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Phenomenal Religion in the Thirteenth Century and Its Image: Elisabeth of Spalbeek and the Passion Cult

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

W. Simons  and
J. E. Ziegler
W. Simons
Affiliation:
Rijksarchief Hasselt, Belgium
J. E. Ziegler
Affiliation:
College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts
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Extract

In the spring of 1267 Abbot Philip of Clairvaux, visiting the Cistercian abbey of Herkenrode in the diocese of Liège, was informed of the exceptionally holy conduct of a woman living a few miles away, in the village of Spalbeek. Philip went to see her and was greatly impressed, for, as he wrote upon his return to Clairvaux,

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 27: Women in the Church , 1990 , pp. 117 - 126
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1990

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References

1 This paper summarizes several themes that will be developed in our book in preparation on Elisabeth of Spalbeek. A conference grant from the Belgian State Archives and a summer research grant from the College of the Holy Cross generously assisted us in partial funding of this project.

2 Vita Elizabeth sanctimonialis in Erkenrode, Ordinis Cislerciensis, Leodiensis diocesis = Catalogus codicum hagiographicorum bibliolhecaeRegiaeBruxellensis, I (Brussels, 1886), pp. 362-78, at p. 363. See on the Vita, ibid., pp. 346-7; BHL, 1, no 2484; A. Bussels, ‘Was Elisabeth van Spalbeek Cistercienserin in Herkenrode?’ Ctteaux in de Nederlanden, 2 (1951), pp. 43–54, esp. p. 43, n. 1; P. Deary Kurtz, ‘Mary of Oignies, Christine the Marvelous, and medieval heresy’, Mystics Quarterly, 14 (1988), pp. 186–96, esp. pp. 195-6, n. 3.

3 J. de Gaule, ‘Documents historiques’, Bulletin de la Société de l’histoire de France, 1 (1844), pp. 87-100; M. Coens, ‘Les saints particulièrement honorés à l’abbaye de Saint-Trond’, AnBoll, 72 (1954), pp. 406-13; G. Hendrix, ‘Hadewijch benaderd vanuit de tekst over de 22e volmaakte’, Leuvense Bijdragen, 67 (1978), pp. 129-45.

4 See Busscls, ‘Was Elisabeth’, pp. 49–53.

5 Vita Elizabeth, p. 373.

6 Ibid., p. 364.

7 Bouwen door de eeuwen heen: Inventaris van het cultuurbezit in Belgie. Architectuur, 6n 1, Provincie Limburg. Arrondissement Hassell (Ghent, 1981), pp. 421-3.

8 As has been suggested by H. Jaminé, ‘Eglise de Spalbeek’, Bulletin de la Société Scientifique et Littéraire du Limbourg, 16 (1884), pp. lxii—lxvi.

9 Bouwen door de eeuwen heen, p. 423.

10 G. Raster, ‘Marschalle Gottes, Die vier heiligen’, in Braunfels, W., ed., Lextkon der chrislìichen Ikonographie, 7 (Rome, 1976), col. 565 Google Scholar.

11 M. Madou, De Heilige Gertrudis van Nijvel, 2 vols (Brussels, 1975); C. Opsomer, ‘Abbaye de Herkenrode à Curange’, Monasticon Beige, 6 (1976), pp. 137-59.

12 A. Vauchez, ‘Les stigmates de saint François et leurs détracteurs dans les derniers siècles du moyen âge’, MEFRM, 80 (1968), pp. 595-625.

13 W. Simons, Stad en aposlolaat: De vesliging van de hedelorden in hetgraafschap Vlaanderen (ca. 1225-ca. 1350) (Brussels, 1987), pp. 217-22.

14 Ed., A. Stroick, AFH, 24(1931), 62.

15 See, e.g., A. H. Bredero, ‘De Delftse begijn Gertrui van Oosten (ca. 1320-1358) en haar nieterkende heiligheid’, in D. E. H. de Boer and J. W. Marsilje, eds, De Nederlanden in de late middeleeuwen (Utrecht, 1987), pp. 83-97.

16 G. Schiller, Ikonographie der christliche Kunst, 2 (Gütersloh, 1968), pp. 133–6; J. E. Ziegler, The Word Becomes Flesh: Radical Physicality in Religious Sculpture of the Later Middle Ages (exhib. cat.), 4 December-8 December 1985, Cantor Art Gallery (Worcester, Mass., 1985).

17 For a recent survey of the literature on this question see J. Hamburger, ‘The visual and the visionary: the image in late medieval monastic devotions’. Viator, 20 (1989), pp. 161-82.

18 Jaminé, ‘Eglise de Spalbeek’, p. lxv.