Yale University ◽  
Rare Book ◽  
Illuminated Manuscript ◽  
Medieval Europe ◽  
Ritual Spaces ◽  
Santa Maria ◽  
General Collection

"This special issue of Acta ad archaeologiam et artium historiam pertinentia (from now on Acta) interrogates religious practices of reading, writing, praying and engaging with texts, images, architecture, music, and ritual spaces in late antique Rome and medieval Europe. More specifically, it aims to analyze and deepen our understanding of how liturgy and religious practice modeled and modified selves and communities, how they shaped and transformed identities and built communities - both individual and collective, religious and lay".   On cover:Monks singing the Office and decorated initial A[sperges me.]. Gradual Olivetan Master (Use of the Olivetan Benedictines), illuminated manuscript on parchment ca. 1430-1439. Italy, Monastero di Santa Maria di Baggio near Milan, Ca 1400-1775.Beinecke Ms1184: The olivetan Gradual. Gradual. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

scholarly journals Constructing Papal Identity during the Great Western Schism (1378-1417): Pierre Ameil and Papal Funerals

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 113-129
Author(s):  
Joëlle Rollo-Koster
Keyword(s):  
Yale University ◽  
Rare Book ◽  
Illuminated Manuscript ◽  
Santa Maria ◽  
General Collection

This essay argues that liturgists responded to the Great Western Schism (1378-1417), with liturgical rubrics. During this period, authors were essentially motivated with the recovery of ecclesiastical unity. I will analyze how Pierre Ameil, a contemporary of the Schism and the author of a ceremonial book or ordo attempted to reconstruct unity by developing a new rubric centered on the rituals surrounding the pope's death. By keeping the papal body one, both natural and institutional, Ameil responded to the College of Cardinals whom he knew was responsible for the initiation of the crisis. Contrary to current historiography that sees liturgists building institutional continuity during the Vacant See on the college of Cardinals, the essay proposes that Ameil built continuity on the embalmed papal corpse presenting it as both natural and institutional, at once finite and eternal. Keywords: Great Western Schism, liturgy, body, Papal funerals, senses, Pierre Ameil.  On cover:Monks singing the Office and decorated initial A[sperges me.]. Gradual Olivetan Master (Use of the Olivetan Benedictines), illuminated manuscript on parchment ca. 1430-1439. Italy, Monastero di Santa Maria di Baggio near Milan, Ca 1400-1775.Beinecke Ms1184: The olivetan Gradual. Gradual. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

scholarly journals During Credo He Shouted "Blessed be […]; now I can hear": Nordic Child Miraculees Interacting with Liturgy

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 211-224
Author(s):  
Rakel Igland Diesen
Keyword(s):  
Mental Image ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Yale University ◽  
Rare Book ◽  
Sensory Experiences ◽  
Illuminated Manuscript ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Miracle Narratives ◽  
Santa Maria ◽  
General Collection

This article focuses on miracle narratives associated with saints originating in the Nordic region, written from the 12th to the 15th century, where a rich collection of images of children present around and inside of churches and at shrines can be found. Many of the tales portray children in devotional activities, giving an indication of how children moved and acted in these spaces. The events described often transpire during prayers and services, and show how children were seen and heard in spaces where liturgical activity shaped the rhythms of the day and the year. By examining how children are presented, as present and participating in these spaces, and by noting the bits of sensory information given in the narratives, this article adds to our mental image of the religious practices as well as sensory experiences of medieval children. Keywords: Medieval children, miracles, Nordic saints, hagiography, sensory experience.  On cover:Monks singing the Office and decorated initial A[sperges me.]. Gradual Olivetan Master (Use of the Olivetan Benedictines), illuminated manuscript on parchment ca. 1430-1439. Italy, Monastero di Santa Maria di Baggio near Milan, Ca 1400-1775.Beinecke Ms1184: The olivetan Gradual. Gradual. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

scholarly journals Resurrecting Rome. Liturgy and Rome's Second Revival

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 101-112
Author(s):  
Wim Verbaal
Keyword(s):  
Yale University ◽  
Rare Book ◽  
Political Role ◽  
Literary Context ◽  
Illuminated Manuscript ◽  
Short Period ◽  
New Churches ◽  
Gregorian Reform ◽  
Santa Maria

Liturgy is one of the more underestimated entries of the Gregorian reform. Surely, this is due to the difficulty of getting a clear view of concrete and detailed liturgical evolutions and renewals. It seems, however, to have been one of the more important elements at stake during the short period of the bitter and hard confrontations between the leading layers of the Church around 1100. Besides, between about 1050 and 1150, Rome saw an intense building activity of new churches according to new plans that seem to have been partly dictated by liturgical renovations. Notably, Pope Innocent II seems to have realized the importance of liturgy as a weapon to be used against his ecclesiastical and secular opponents. Thanks to the remarkable Liber politicus by Benedict the Canon (around 1140), we can have some ideas of the way innocent II used liturgy as a means to install his own imperial papacy. My contribution will have a closer look at Benedict's Liber politicus in its literary context as a means to reimagine Rome. The Liber will prove to be much more than a liturgical manual or a strange collection of disparate writings. Behind it lies a strong view of the political role of the papacy and of liturgy as a means to achieve and express papal supremacy. On cover:Monks singing the Office and decorated initial A[sperges me.]. Gradual Olivetan Master (Use of the Olivetan Benedictines), illuminated manuscript on parchment ca. 1430-1439. Italy, Monastero di Santa Maria di Baggio near Milan, Ca 1400-1775.Beinecke Ms1184: The olivetan Gradual. Gradual. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

scholarly journals Baptizing the Romans

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 43-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
John F. Romano
Keyword(s):  
Seventh Century ◽  
Yale University ◽  
Rare Book ◽  
Illuminated Manuscript ◽  
Collective Levels ◽  
History Of ◽  
The City ◽  
Santa Maria ◽  
General Collection ◽  
Christian Society

This article focuses on Ordo Romanus XI, a liturgical script that describes the process for performing baptism. Including its preparatory meetings. First, the essay discusses the context in which the source was created, and second draws on its evidence to understand elements of the society of its origin. It is argued that the source was composed in the city of Rome in the second half of the seventh century, and it was intended to introduce innovations into the celebration and conception of baptism there. While previous research has characterized the source as one milestone in the history of baptism, a close reading of it provides valuable hints as to the behavior, attitudes, and identity of seventh-century Romans, both on individual and collective levels. Baptism inducted people into Christian society, cleansed them from sin, and made salvation possible. It mediated both human and supernatural relationships. Further, it strengthened Christian belief, gender roles, and the conception that Romans were the new Israelites. Keywords: baptism, liturgy, Ordo/Ordines, Ordo Romanus XI, city of Rome, history, religious mentalities. On cover:Monks singing the Office and decorated initial A[sperges me.]. Gradual Olivetan Master (Use of the Olivetan Benedictines), illuminated manuscript on parchment ca. 1430-1439. Italy, Monastero di Santa Maria di Baggio near Milan, Ca 1400-1775.Beinecke Ms1184: The olivetan Gradual. Gradual. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

scholarly journals Praying for the Liberation of the Holy Sepulchre: Franciscan Liturgy in Fifteenth Century Jerusalem

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 177-195
Author(s):  
Valentina Covaci
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Holy Land ◽  
Yale University ◽  
Rare Book ◽  
Illuminated Manuscript ◽  
Holy Places ◽  
Liturgical Texts ◽  
Historical Accounts ◽  
Santa Maria

The fall of Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187 and the loss of the Frankish Levant in 1291 triggered new calls or crusade and the literature dedicated to "the recovery of the Holy Land" (pro recuperatione Terre Sancte). The exhortation to war and the urgency of Jerusalem's deliverance were also expressed through liturgy. This article examines two liturgical texts, a "Votive mass for the recovery of the Holy Land" (Missa devota ad recurandam Terram Sanctam) and an "Introit to the Holy Sepulchre of the Lord" (Ad Sanctum Sepulcrum Donin introitus), transmitted in manuscripts from the Franciscan library in Jerusalem, the Biblioteca Generale della Custodia di Terra Santa. This article explores the two liturgical texts in the historical context of fifteenth-century Jerusalem, when the Franciscan friars where the only Latin clergy allowed to serve at the Holy Places. Historical accounts produced in this milieu evince the friars' efforts to memorialize the deeds of the crusader kings, celebrated as liberators of the Holy Land. The liturgical texts analysed here complement this militant memorialization. Keywords: Jerusalem, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Franciscan liturgy, recovery of the Holy Land.  On cover:Monks singing the Office and decorated initial A[sperges me.]. Gradual Olivetan Master (Use of the Olivetan Benedictines), illuminated manuscript on parchment ca. 1430-1439. Italy, Monastero di Santa Maria di Baggio near Milan, Ca 1400-1775.Beinecke Ms1184: The olivetan Gradual. Gradual. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

scholarly journals The Ordines Romani and the Carolingian Choreography of a Liturgical Route to Rome

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 63-79
Author(s):  
Arthur Westwell
Keyword(s):  
Yale University ◽  
Rare Book ◽  
Illuminated Manuscript ◽  
Or Practice ◽  
Stage Directions ◽  
Liturgical Practice ◽  
The Given ◽  
Santa Maria ◽  
General Collection ◽  
The Church

This article examines a number of Carolingian liturgical manuscripts (Wolfenbuttel Herzog August Bibliothek Wissenbourg 91, Cologne Dombibliothek MS 138, Vienna Österreichische Nationalbibliothek cod.ser.n. 2762 and Paris Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal 227) each containing texts now known as the ordines romani. These texts are "stage directions" for the liturgy, distinguished by their reference to the practices of the church of Rome. While the ordines romani certainly give precious information about Roman liturgical practice, the Frankish contribution to shaping and displaying these texts inline with their own priorities and usages must be acknowledged too. For example, these manuscripts all combine ordines romani with texts about Roman history and topography. For these readers, the desired imitation of Roman liturgical practice was not about copying any particular text or practice by rote, but a deeper form of participation that involved the construction of an image of Rome across a whole manuscript. The given image of Rome responded to the institutional or personal needs animating the manuscript. These manuscripts compel us to imagine diverse practices of reading within and without liturgical performance. Keywords: pontificals, topography, Ordines, manuscripts, Carolingians. On cover:Monks singing the Office and decorated initial A[sperges me.]. Gradual Olivetan Master (Use of the Olivetan Benedictines), illuminated manuscript on parchment ca. 1430-1439. Italy, Monastero di Santa Maria di Baggio near Milan, Ca 1400-1775.Beinecke Ms1184: The olivetan Gradual. Gradual. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

scholarly journals Liturgy, Space, and Community in the Basilica Julii (Santa Maria in Trastevere)

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 81-100
Author(s):  
Dale Kinney
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Yale University ◽  
Rare Book ◽  
Christian Community ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Illuminated Manuscript ◽  
Agent Of Change ◽  
Santa Maria

The Basilica Julii (also known as titulus Callisti and later as Santa Maria in Trastevere) provides a case study of the physical and social conditions in which early Christian liturgies 'rewired' their participants. This paper demonstrates that liturgical transformation was a two-way process, in which liturgy was the object as well as the agent of change. Three essential factors - the liturgy of the Eucharist, the space of the early Christian basilica, and the local Christian community - are described as they existed in Rome from the fourth through the ninth centuries. The essay then takes up the specific case of the Basilica Julii, showing how these three factors interacted in the concrete conditions of a particular titular church. The basilica's early Christian liturgical layout endured until the ninth century, when it was reconfigured by Pope Gregory IV (827-844) to bring the liturgical sub-spaces up-to-date. In Pope Gregory's remodeling the original non-hierarchical layout was replaced by one in which celebrants were elevated above the congregation, women were segregated from men, and higher-ranking lay people were accorded places of honor distinct from those of lesser stature. These alterations brought the Basilica Julii in line with the requirements of the ninth-century papal stational liturgy. The stational liturgy was hierarchically organized from the beginning, but distinctions became sharper in the course of the early Middle Ages in accordance with the expansion of papal authority and changes in lay society. Increasing hierarchization may have enhanced the transformational power of the Eucharist, or impeded it. Keywords: S. Maria in Trastevere, stational liturgy, tituli, presbyterium. On cover:Monks singing the Office and decorated initial A[sperges me.]. Gradual Olivetan Master (Use of the Olivetan Benedictines), illuminated manuscript on parchment ca. 1430-1439. Italy, Monastero di Santa Maria di Baggio near Milan, Ca 1400-1775.Beinecke Ms1184: The olivetan Gradual. Gradual. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

scholarly journals Memling's Portraits of Christ. A Cognitive Approach.

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 245-258
Author(s):  
Lasse Hodne
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Frontal View ◽  
Yale University ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
Rare Book ◽  
Traditional Art ◽  
Illuminated Manuscript ◽  
Profile View ◽  
En Face ◽  
Full Face

Previous research conducted by the author revealed a clear preference for profile and half profile view in paintings of secular persons. Frontal view (full-face or en face) was usually restricted to representations of Christ. In this paper, the results will be applied to the study of the paintings of one particular artist: the German-born fifteenth-century painter Hans Memling. Adopting methods from traditional art history as well as cognitive psychology, the aim is to show how Memeling's systematic distinction between sacred and profane, using the frontal view only for representations of Christ, can be explained by reference to psychological studies on the effects and values usually associated with the frontal view of a face. Keywords: Hans Memling, portraits, man of sorrows, holy face.  On cover:Monks singing the Office and decorated initial A[sperges me.]. Gradual Olivetan Master (Use of the Olivetan Benedictines), illuminated manuscript on parchment ca. 1430-1439. Italy, Monastero di Santa Maria di Baggio near Milan, Ca 1400-1775.Beinecke Ms1184: The olivetan Gradual. Gradual. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

scholarly journals Teaching and practicing the Quadriga in Medieval Norway: A Reading of Barlaams og Josaphats Saga

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 225-244
Author(s):  
Stefka G. Eriksen
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Change ◽  
The Self ◽  
Yale University ◽  
Rare Book ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Religious Rituals ◽  
Illuminated Manuscript ◽  
Cognitive Transformation ◽  
Medieval Europe ◽  
Primary Focus

The present volume establishes that Christian liturgy and religious rituals were the main tools for the transformation of the self after the introduction of Christianity in various cultural contexts of medieval Europe. The liturgical ritual was the ultimate arena and outer manifestation of the cognitive and behavioral changes required by individuals and which were inspired in them by the Church. In this article, I will discuss whether the same tools for transformation were relevant in medieval Norway and how self-reflection and cognitive change were triggered not only during the liturgy but also through other activities, such as the reading of literature. The primary focus will be on the medium of the book, here exemplified by an Old Norse translation of the pan-European legend about Barlaam and Josaphat as preserved in its main manuscript Holm Perg 6 fol., c. 1250. By Studying the content of the saga, its narratological structure, and the mise en page of the manuscript, I will argue that the text foregrounded the Christian quadriga model of interpreting and may have served to teach this model to its readers, i.e. members of the upper social class in medieval Norway during the second half of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth century. This book itself, with its specific mise en page, may thus be seen as a tool assisting in the transformation of the self, in a similar way as the liturgy. Keywords: Barlaams saga, Quadriga, cognitive transformation, mise en page, medieval Norway.  On cover:Monks singing the Office and decorated initial A[sperges me.]. Gradual Olivetan Master (Use of the Olivetan Benedictines), illuminated manuscript on parchment ca. 1430-1439. Italy, Monastero di Santa Maria di Baggio near Milan, Ca 1400-1775.Beinecke Ms1184: The olivetan Gradual. Gradual. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

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