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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2013
Francis of Assisi's reported reception of the stigmata on Mount La Verna in 1224 is widely held to be the first documented account of an individual miraculously and physically receiving the wounds of Christ. The appearance of this miracle, however, in the first quarter of the thirteenth century, is not as unexpected as it first seems. Interpretations of Galatians 6:17—“I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ in my body”—had been circulating in biblical commentaries since the early Middle Ages. These works posited that clerics bore metaphorical and sometimes physical wounds (stigmata) as marks of persecution, while spreading the teaching of Christ in the face of resistance. By the seventh century, the meaning of Galatians 6:17 had been appropriated by bishops and priests as a sign or mark of Christ that they received invisibly at their ordination, and sometimes visibly upon their death. In the eleventh century, Peter Damian articulated a stigmatic spirituality that saw the ideal priest, monk, and nun as bearers of Christ's wounds, a status achieved through the swearing of vows and the practice of severe penance. By the early twelfth century, crusaders were said to bear the marks of the Passion in death and even sometimes as they entered into battle. By the early thirteenth century, “bearing the stigmata” was a pious superlative appropriated by a few devout members of the laity who interpreted Galatian 6:17 in a most literal manner. Thus, this article considers how the conception of “bearing the stigmata” developed in medieval Europe from its treatment in early Latin patristic commentaries to its visceral portrayal by the laity in the thirteenth century.
1 Two formative Franciscan hagiographical depictions of Francis's stigmatization include Thomas of Celano and Bonaventure's account: Thomae de Celano Vita Prima S. Francisci, in Analecta Franciscana, 10 vols. (Quaracchi, 1926–41), 10:72Google Scholar; for an English translation of the account of the stigmatization, see Thomas of Celano, “The Life of Saint Francis,” in The Saint, vol. 1 of Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, eds. Armstrong, R. J., et al. (New York: New City, 1999), book 2, chapter 3, p. 264Google Scholar. For Bonaventure's Latin text, see Doctoris Seraphici S. Bonaventurae Legenda Maior S. Francisci, in Analecta Franciscana, 10 vols. (Quaracchi, 1926–41), 10:616–17Google Scholar; for the English translation, see Bonaventure, The Major Legend of St. Francis, in The Founder, vol. 2 of Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, eds. R. J. Armstrong et al. (New York: New City, 2000), 525–683, chapter 12, pp. 630–31. For a discussion of Francis of Assisi's stigmata in theology and iconography, see Frugoni, Chiara, Francesco e l'invenzione delle stimmate. Una storia per parole e immagini fino a Bonaventura e Giotto (Turin: Einaudi, 1993)Google Scholar.
2 Trexler, Richard C., “The Stigmatized Body of Francis of Assisi: Conceived, Processed, Disappeared,” in Frömmigkeit im Mittelalter: Politisch-soziale Kontexte, visuelle Praxis, körperliche Ausdrucksformen, ed. Schreiner, Klaus (Munich: Fink, 2002), 463–97Google Scholar.
3 Constable, Giles, Three Studies in Medieval Religious and Social Thought: The Interpretation of Mary and Martha, The Ideal of the Imitation of Christ, The Orders of Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 194–217CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
4 Constable, Three Studies in Medieval Religious and Social Thought, 218.
5 Constable, Three Studies in Medieval Religious and Social Thought, 217.
6 Galatians 6:17: “I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus in my body.” The Vulgate reads: “Ego enim stigmata Iesu in corpore meo porto.”
7 I am preparing a monograph which will consider the meaning of stigmata from the eleventh to the seventeenth centuries.
8 While this is the only New Testament usage, the term is used in Leviticus 19:28: “Et super mortuo non incidetis carnem vestram neque figuras aliquas et stigmata facietis vobis ego Dominus.” “You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh, for the dead: neither shall you make in yourselves any figures or marks. I am the Lord.” Most medieval commentaries focused on the New Testament use of stigmata as marks of Christ suffering, rather than stigmata indicating a negative marking of the flesh. For an example of a medieval exegesis on Levitican stigmata, see Maurus, Rabanus, “De variis caeremoniis, comedendi, tondendi, augurandi,” in Expositiones in Leviticum, Patrologia Latina 108 (henceforth PL), ed. Migne, J-P. (Paris: Seu Petit-Montrouge, 1851), book 6, caput VII., coll. 458B–459AGoogle Scholar.
9 Lightfoot, J. B., Saint Paul's Epistle to The Galatians (London: MacMillian, 1914), 227–36Google Scholar provides a list of patristic and early medieval exegetes who commented on Galatians.
10 For an account of Marius Victorinus's life and works, see Solignac, Aimé, “Marius Victorinus,” in Dictionnaire de spiritualité, ascétique et mystique, doctrine et histoire, 17 vols., eds. Viller, M., et al. (Paris: Seu Petit-Montrouge 1932–95), vol. 10 (1980), cols. 616–623Google Scholar.
11 Translations are my own unless indicated otherwise. Marius Victorinus, Commentarii epistulas Pauli ad Galatas, ad Philippenses, ad Ephesios, ed. Locher, Albrecht, Graecorum, Bibliotheca Scriptorum et Teubneriana, Romanorum (Leipzig: Teubner, 1972), 71Google Scholar: “Ego enim stigmata domini nostri Iesu Christi in corpore meo porto, id est omnem passionem, et illa, quae in cruce toleravit, clavis figentibus corpus vel vulnere lanceae per latus, et cetera. Inquit, stigmata Iesu Christi domini nostri in corpore meo porto: id est et ego passus sum et in mysterio cum servio Christo, mysterium Christi patior . . . quoniam cum Christo erit, qui cum Christo patitur, et ea, quae Christus passus est, et ipse actu suo adversantibus adversariis coeperit pati. Vnde et vos adversa multa, omnia, tolerare debetis, quoniam cum Christo erit, qui cum Christo patitur . . . Ex quo ostendit, et quid ipse patiatur, quantum mereatur a Christo, et quid etiam nos pati debeamus, si volumus esse cum Christo.” See also Cooper, Stephen Andrew, ed., Marius Victorinus’ Commentary on Galatians (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Eastman, David L., Paul the Martyr: The Cult of the Apostle in the Latin West (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2011)Google Scholar, which demonstrates that Paul's cult in the early church recognized him as martyr par excellence.
12 For further discussion, see S. Hieronymi Presbyteri Opera Pars I Opera Exegetica 6. Commentarii in Epistulam Pauli Apostoli ad Galatas. Pars 1, 6, ed. Rapanti, Giacomo (Turnhout: Brepols, 2006), “Introduzione,” viiGoogle Scholar.
13 I am grateful to George Ferzoco for pointing out the pre-Vulgate verse.
14 S. Hieronymi Presbyteri Opera Pars I Opera Exegetica 6. Commentarii in Epistulam Pauli Apostoli ad Galatas, Pars 1, 6, ed. Rapanti, book 3, verse 6, 17b, p. 226, ll. 1–11: “Qui uero in plagis supra modum, in carceribus frequenter, ter uirgis caesus est, semel lapidatus est, et caetera quae in catalogo scripta sunt gloriandi, hic stigmata Domini Iesu in corpore suo portat. Forte et is qui macerat corpus suum et subicit seruituti, ne aliis praedicans ipse reprobus inueniatur, portat stigmata Domini Iesu in corpore suo. Laetabantur et apostoli quod digni fuerant pro nomine Iesu contumeliam pati.” Two English translations of Jerome's commentary on Galatians were published in 2010: Cain, Andrew, trans., St. Jerome, Commentary on Galatians (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2010)Google Scholar, see in particular 267; and Scheck, Thomas, St. Jerome's Commentaries on Galatians, Titus, and Philemon (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 2010), 274Google Scholar. The translation provided is from Scheck. Jerome's reference to bodily mortification anticipates Peter Damian's view of the stigmata which is discussed below.
15 Vercellensis, Atto, Expositio in Epistolam ad Galatas, PL 134 (1853)Google Scholar, col. 546C: “Stigmata in corpore suo appellat pericula carcerum, lapidationes, et naufragia, et caetera quae in catalogo virtutis illius narrantur.”
16 See Maurus, Rabanus, Monet Apostolus Galatas ad mutuam supportationem, et confirmat dicta de cessatione legalium in Ennarationum in Epistolas Beati Pauli, PL 112 (1852), chapter 6, col. 381B/C.Google Scholar
17 Translation from Augustine's Commentary on Galatians, introduction, translation and notes by Plummer, Eric (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), paragraph 64, p. 235CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Hipponensis, Augustinus, Expositio epistulae ad Galatas, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 84, ed. Divjak, Ioannes (Vindobonae: Hoelder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1971), paragraph 64, p. 140Google Scholar: “Stigmata enim dicuntur notae quaedam poenarum seruilium, ut si quis uerbi gratia seruus in compedibus fuerit propter noxam, id est propter culpam, uel huiusmodi aliquid passus fuerit, stigmata habere dicatur, et ideo in iure manumissionis inferioris est ordinis.”
18 Claude of Turin, Enarratio in Epistolam D. Pauli Ad Galatas, PL 104 (1851), chapter 6, coll. 910D–911A; Rabanus Maurus, Monet Apostolus Galatas ad mutuam supportationem, PL 112, chapter 6, col. 381A; Lanfranc of Canterbury, Epistola B. Pauli Apostoli ad Galatas cum Interjectis B. Lanfranci Glossulis, PL 150 (1854), chapter 6, col. 286B; Hervé de Bourg-Dieu, In Epistolam Ad Galatas, PL 181 (1854), coll. 1202B–1202C. Peter Lombard, In Epistolam Ad Galatas, PL 192 (1855), col. 170A.
19 But Augustine did use the term character to indicate the apostles were marked as soldiers of Christ. Haring, Nicholas M., “St. Augustine's Use of the Word ‘Character,’” Mediaeval Studies 14 (1952), 91CrossRefGoogle Scholar. We will see below that the terms character and stigmata were sometimes used interchangeability in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
20 See for example Lanfranc of Canterbury, Epistola B. Pauli Apostoli ad Galatas cum Interjectis B. Lanfranci Glossulis, PL 150, chapter 6, col. 286C. Hervé de Bourg-Dieu, In Epistolam Ad Galatas, PL 181, coll. 1202B–1202C. For further discussion of stigmata as a form of tattooing, see Jones, C. P., “Tattooing and Branding in Graeco-Roman Antiquity,” The Journal of Roman Studies 77 (1987): 139-55CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Mark Gustafson, T., “Tattooing,” in The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery, 2 vols., ed. Rodriguez, Junius P. (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 1997), 2:629Google Scholar.
21 Translation from Augustine's Commentary on Galatians, trans. Plummer, paragraph 64, p. 235. Augustinus Hipponensis, Expositio epistulae ad Galatas, ed. Divjak, paragraph 64, p. 140: “Nunc ergo apostolus stigmata uoluit appellare quasi notas poenarum de persecutionibus, quas patiebatur, propter culpam enim persecutionis, qua persecutus erat ecclesias christi, haec sibi retribui cognouerat, sicut ab ipso domino dictum est ananiae, cum idem illum ananias tamquam persecutorem christianorum formidaret. Ego illi ostendam, inquit, quae oporteat eum pati pro nomine meo, uerumtamen propter remissionem peccatorum, in qua baptizatus erat, omnes illae tribulationes non ei ualebant ad perniciem sed ad coronam uictoriae proficiebant.” Augustine's interpretation perhaps also echoes his own conversion from a sinful life to the Christian faith.
22 For a discussion of the association in monastics communities of self crucifixion as a form of atonement, see Seebohm, Almuth, “The Crucified Monk,” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 59 (1996), 77CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
23 Gaudence of Brescia, “Sermo XXI seu Oratio B. Gaudentii episcopi de vita et obitu B. Philastrii episcopi praedecessoris sui,” in PL 20 (1845), col. 997A–1002B, at col. 999A–999B: “Sed circumiens universum pene ambitum Romani orbis, Dominicum praedicavit verbum, Pauli apostoli idoneus imitator exsistens. Sancto enim Spiritu plenus, non solum contra Gentiles atque Judaeos, verum etiam contra haereses omnes, et maxime contra furentem eo tempore Arianam perfidiam tanto fidei vigore pugnavit, ut etiam verberibus subderetur, et in corpore suo stigmata Domini nostri Jesu Christi portaret.” For a concise discussion of Gaudence's life and works, see Viard, Paul, “S. Gaudence de Brescia,” Dictionnaire de spiritualité, vol. 6 (1965), cols. 139–43Google Scholar.
24 Lantbert (d. 1070) became abbot of St Lorenz in Liège in 1060. See Hanet, Nathalie, “Lantbert of Deutz,” in Dictionary of the Middle Ages, ed. Strayer, Joseph (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1986), 7:342Google Scholar.
25 Lantbert of Deutz, Vita Heriberti in Monumenta Germaniae historica. Annales, chronica et historiae aevi Carolini et Saxonici, Scriptorium IV, ed. Pertz, G. H. (Hannover: Hahn 1884), 739–53Google Scholar, quote from 744: “Mens eius omnimodo supernis infixa flagrabat; os ymnis psalmis et orationi vacabat; transfigurans in se, quas executurus erat vices Christi, quantam sacerdotem curam habere deceat gregis sui.”
26 Lantbert of Deutz, Vita Heriberti, 744: “Inungitur a suffraganeis chrismate principalis olei; redimitur aeclesiasticis sponsalibus in dotem catholicae fidei; stigmata Iesu in eius corpore universa canonice perficiuntur.”
27 For a detailed discussion on this imagery, see Matter, E. Ann, The Voice of My Beloved: The Song of Songs in Western Medieval Christianity (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
28 Barrow, Julia, “Ideas and Applications of Reform,” in The Cambridge History of Christianity: Early Medieval Christianities c. 600–c. 1000, eds. Noble, Thomas F. X. and Smith, Julia M. H. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 3:361–62Google Scholar.
29 Viminien is also known as Guinamand. In the eleventh century, the papacy enforced the requirement that all archbishops should formally request the pallium from the pope in order to underline the papacy as the head of metropolitan jurisdiction. See Oury, Guy-Marie, “Pallium,” Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, eds. Vauchez, André, et al. (Cambridge: J. Clarke, 2000), 2:1074–75Google Scholar.
30 Pope Victor II, “XIX Privilegium Victoris II, Winimanno archiepiscopo Ebredunensi concessum,” PL 143 (1853), col. 837A: “Porro pallio sacro ita te uti volumus ut diligenter atque vigilanter perpendas quod tuae fraternitati immineat agendum; usus illius scilicet inter alia, ut carnem tuam crucifigendo cum vitiis et concupiscentiis (Gal. 5:24), stigmata Jesu Christi cum Paulo apostolo in corpore tuo portes (Gal. 6:17), et semper mortificationem illius in pectore et scapulis circumferas (II Cor. 4:16).”
31 For a comprehensive study of the imitatio Christi, see Constable, Three Studies in Medieval Religious and Social Thought, 143–248.
32 See D'Acunto, Niccolangelo, “Introduzione,” in Opere di Pier Damiani, Lettere, eds. Gragano, G. I. and D'Acunto, N., trans. Dindelli, A., Saraceno, L., and Somigli, C. (Rome: Città Nouva, 2000), vol. 1.1, 64Google Scholar.
33 English translation from Damian, Peter, Letters 31–60, vol. 2, trans. Blum, Owen J. (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1990), Letter 59, paragraph 6, p. 396Google Scholar. The Latin text provided in Opere di Pier Damiani is taken from the Monumenta Germaniae Historica Petri Damiani Opera Letters, ed. Reindel, K. (Rome: Città Nouva, 2002), vol. 1.3, Letter 59, paragraph 6, p. 286Google Scholar, ll. 48–50: “Elaborandum est ergo sacerdoti, ut et caput illius consecratrum sit per piae voluntatis intuitum, et manus eius spiritalis olei sint carismate delibutae per evidens sancte operationis indicium.” In Opere di Pier Damiani an Italian translation of the letters is provided by A. Dindelli, L. Saraceno, and C. Somigli.
34 English translation from Damian, Letters 31–60, vol. 2, Letter 59, paragraph 11, p. 399. For Latin, see Petrus Damianus, Epistulae (41–67), in Opere di Pier Damiani, vol. 1.3, Letter 59, paragraph 11, p. 290, ll. 152/154: “Hanc autem munditiam, ut sacerdos in se valeat prae ceteris possidere, stigma sanguinis Christi studeat in se signanter exprimere, sicut dicit apostolus: Ego stigmata Iesu semper in corpore meo porto.”
35 Damian, Letters 31–60, vol. 2, Letter 59, paragraph 11, pp. 399–400. Opere di Pier Damiani, Letter 59, paragraph 11, pp. 290–92, ll. 155/168.
36 Bynum, Caroline Walker, Wonderful Blood (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007), 1Google Scholar.
37 For a discussion of the role of liturgy in asserting power, see Stroll, Mary, “Symbols as Power: The Papacy Following the Investiture Contest,” Studies in Intellectual History 24 (1991): 45–56Google Scholar. Although the focus of the study is on the twelfth century, it nonetheless is helpful in understanding the function of liturgical symbolism in the Gregorian era.
38 Comestor, Petrus, Sermo XXXVI In dedicatione ecclesiae, PL 198 (1855), coll.1806A–1808AGoogle Scholar, at 1808B-C: “Haec etiam inscriptio facta est in corporibus nostris. Stigmata enim Domini Jesu portatis in corpore vestro; characteris enim insigne vobis impressum est, quo de facili ordinis vestri distinctio etiam visibus patet. Tonsura enim capitis, vestium vilitas et mundities, ciborum arida sobrietas, motus, incessus, gestus, et habitus compositus, et caetera in hunc modum inscriptiones sunt vobis impressae, et signa Dei vestri, ut dicere possitis: Posuit signum in faciem meam ut nullum praeter eum amatorem admittam.”
39 The Jesuit theologian, Théophile Raynaud (1583–1663) wrote the first comprehensive study on the history of the stigmata. He dismissed the idea that sacramental marks, which he called “characters,” indicated “true stigmata.” “True stigmata” for Raynaud meant that the body had been branded exteriorly in some manner. While Raynaud offered varied and numerous examples of stigmata, he clearly was influenced by the post-Franciscan idea of stigmata primarily meaning marks miraculously impressed upon the corporeal body. See also, Raynaud, Théophile, De stigmatismo, sacro et profano, divino, humano daemoniaco in Opera omnia: assesit tomus integer complectens indices septemdecim, tome 13 (Lyon: Boissat and Remeus, 1665), 74Google Scholar.
40 See Bede, , Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, ed. Colgrave, Bertram and Mynors, R. A. B., (Oxford: Claredon Press, 1969), book 5, chapter 21, p. 548Google Scholar. For further discussion, see Constable, Three Studies in Medieval Religious and Social Thought, 199.
41 Andrew of Fleury, Miracula Sancti Benedicti, ed. de Certain, E. (Paris: Renouard, 1858), lib. 6. chapter 13, p. 238Google Scholar: “Quidam eipiscopalis schematis stigma praeferens ingreditur.”
42 English translation from Peter Lombard, The Sentences, Book 4: On the Doctrine of Signs, Mediaeval Sources in Translation 48, trans. Giulio Silano (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2010), Distinction XXIV, chapter 13 (143), 148. For original Latin, see Peter Lombard, Sententiarum Libri Quatuor, PL 192, “Distinctio XXIV, De Ordinibus Ecclesiasticis,” col. 904: “Si autem quaeritur quid sit quod hic vocatur ordo, sane dici potest signaculum esse, id est, sacrum quoddam, quo spiritualis potestas traditur ordinato, et officium. Character ergo spiritualis, ubi fit promotio potestatis, ordo vel gradus vocatur.” For a general discussion of the theological aspects of ordination in the Middle Ages, see Bradshaw, Paul F., “Medieval Ordinations,” The Study of Liturgy, eds. Jones, Cheslyn, et al. , (London: SPCK; rev. ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 369–79Google Scholar, especially, 377–79.
43 Elliott, Dyan, Fallen Bodies: Pollution, Sexuality, and Demonology in the Middle Ages (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999)Google Scholar.
44 See also Gougaud, Louis, Dévotions et pratiques ascetiques du moyen age, Collection Pas 21 (Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1925), 78Google Scholar.
45 There, however, are some precedents of the term being applied to nuns in earlier centuries. In the ninth-century Vita Salberga, the taking of the veil is described as “Christi stigmate suscepto.” Krusch, Bruno, ed., “Vita Sadalbergae,” in Monumenta Germaniae Historicae, Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum 5 (Hanover/Leipsig: Hahn, 1910), 60Google Scholar. Sadalberga, the daughter of the duke of Alsace Gundoin, died in 665. But Krusch dates her vita to the first half of the ninth century (ibid., 45).
46 Opere di Pier Damiani, vol. 1.3, Letter 66, paragraph 6, p. 360, ll. 178/184: “Quisquis vero bonis operibus videtur intus, sed a divini amoris torpet incendio frigidus, iam iste sanctitatis imaginem super brachium posuit, sed adhuc in corde Christi signaculum non expressit. Ut ergo sancta anima Christi caractere utrobique signetur, eum in corde suo signaculum ponat, ut amoris eius facibus medullitus inardescat. Ponat etiam consequenter in brachio, ut piis operibus valenter insistat.”
47 The English translation is from Damian, Peter, Letters 61–90, vol. 3, trans. Blum, Owen J. (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1992), Letter 66, paragraph 6, 47Google Scholar. Opere di Pier Damiani, Letter 66, paragraph 6 p. 360, ll. 184/187: “Signaculum Paulus in corpore suo velut in brachio Iesum posuerat, cum dicebat: ‘Ego stigmata Iesu in corpore meo porto (Gal. 6:17).’ Signaculum super cor Iesum posuerat, cum alibi gratulabundus aiebat: ‘Mihi autem absit gloriari.’”
48 Peter Damian, Letters 61–90, vol. 3, Letter 66, paragraph 6, p. 47. Opere di Pier Damiani, Letter 66, p. 360, ll. 191/193: “Porro autem et ipse coelestis sponsus electum quemque suum sibi signaculum ponit, eumque grata vice tamquam ne de memoria deleatur, attendit.”
49 Opere di Pier Damiani, Letter 66, paragraph 5, pp. 354–58, ll. 74/137, especially p. 356, ll. 104/105.
50 Damian, Letters 61–90, vol. 3, Letter 66, paragraph 6, p. 47. Opere di Pier Damiani, Letter 66, p. 358, ll. 141/145: “Sicut enim quis ad hoc aecclesiasticis gradibus intiatur, ut ad sacerdotii culmen attingat, vel potius, ut tua dicamus, ad hoc virgo dotatione subarratur ut nubat, ita nimirum omnes saeculum relinquentes ad hoc debent semper eniti, ut auctori suo valeant artius in amore coniunigi.”
51 Song 8:6 is later employed by Bonaventure in his sermon for the Feast of St Francis where he discusses the way Francis received the stigmata. Saint Bonaventure, “Sermo” 58, in Sermones de diversis, nouvelle edition critique, ed. Jacques-Guy Bougerol (Paris: Les éditions franciscaines, 1993), 2:799.
52 For a more detailed discussion of the issue of character, ordination and women, see Macy, Gary, The Hidden History of Women's Ordination: Female Clergy in the Medieval West (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 101–10CrossRefGoogle Scholar. I am grateful to Miri Rubin for recommending this book. For the meaning of “character” in patristic texts, see Haring, “St. Augustine's Use of the Word ‘Character,’” 79–97. See also Haring, Nicholas M., “Character, signum, signaculum, Die Entwicklung bis nach der Karolingischen Renaissance,” Scholastik (1955): 481–512Google Scholar.
53 Rachel Fulton provides a detailed discussion of Peter Damian's concept of redemption, forgiveness and its relation to the suffering Christ, which gives further insight to his view of stigmata in relation to priests, monks and nuns. See Fulton, Rachel, From Judgment to Passion, Devotion to Christ and the Virgin Mary, 800–1200 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002), 89–118Google Scholar.
54 In regard to Francis's stigmata being likened to a seal, see Bonaventure's 1262 sermon on Francis where he is compared to a divine seal [that is, bulla] being stamped with Christ's marks. Saint Bonaventure, “Sermo 58,” Sermones de diversis, 2:777–78. The same sermon also discusses how Francis was transformed, through his love for Christ's passion, into the image of his Beloved. See Bonaventure, “Sermo 58,” 783. For further discussion, see Muessig, Carolyn, “The Stigmata Debate in Theology and Art in the Late Middle Ages,” in The Authority of the Word: Reflecting on Image and Text in Northern Europe 1400–1700, Intersections 20, ed. Melion, Walter (Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2012), 481–504CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
55 For a description of how Catherine received invisible stigmata, see Raymond of Capua, Vita S. Catharina Senensis, AASS, Apr. III, Dies 30 (Antwerp: Michael Cnobarus, 1675), 2.7, col. 901F. For further discussion of the differences between Francis and Catherine's stigmata, see Muessig, “The Stigmata Debate in Theology and Art in the Late Middle Ages,” 481–504.
56 This type of stigmata is the focus of Trexler's article. See Trexler, “The Stigmatized Body of Francis of Assisi,” 463–97.
57 For the Life of Dominic Loricatus see, Opere di Pier Damiani, Letter 109, vol. 1.5 (2011), paragraphs 9–32, pp. 308–331.
58 Opere di Pier Damiani, Letter 109, paragraph 10, p. 310, ll. 152–63.
59 Damian, Peter, Letters 91–120, vol. 5, trans. Blum, (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1998), Letter 109, paragraph 17, p. 216Google Scholar. Opere di Pier Damiani, Letter 109, paragraph 14, p. 316, ll. 276–78: “Videbatur autem tunc totus vultus eius ita scopis attritus, ac sulcantibus quibusdam vibicibus livefactus, tamquam si pila fuerit ptisanarum more contunsus.”
60 Damian, Letters 91–120, vol. 5, Letter 109, paragraph 37, p. 226. Opere di Pier Damiani, Letter 109, paragraph 31, p. 330, ll. 581–87: “Dominicus autem noster stigmata Iesu portavit in corpore, et vexillum crucis non tantum in fronte depinxit, sed cunctis etiam undique membris impressit . . . Tota haec vita facta est sibi parasceve crucis.”
61 Peter Damian, Opusculum Quadragesimum Nonum De perfecta monachi informatione, PL 145 (1853), cap. 1, coll., 721B–721D. In Blum's translation this opusculum is presented as Letter 132, see Damian, Peter, Letters 121–150, vol. 6, trans. Blum, Owen J. (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2004), Letter 132, paragraph 2, 57Google Scholar.
62 Peter Damian, Opusculum Quadragesimum Nonum De perfecta monachi informatione, PL 145, cap. 9, coll., 730D–731A: “Omnes voluntates proprias frange, undique te cum apostolo Christi mortificatione praecinge; undique impressa tibi stigmata crucis ostende, ut quo nunc arctius judicati vestigia sequeris, eo post sublimius judicantis consortio perfruaris.” See Damian, Letters 121–150, vol. 6, Letter 132, paragraph 2, 72.
63 See Damian, Letters 151–180, vol. 7, Letter 158, paragraph 12, 93. Peter Damian, Liber Sextus: Ad Abbates et Monachos, PL 144 (1853), “Epistola 22,” 407A–407B: “Hoc vitae tuae signum, fili charissime, sicut in fronte depingis, ita nihilominus cordis tui liminibus imprime; quod ultor angelus cernens, sine tua non tardet laesione transire (Exod. 12). Haec philacteria prae oculis tuis sine cessatione dependeant; haec stigmata corpus tuum undique, sicut Apostolus de se testatur, inurant: Ego, inquit, stigmata Jesu in corpore meo porto (Gal. 6).”
64 Aigrade, “Vita Sancti Anserberti Archiepiscopi Rotomagensis ab interpolatiiobus pura,” Analecta bollandiana 1 (1882): 178–91, p. 190, chapter 24, lines 1–16: “Cum vero xemviitem dierum orbita finiretur, legati qui ad Pipinum principem directi fuerant, reversi sunt licentia ab eo accepta ut transferretur quo ipsius decreverat voluntas, nullo sanctae ejus ordinationi resistente. Cumque sepulchrum illius aperuissent, et putarent corpus ejus ob tam prolixi temporis intervallum jam foetere, tanta suavitatis fragantia inde manavit quasi diversis aromatum floribus ac balsami guttulis repleretur omnis ecclesia. Et cum fratres qui ad eum visendum ex propria provincia venerant cum his quos secum in exilio habuerat, ablatis ab eo vestibus cum quibus in sepulchro reconditus fuerat, mutare eas vellent, novis eum indumentis induere cupientes, invenerunt in cubitis ejus signum dominicae crucis, rosei coloris similitudinem gerens; ut patenter cunctis fidelibus daretur intellegi quia cujus arma vivens portaverat in corde, ejus stigmata defuncti monstrabantur in corpore.” Aigrade was a seventh-century monk of Fontenelle. At the request of Hilbert (d. 702), Abbot of Fontenelle, he wrote the vitae of Saints Lambert and Ansbert. See Fournier, P., “Aigrade,” in Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie Ecclésiastiques, tome 1 (Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1912), col. 1115Google Scholar.
65 For a detailed study of death in the early Middle Ages, see Damien Sicard, Liturgie de la mort dans l'Eglise latine des origines à la réforme carolingienne, Liturgiewissenshaftliche Quellen und Forschungen 63 (Münster Westfalen: Aschendorff, 1978). Paxton, Frederick S.Christianizing Death: The Creation of a Ritual Process in Early Medieval Europe (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1990)Google Scholar.
66 See Adnès, Pierre, “Mort (Liturgie de la),” in Dictionnaire de Spiritualité 10 (Paris: Beauschesne, 1980), coll. 1769–1777, at coll. 1772–1773Google Scholar.
67 For relevant passages from the Gelasian Sacramentary that correspond to the ritual of Ansbert's burial, see Mohlberg, L. C., ed., Liber sacramentorum Romanae Aecclesiae ordinis anni circuli. Cod. Vat. Reg. lat. 316/Paris Bibl. Nat. 7193, 41/56. Sacramentum Gelasianum (Rome: Herder, 1960), sections 1607–1642, 234–238, at section 1611, p. 235Google Scholar: “Suscipe, domine anima servi tui ille revertentem ad te; vestem caelestem indue eam et lava eam sanctum fontem vitae aeternae, ut inter guadentes gaudeat . . . pulsans portas caelestis Hierusalem apertas reppereat, et inter videntes deum facie ad fatiem videat, et inter audientes auditu caelesti caelestem sonum exaudiat.” Throughout the rite, the soul of the deceased is understood as what will immediately enter heaven. This ties into references made to the “prima resurrectio” throughout the ordo (see sections 1612, p. 235; 1615, p. 236; 1619, p. 236; 1620, p. 236: “et habeat partem in prima resurrectione”).
68 English translation from The Dialogues of Gregory the Great, trans. Gardner, Edmund (1910; repr. Merchantville, N.J.: Evolution, 2010), 205Google Scholar. See Gregory the Great, Dialogorum libri quattuor, Sources chrétiennes 265 (Paris: Cerf, 1980), lib. 4, cap. 26, 11. 23/28: “Hoc eis nimirum crescit in iudicio, quod nunc animarum sola, postmodum uero etiam corporum beatitudine perfruuntur, ut in ipsa quoque carne gaudeant, in qua dolores pro domino cruciatus que pertulerunt. Pro hac quippe geminata eorum gloria scriptum est: in terra sua duplicia possidebunt. Hinc etiam ante resurrectionis diem de sanctorum animabus scriptum est: datae sunt illis singulae stolae albae, et dictum est illis ut requiescerent tempus adhuc modicum, donec inpleatur numerus conseruorum et fratrum eorum. Qui itaque nunc singulas acceperunt, binas in iudicio stolas habituri sunt, quia modo animarum tantummodo, tunc autem animarum simul et corporum gloria laetabuntur.” For discussion of Gregory the Great's teaching on the beatific vision, see Trottmann, Christian, La vision béatitifique: des disputes scolastiques à sa définition par Benoît XII, Bibliothèques des Écoles françaises d'Athènes et de Rome 29 (Rome: École Française de Rome, 1995), 71–2CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See Bynum, Caroline Walker, Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200–1336 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995), 167Google Scholar.
69 Aigrade “Vita Sancti Anserberti, paragraph 21, p. 189, ll. 12/15: “Et ab angelicis choris anima ejus sancta, generosa et sincera et ab omni contactu mundi incontaminata, in consortio sanctorum et felicitate eorum suscepta est.”
70 Opere di Pier Damiani, Letter 72, volume 1.4 (2005), paragraph 48, pp. 128–130, ll. 604/627. The reason why these two saints held the holy scourge may be explained by the fact that the hermitage of Fonte Avellana was dedicated to St. Andrew and Pope Gregory the Great, himself was a great monastic leader.
71 See Damian, Letters 61–90, vol. 3, Letter 72, paragraph 50, pp. 139–140: “When the body was stripped for washing, as was the custom, they saw on his limbs such welts and cuts (stigmata) as if his body had been scourged with material whips.” Opere di Pier Damiani, Letter 72, paragraph 49, p. 130, ll. 635–639: “Nudato autem ad lavandum ex more cadavere, sic vibices ac stigmata in eius membris undique videbantur, ac si corpus eius materialibus fuisset virgis allisum.” According to the Italian edition, the letter, addressed to Pope Nicholas II, was sent sometime between December 1059 and July 1061.
72 For further discussion, see Constable, Three Studies in Medieval Religious and Social Thought, 200. For an analysis of crusading stigmata, see also Purkis, William J., “Stigmata on the First Crusade,” in Signs, Wonders: Representative Power in the Life of the Church, eds. Cooper, Kate and Gregory, Jeremy, Studies in Church History 42 (Woodbridge, U.K.: Boydell Brewer, 2005), 99Google Scholar. I am grateful to Paul Chandler for informing me about this article.
73 According to some reporters of Urban II's sermon at the Council of Clermont, the pope called for those going on crusade to put a visible sign of the cross on their clothing or person. See Rheims, Robert of, Historia Iherosolimitana, Croisades, Recueil des Historiens des, Occidentaux, Historiens, ed. Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, 5 vols. (Paris: Nationale, 1841–1906), 3:729–30Google Scholar. See Purkis, “Stigmata on the First Crusade,” 105.
74 Fulcher Carnotensis Historia Hierosolymitana (1095–1127), ed. Hagenmayer, Heinrich (Heidelberg: Boydell and Brewer, 1913), Liber I, cap. 8, paragraph 1–3, p. 169Google Scholar: “Repertae sunt in carnibus quorumdam super spatulas scilicet cruces insignitae.” See Constable, Three Studies in Medieval Religious and Social Thought, 200. For a detailed analyses of crusading stigmata see also Purkis, “Stigmata on the First Crusade,” 99.
75 English translation from Fulcher of Chartres, A History of The Expedition to Jerusalem 1095–1127, trans. Ryan, Frances Rita, ed. with an Introduction by Fink, Harold (Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1969): book 1, chapter 8, paragraph 1–3, 761Google Scholar. Fulcher Carnotensis Historia Hierosolymitana, Liber I, cap. 8, paragraph 1–3, p. 170: “Simul etiam tali miraculo patefieri considerantibus merito dignum erat, ipsos defunctos sub misericordia Dei iam quietam vitae perennis adeptos fuisse.” For further discussion and examples of crusaders bearing the stigmata, see Purkis, “Stigmata on the First Crusade.” Purkis demonstrates that the stigmata's association with the crusaders showed how the imitatio Christi movement was no longer solely the domain of ecclesiastics but also of soldiers.
76 See Ekkehard of Aura, Hierosolymita, de oppressione, liberatione ac restauratione Jerosolymitanae Ecclesiae, in Croisades, Recueil des Historiens des, Occidentaux, Historiens, ed. Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, 5 vols. (Paris: Nationale, 1841–1906), 5:19Google Scholar, chapter 10 which gives an account of the year 1096 and is entitled: “Varia prodigia Theutonicos ad bellum sacrum incitant.” See Purkis, “Stigmata on the First Crusade,” 101.
77 For further discussion, see Tongeren, Louis van, Exaltation of the Cross. Toward the Origins of the Feast of the Cross and the Meaning of the Cross in Early Medieval Liturgy (Peeters: Leuven, 2000), 222Google Scholar.
78 Godfrey of Admont, “Homilia XLV, in Festum Inventionis S. Cruce Prima,” PL 174 (1854), col.0858B/C: “Sed hi nimirum memoriam vivificae crucis recte venerantur et recolunt qui per continentiam vitae imitatores illius sunt, qui carnem suam cum vitiis et concupiscentiis crucifixerunt, stigmata crucifixi Domini in corpore suo portantes, ipsam ejus crucem in membris suis jugiter circumferunt. Cujus et nos imitatores esse pro modulo nostro studeamus, castificantes nos in timore Domini, corpora, inquam, nostra eidem semper memorandae affigentes cruci. Fixurae autem clavorum spiritales sunt disciplinae quibus sensus corporis nostri, visum videlicet, auditum, gustum, odoratum et tactum, omnia omnino membra nostra, ne peccatis succumbant, fortiter debemus configere.”
79 For other examples, see Constable, Three Studies in Medieval Religious and Social Thought, 211–15.
80 See for example, Hamburger, Jeffrey, The Rothschild Canticles. Art and Mysticism in Flanders and the Rhineland circa 1300 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990), 72–7Google Scholar; Keller, Hildegard, My Secret is Mine. Studies on Religion and Eros in the German Middle Ages (Leuven: Peeters, 2000), 248–52Google Scholar; Newman, Barbara, God and the Goddesses. Vision, Poetry, and Belief in the Middle Ages (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002), 159–65Google Scholar; Newman, Martha, “Crucified by the Virtues: Monks, Lay Brothers, and Women in Thirteenth-Century Cistercian Saints’ Lives,” in Gender and Difference in the Middle Ages, eds. Farmer, Sharon and Pasternack, Carol Braun (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003), 182–209Google Scholar.
81 This is “Sermon 30: The Second Sermon for Palm Sunday,” in Liturgical Sermons, ed. Guerric of Igny, Cistercian Father Series 32, 2 vols. (Spencer, Mass.: Cistercian Publications, 1970–1971), 2:59–65Google Scholar. For Latin text, see Guerric of Igny, “Dominica in Ramis Palarum, Sermo II. De crucis scientia et virtute,” PL 185 (1855), col. 130C–134B.
82 See Guerric of Igny, “Sermo II, 133A–133B: “Sed et Paulus, dux ille strenuus militiae christianae, fidelis signifer, qui stigmata Crucifixi in corpore suo portabat, nunc quoque in hac verorum ac falsorum militum confusione, signo utique notabili istos ab illis discernebat, cum dicebat: Qui autem sunt Christi, carnem crucifixerunt cum vitiis et concupiscentiis (Gal. 5:24).” Guerric of Igny, Liturgical Sermons, 63.
83 Guerric of Igny, “Sermo II, col. 133A-B. Guerric of Igny, Liturgical Sermons, 63–4. For discussion on how monastic spirituality conceived the crucifixion of the body with virtues, see Seebohm, “The Crucified Monk,” 61–102, especially, pp. 69–74.
84 Joseph-Marie Canivez, “Césaire d'Heisterbach,” Dictionnaire de spiritualité, vol. 2 (1953) coll. 430–432.
85 Caesarius of Heisterbach, Dialogus Miraculorum, ed. Strange, Joseph, 2 vols. (Cologne: H. Lempertz, 1851)Google Scholar.
86 Caesarius of Heisterbach, The Dialogue on Miracles, trans. Scott, H. von E. and Bland, C. C. Swinton, Introduction by Coulton, G. G., 2 vols. (London: Routledge, 1929) vol. 2, book 8, chapter 25, p. 25Google Scholar; Caesarius of Heisterbach, Dialogus Miraculorum, ed. Strange, vol. 2, book 8, chapter 23, p. 100.
87 For further discussion, see Muessig, “The Stigmatic Debate in Theology and Art in the Late Middle Ages,” 481–504. See also Boureau, Alain, “Miracle, volonté et imagination: la mutation scolastique (1270–1320),” in Miracle, prodigies et merveiles au moyen âge: XXVe congrès de la S.H.M.E.S., Orléans, juin 1994. (Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1995), 159–172Google Scholar. Bynum, Caroline Walker, Christian Materiality: An Essay on Religion in Late Medieval Europe (New York: Zone, 2011), 229Google Scholar.
88 Translation from Caesarius of Heisterbach, The Dialogue on Miracles, vol. 2, book 8, chapter 18, p. 20. Caesarius of Heisterbach, Dialogus miraculorum, vol. 2, chapter 18, pp. 95–96, 96: “Hi soli ex omni congregatione mecum crucifxi sunt, meae passioni vitam suam conformantes.”
89 Caesarius of Heisterbach, The Dialogue on Miracles, trans. Scott and Swinton Bland, vol. 2, book 8, chapter 18, p. 20. Caesarius of Heisterbach, Dialogus miraculorum, 2:96.
90 Caesarius of Heisterbach, The Dialogue on Miracles, vol. 2, book 8, chapter 19, p. 21. Caesarius of Heisterbach, Dialogus miraculorum, vol. 2, chapter 19, p. 97.
91 He was at Villers sometime during the time of Abbot Charles (1197–1209). See Joseph-Marie Canivez, “Césaire d'Heisterbach,” coll. 430; For the dates of abbacy of Charles, see de Moreau, Édmond, L'Abbaye de Villers-en-Brabant Aux XIIe et XIIIe Siècles. Études d'histoire religieuse et économique (Brussels: Albert Dewit, 1909), 43Google Scholar.
92 For partial editions of the Chronica Villariensis Monasterii and the Gesta Sanctorum Villariensium see: Historia monasterii Villariensis in Brabantia Ordinis Cisterciensis, Libris tribus distincta. Ex duobus Mss uno moasterii Bonisontis, altero Dunensi, in Thesaurus novus anecdotorum. prodit nunc primum studio et opera domni, eds. Martène, E. and Durand, U. (Paris: F. Delaulne, 1717), 1267–1374Google Scholar. G. Waitz, ed., Chronica Villariensis Monasterii and Ex gestiis Sanctorum Villariensium, Monumenta Historia Germanica, Scriptores 25, (Hanover: Hahn, 1880), 192–235. The Gesta were added as part of the Chronicon after 1333. For a detailed discussion of these sources, see Moreau, L'Abbaye de Villers-en-Brabant, xviii–lxxii.
93 Peter's name appeared in the Villers martyrology for the 31 January. Unfortunately no year was provided. De Moreau, however, writes of this list: “Presque tous ces religieux ont vécu au XIIe ou au XIIIe siècle. Nous nous sommes servi pour dresser cette liste d'un martyrologe de Villers, transcrit sur papier au XVIIIe siècle, et conservé dans la bibliothèque des Bollandistes à Bruxelles, no 429. On trouve une liste des ‘Beati Villarienses’ dans le codex 12750–12752, de la Bibliothèque royale de Bruxelles, fol. 9.” See Moreau, L'Abbaye de Villers-en-Brabant, xxxiv–xxxv, Appendice II. For further information on the Villers Abbey, see Brouette, É., “Abbaye de Villers, à Tilly,” in Monasticon Belge, tome IV, Province de Brabant, vol. 2 (Liège: Centre national de recherches d'histoire religieuse, 1968)Google Scholar. For a study of Villers spirituality, see Alison More, “Milites Christi in hortis liliorum Domini? Hagiographic Constructions of Masculinity and Holiness in Thirteenth-Century Liège (Ph.D. Dissertation: University of Bristol, 2004). See also Newman, “Crucified by the Virtues: Monks, Lay Brothers, and Women in Thirteenth-Century Cistercian Saints’ Lives.”
94 A summary of some of these practices is contained in Crisótomo Henriquez, , Menologium cisterciense notationibus illustratum: auctore . . . Accedunt seorsim regula, constitutiones, et priuilegia eiusdem ordinis; ac congregationum monasticarum et militarium quae cistertiense institutum obseruant, 2 vols. (Antwerp: Balthasaris Moreti, 1630), 1:35Google Scholar: “Villarij Brabantia beatus Petrus Conversus, qui maximis a Deo beneficijs honorari, et visionibus illustrari meruit, Christo et eius gloria Genitrice ei saepissime apparentibus. Rigidissimus, et supra quam credi potest, corporis sui extitit castigator, miroque fervore accensus, sibi manus et pedes clavis ferreis perforavit, et calidum ferrum cor immisit, in quo vulnere, ne clauderetur, chordam e pilis equinis contortam transmisit.”
95 See “De codicibus hagiographicis Iohannis Gielemans canonici regularis in Rubea Valle prope Bruxelles,” Analecta Bollandiana 14 (1895), 67Google Scholar. While no edition of Peter's life has been done but snippets of life can be found in the Cistercian martyrology by Henriquez. Overall, however, Peter's actions were somewhat erased from the record. He is not mentioned in the Martene and Durand edition of the Gesta Sanctorum Villariensium which deals with the conversi of Villers; see ed. Durand,. Gesta Sanctorum Villariensium col. 1359–74. Waitz provides a rather innocuous description of Peter in his edition of the Chronica Villariensis Monasterii and Ex gestiis Sanctorum Villariensium. Moreau does not elaborate on Peter although he was familiar with Henriquez. Apparently, Bollandists and other scholars in succeeding centuries were not comfortable in discussing the phenomenon of self-crucifixion.
96 See British Library, Additional 25,053, Liber Chronicorum Villariensium which contains the “Vita Beati Petri Conversi Villariensis,” ff. 89r–92v, at fol. 92r: “‘Ego, fili carissime, pro omnibus hominibus saluandis satisfeci Deo Patri per mortem meam sufficienter etsi non efficaciter, unde volo ut secundum apostolum meum adimpleas qua desunt passionibus meis ut sic peccatorum emendationem videas. . . .’ Quo audito vir Dei sollicitabatur quibus Dei passionibus respondere digne posset, inciditque menti eius manus et pedes suos velle clavis ferreis perforare.”
97 British Library, Additional 25053, fol. 92r: “Qui cari sui pium amorem considerans, hoc quod conceperat opere perficientis, celerem vulnerum illourm adduxit sanitatem, ut vix cicatricum in eo vestigia relinquerentur.” See also Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek 12709, Johannes Gielelmans, Novale sanctorum, which includes a section on the Gesta Sanctorum Villariensium, f. ccxxxvii (vb): “Qui cari sui pium amorem considerans hoc quod conceperat opere perficientis celerem wlnerum illorum adduxit sanitatem ut vix cicatricum in eo vestigia relinquerentur.”
98 Some accounts indicated that he traveled with a woman who called herself Mary, other accounts state that he traveled with a hermaphrodite who also had self induced wounds. Some accounts say that the individuals associated with this event were put to death. For further discussion, see Vauchez, André, “The Stigmata of St Francis and Its Medieval Detractors,” Greyfriars Review 13, no.1 (1999), 64Google Scholar. This is a translation of Vauchez, André, “Les stigmates de Saint François et leurs détracteurs dans les derniers siècles du Moyen Âge,” Mèlanges d'archéologie et d'histoire de l’École francaise à Rome 80 (1968), 595–625CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also “De Stigmatibus S. Francisici Assiensis (Occasione Recentis Cuiusdam Libri),” Archivum Franciscanum Historicum 3 (1910), 394–95Google Scholar. For chronicles, see Matthew of Paris, Chronica Maiora, ed. Luard, H. R., Rerum Britannicarum medii aevi Scriptores 57 (London, 1876), 3:71Google Scholar; Annalium ecclesiast. Post . . . Baronium, tome XIII (1616), ad an. 1222, p. 311n.20. See also Powicke, F. and Cheney, C., Councils and Synods relating to the English Church, vol. 2, part 1, pp. 105–06Google Scholar.
99 The exact date of this account is not certain. Some have posited the year 1229 as a date for this event. For further discussion, see Die Exempla aus den Sermones feriales et communes des Jakob von Vitry, ed. Greven, Joseph, Sammlung mittellateinischer Texte 9 (Heidelberg: Carl Winter's Universtätsbuchhandlung, 1914), 31n1Google Scholar.
100 Jacques de Vitry, Die exemplum, ed. Greven, 31–32: “Qui tamen paucis diebus ita sanatus est, quod aliqua vestigia volnerum vix apparuerunt in eo. Et ita nisi dominus succurisset, manus sibi iniciens in eternum periiset.” See also Joseph Greven, Die Exempla, no. 44, 31–32. The words “vestigia volnerum vix apparuerunt in eo” echo what Jacques de Vitry would write about Francis of Assisi in a sermon from his Sermones ad status collection compiled sometime in the 1230s. Jacques de Vitry stated that Francis followed “Christ Crucified” so closely that at his death the “the traces of the wounds of Christ appeared” (vestigia vulnerum Christi apparuerunt) on his feet, hands and side. This sermon is found in sermon 2 of Ilarino da Lucerna, “Jacobi Vitriacensis episcopi et cardinalis 1180–1240 sermones ad fratres Minores,” Analecta Ordinis Fratrum Minorum Capuccinorum 19 (1902): 22–24 (Introduction); Sermon 1, 114–22; Sermon 2,151. I will discuss the implications of this in my forthcoming monograph.
101 Mulder-Bakker, Anneke B., “General Introduction,” in Mary of Oignies Mother of Salvation, eds. Mulder-Bakker, Anneke B. et al. (Turnhout: Brepols, 2006), 1CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
102 “The Liturgical Office of Mary of Oignies by Goswin Bossut,” trans. and introduction by Hugh Feiss, in Mary of Oignies Mother of Salvation, 177–196.
103 de Vitry, Jacques, Vita Mariae Oigniacensis, AAAS (Antwerp: Société des Bollandistes, 1707), Liber I, paragraph 22, col. 641FGoogle Scholar: “Loca vero vulnerum, cum corpus ejus in morte lavaretur, mulieres invenerunt, et admiratæ sunt: qui autem ex ejus confessione prædicta cognoverant, quid esset intellexerunt.”
104 Jacques de Vitry, Vita Mariae Oigniacensis, coll. 636B–666C, Liber I, paragraph 22, col. 641F: “Fervore enim spiritus quasi inebriata, præ dulcedine Agni Paschalis carnes suas fastidiens; frustra non modica cum cultello resecavit, quæ præ verecundia in terra abscondit: et quia nimio amoris incendio inflammata carnis dolorem superavit, unum de Seraphin in hoc mentis excessu sibi adstantem aspexit.” Translation from The Life by de Vitry, Jacques, in Two Lives of Marie D'Oignies, trans. King, Margot H. (Toronto: Peregrina, 1998), 63Google Scholar.
105 See footnote 2 above.
106 Jacques de Vitry, Vita Mariae Oigniacensis, Liber I, paragraph 12, col. 639F–640A: “Nec hoc dixero ut excessum commendem, sed ut fervorem ostendam. In iis autem et multis aliis, quæ privilegio gratiæ operata est, attendat lector discretus, quod paucorum privilegia non faciunt legem communem. Ejus virtutes imitemur; opera vero virtutum ejus, sine privato privilegio imitari non possumus. Licet enim corpus spiritui servire cogendum sit, licet stigmata Domini nostri Jesu Christi in nostro corpore ferre debeamus. nec placet Domino sacrificium de rapina pauperis.”
107 Jacques de Vitry, Vitae Mariae Oigniacensis, Liber I, paragraph 12, col. 639F–640A: “Non enim pauperi carni subtrahenda sunt necessaria, sed reprimenda sunt vitia.” He adds emphatically: “Quod ergo quosdam Sanctos ex familiari consilio Spiritus sancti fecisse legimus, admiremur potius quam imitemur.” I am grateful to the anonymous reader who suggested a better translation of this passage than the one originally provided.
108 For an example of some female stigmatics, see Muessig, Carolyn, “Performance of the Passion: the Enactment of Devotion in the later Middle Ages,” in Visualizing Medieval Performance: Perspectives, Histories, Contexts, ed. Gertsman, Elina (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008), 129–42Google Scholar.
109 A list of 321 stigmatics provided by Irimbert-Gourbeyre counted 41 male and 280 female stigmatics starting from Francis of Assisi (d. 1226) and ending with Sister Patrocinio (d. 1891). Thus, according to this list eighty-seven percent of recorded stigmatics are women. See Imbert-Gourbeyre, A., Les stigmatisation. L'Extase Divine et Les Miracles de Lourdes. Résponse aux Libres-Penseurs, tome 1 (Clermont-Ferrand, 1898), xxi–xliGoogle Scholar.
110 In particular, see Bynum's, Caroline WalkerHoly Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989)Google Scholar and idem, Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays on Gender and the Human Body in Medieval Religion (New York: Zone, 1991)Google Scholar.
111 The development of stigmatic spirituality post-Francis, forms part of the study of my forthcoming book on stigmatics in the Middle Ages.
