Saints, Infirmity, and Community in the Late Middle Ages / / Jenni Kuuliala.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Amsterdam University Press Complete eBook-Package 2020
• VerfasserIn: Kuuliala, Jenni,
• Place / Publishing House: Amsterdam : : Amsterdam University Press, , [2020]; ©2020
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Series: Premodern Health, Disease, and Disability ; 4
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (236 p.)

Bodily suffering and patient, Christlike attitudes towards that suffering were among the key characteristics of sainthood throughout the medieval period. Drawing on new work in medieval dis/ability studies, this book analyses the meanings given to putative saints' bodily infirmities in late medieval canonization hearings. How was an individual saint's bodily ailment investigated in the inquests, and how did the witnesses (re)construct the saintly candidates' ailments? What meanings were given to infirmity when providing proofs for holiness? This study depicts holy infirmity as an aspect of sanctity that is largely defined within the community, in continual dialogue with devotees, people suffering from doubt, the holy person, and the cultural patterns ascribed to saintly life. Furthermore, it analyses how the meanings given to saints' infirmities influenced and reflected society's attitudes towards bodily ailments in general.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Infirmitas Leading to Saintly Life -- Patientia and the Borders of Holy Infirmity -- Abstinence, Devotional Practices, and Social Control -- Holy Infirmity and the Devotees -- Conclusions Infirmity, Community, and Canonization -- Bibliography -- Index