How on earth did I forget about this?

[tree_and_leaf]

From an older chapter of my thesis: I had forgotten this - in fact, I think I'd suppressed it.



"The hagiographic account also serves other purposes; indeed, its suitability for direct imitation may be questioned. Particularly in lives of women, but also in the case of some men, the hagiographer expresses wonder at ascetic feats, rather than recommending them; at times, there is even a tone of faint horror or disapproval, as in the thirteenth century life, probably by the Cistercian Goswin of Bossut, of the lay-brother and athlete of asceticism, Arnulf of Villiers.[51] Arnulf’s acts of heroic, if rather questionable, penance included ferocious floggings, leaving his wounds to become infected and filled with worms and, somewhat eccentrically, wearing not a hairshirt but a shirt made out of the skins of hedgehogs, prickles towards the skin. Goswin remarks breathlessly “Who will not stand aghast at it! Oh, friend of God Almighty, what is it that you are doing?” and implores the saint to show moderation and pity for his body.[52] There is a real ambivalence between admiration and disgust or fear. It does not seem even to occur to Goswin that the reader might go forth and slaughter hedgehogs in emulation of the saint, but he does value Arnulf’s piety, suggesting that his asceticism exceeds that of S Benedict, whose rule the hagiographer and his subjects followed. [53]


[51] The life is translated, along with Goswin’s lives of Ida of Nivelles and Abundus of Villers, and an excellent introduction by Cawley (2003). Goswin uses the metaphor of athlete for Arnulf at I.1.e and 1.2.g.
[52] Life of Arnulf 1.3.f (Cawley 2003: 135).
[53] Life of Arnulf I.1.6 (Crawley 2002: 139)."

I... just... step away from the hedghog, OK?

Comments

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

What a SPLENDID idea!