Anne L. Clark

Venerating the veronica: varieties of passion piety in the later middle ages

ABSTRACT This article examines a particular devotional image in late medieval piety: the Veronica or “portrait” of Jesus said to have been created when Jesus wiped his face on Veronicas cloth on the way to Calvary. The analysis addresses how lay women in particular may have related to this image, acknowledging that their religious experience was shaped not simply by religious instruction but also by instruction in manners and bodily comportment offered in conduct literature. The larger context for examining this devotion to the Veronica is medieval Passion piety in which strong emotional response was stimulated by text and image, and this emotional experience was often linked with hostility against Jews as perpetrators of the crucifixion. The devotional possibilities offered by Books of Hours, a piety mediated by gazing at pictures, is compared to evidence for extremely emotional Passion devotions. The essay highlights seeing and relationships to objects as problems for the understanding of religion; it also emphasizes the possibilities of diverse appropriations of symbols (such as the Passion) within a religious context.

Here Comes the Bride: Re-Envisioning the Wedding at Cana in the 12th Century

Although there is no reference to the bride in the Gospel story of the wedding at Cana, the bride was not destined to remain invisible. Following Augustine’s lead, medieval commentators tended to interpret the story in terms of marriage of Christ and Ecclesia, and so the bride figured allegorically as a representation of the Church. New ideas about the bride emerged in the twelfth century, particularly in materials associated with women. In the Gospel explications of Hildegard of Bingen, and in texts and pictures created to support women’s devotional practices, the bride of Cana takes center stage as the vehicle for articulating new models of women’s religious identity and aspiration.

Prophets in Their Own Country: Living Saints and the Making of Sainthood in the Later Middle Ages.

This is a study of the making of saintly reputations, showing how sainthood, although frequently seen as a personal trait, is actually the product of negotiations between particular individuals and their communities. Employing historical and anthropological methods and textual criticism, this text examines the mechanics of sainthood in daily interactions between putative saints and their audiences.