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This thesis examines the language of pain/suffering in Ancrene Wisse, the Wooing Group, and the Katherine Group, arguing that the anchoress nourishes an acute but discriminating sensitivity to pain. It seeks to demonstrate that the anchoress uses these early Middle English texts to cultivate sophisticated affective stirrings. Chapter 1 foregrounds the multidimensional penitence in Ancrene Wisse, situated in the context of Latin and vernacular penitential and homiletic material. The anchoress’ penitential processes demand not only physical pain, but also affective pain and intensive cognitive processes of self-examination. Chapter 2 argues that the Wooing Group meditations are tools of pain-cultivation, which the anchoress uses to nurture her affective pain as she develops her intimacy with the Spousal Lamb and his Mother. Chapter 3 assesses imagery of physical and affective woundedness. This chapter examines the anchoress’ use of imagery of Christ’s wounds, sin-wounds, and penitential wounding in Ancrene Wisse and the Wooing Group, and then studies her use of the saints’ wounding in the Katherine Group. Chapter 4 contends that spectatorship and performance of suffering are not separable acts for the anchoress. The chapter assesses: the anchoress’ spectatorship in the Katherine Group hagiographies, a spectatorship based on defamiliarization; the anchoress’ participation with the pain of Christ in Ancrene Wisse and the Wooing Group, including an examination of her potential use of church wall paintings; and the female reader of Hali Meiðhad, who immerses herself in the suffering of a married and child-bearing woman. Chapter 5 examines the crucial affective phenomenon of compassion, arguing that compassion in Ancrene Wisse and the Wooing Group is not a distanced ‘pity’, but a complex ‘co-feeling’ (using Milan Kundera’s (1984) term). The thesis concludes by underscoring the fact that the anchoress’ painful existence is not pathological; it is an existence characterized by agency and emancipation.

Hildegard von Bingen, religiosa beneditina que viveu no século XII, alegava ter escrito sua primeira obra, o Scivias, obedecendo a um comando divino, que ela teria recebido em uma visão. Segundo Hildegard, suas visões a acompanhavam desde sua infância, e nelas ela via uma Luz Viva e recebia mensagens divinas. O Scivias que, segundo Hildegard, consistia na transcrição dessas mensagens divinas, era uma obra com ensinamentos em ortodoxia doutrinária. O caráter profético da obra aliado à sua ortodoxia garantiu-lhe pronta aceitação no meio eclesiástico e deu a Hildegard a reputação de profetisa. Devido à sua fama de profetisa, Hildegard passou a ser buscada como a um oráculo espiritual, como conselheira espiritual em diversos assuntos. Monges, abades, abadessas, bispos e imperadores consultavam Hildegard em busca de conselho, consolo e mesmo solução para os seus problemas. A vasta correspondência da religiosa atesta este fato. Neste estudo, procuramos entender, através da análise de um relato mítico incluído no Scivias e de parte de sua correspondência, de que maneira profecia e ortodoxia, como expressões da espiritualidade de Hildegard, manifestaram-se em sua obra. / Hildegard von Bingen, religious Benedictine woman who lived in the twelfth century, claimed to have written her first book, the Scivias, under a prophetic call, that came to her in a vision. According to Hildegard, her visions had been with her since her childhood, and in them she saw a Living Light and received divine messages. The Scivias which, according to Hildegard, consisted of the transcription of these messages, was a work with teachings in doctrinal orthodoxy. The prophetic character of the book, allied to its orthodoxy, guaranteed it with acceptation in the ecclesiastical environment and gave to Hildegard the reputation of a prophetess. Due to her fame as prophetess, people began to search Hildegard as a spiritual oracle, as a spiritual counsellor in different subjects. Monks, abbots, abbesses, bishops and emperors consulted Hildegard in search of admonition, advice, consolation and even solution for their problems. The vast correspondence of Hildegard bears witness to this fact. In this study, we try to understand, through the analysis of a mythical account included in the Scivias and of part of her correspondence, in what ways prophecy and orthodoxy, as expressions of Hildegards spirituality, were manifested in her work.

Hildegard von Bingen, religiosa beneditina que viveu no século XII, alegava ter escrito sua primeira obra, o Scivias, obedecendo a um comando divino, que ela teria recebido em uma visão. Segundo Hildegard, suas visões a acompanhavam desde sua infância, e nelas ela via uma Luz Viva e recebia mensagens divinas. O Scivias que, segundo Hildegard, consistia na transcrição dessas mensagens divinas, era uma obra com ensinamentos em ortodoxia doutrinária. O caráter profético da obra aliado à sua ortodoxia garantiu-lhe pronta aceitação no meio eclesiástico e deu a Hildegard a reputação de profetisa. Devido à sua fama de profetisa, Hildegard passou a ser buscada como a um oráculo espiritual, como conselheira espiritual em diversos assuntos. Monges, abades, abadessas, bispos e imperadores consultavam Hildegard em busca de conselho, consolo e mesmo solução para os seus problemas. A vasta correspondência da religiosa atesta este fato. Neste estudo, procuramos entender, através da análise de um relato mítico incluído no Scivias e de parte de sua correspondência, de que maneira profecia e ortodoxia, como expressões da espiritualidade de Hildegard, manifestaram-se em sua obra. / Hildegard von Bingen, religious Benedictine woman who lived in the twelfth century, claimed to have written her first book, the Scivias, under a prophetic call, that came to her in a vision. According to Hildegard, her visions had been with her since her childhood, and in them she saw a Living Light and received divine messages. The Scivias which, according to Hildegard, consisted of the transcription of these messages, was a work with teachings in doctrinal orthodoxy. The prophetic character of the book, allied to its orthodoxy, guaranteed it with acceptation in the ecclesiastical environment and gave to Hildegard the reputation of a prophetess. Due to her fame as prophetess, people began to search Hildegard as a spiritual oracle, as a spiritual counsellor in different subjects. Monks, abbots, abbesses, bishops and emperors consulted Hildegard in search of admonition, advice, consolation and even solution for their problems. The vast correspondence of Hildegard bears witness to this fact. In this study, we try to understand, through the analysis of a mythical account included in the Scivias and of part of her correspondence, in what ways prophecy and orthodoxy, as expressions of Hildegards spirituality, were manifested in her work.

One of the most peculiar developments of the wave of women's spirituality that swept across Europe during the thirteenth century was the popularity of the anchoritic lifestyle in England, a lifestyle that had a particular appeal for women. The anchorhold seems to epitomize the medieval (male) desire to enclose and control a woman's body to the maximum degree possible; it is an amazingly accurate metaphor for the tightly circumscribed lives of medieval religious women. Why, then, did so many women eagerly seek out and embrace such a confining lifestyle? Did women internalize the endless medieval rhetoric about bodily control and woman's lustful nature, to the point where they sought lifelong incarceration to avoid temptation and possible loss of control? Or is it possible that they had a higher motivation - that they sought a more intense experience of union with the divine, and believed that only in strict isolation could such a union be achieved?The popularity of anchoritic spirituality led to the creation of a specialized literary genre in Middle English: vernacular devotional prose for women. These mostly male-authored texts included guidebooks for enclosed life, meditations and prayers, lives of saints, and treatises on virginity. They describe and encourage a religious life for women that is both relational and mimetic: the bride of Christ is also encouraged to emulate Christ through her life of solitary penance and suffering. These two roles are analyzed through an examination of the texts of the Katherine Group, alongside the two themes that dominated medieval religious discourse as it applied to women: virginity and enclosure.Approaching the task from a broad interdisciplinary perspective, I employ a variety of theoretical tools, including cultural/historical, theological, linguistic, and feminist theories. My study analyzes medieval constructions of gender and virginity, and examines the anchoress as both a spiritual person and an embodied creature. In challenging traditional scholarship on and accepted views of medieval English women, I pose new questions about embodied spirituality from a medieval perspective, and offer a different perspective on a period of English history in which women recluses set the standard for holiness and sanctity.

abstract: This dissertation concerns “revelations to others” in medieval hagiographical and visionary texts. Revelations to others take many forms—spiritual visions, dreams, visual and tactile witnessing of miracles, auditions—but they all are experienced by someone other than, or in addition to, the holy person who is the subject of the text. This type of revelatory experience is common and, I argue, highly significant. Most straightforwardly, revelations to others serve to further authenticate holy women or men, confirming their devotion to God, their miraculous abilities, and/or their favored position with Christ. But revelations to others do much more than authorize the visionary. They voice the possibility that one could learn to have visions, which has interesting connections to modern ideas of guided seeing, such as meditation. They suggest circumstances in which holy persons served as devotional objects, helping their viewers achieve a higher level of religious experience in a similar manner to stained glass windows, crucifixes, or images of Veronica’s veil. For women, revelations to others sometimes offer access to spaces in which they could not physically step foot, such as the altar or the bedrooms of abbots. Moreover, by showcasing the variety of persons participating in divine experiences (monks and nuns, lay persons, nobility, and sometimes other holy persons), revelations to others speak to the larger visionary communities in which these holy persons lived. Through a series of close readings, this dissertation creates a taxonomy of revelations to others and argues for their necessity in understanding the collaborative nature of medieval spirituality. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation English 2019

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This thesis is a study of self-knowledge in the writings of Catherine of Siena. The introductory chapter clarifies the kind of self-knowledge she is describing, viz. metaphysical self-knowledge which, in the case of mystics such as Catherine, blossoms into mystical self-knowledge. Catherine is then situated within the framework of her own era. A survey of catherinian literature follows. Since her major symbol for self-knowledge is the cell, the concept of the cell in the Church tradition of the West, and its influence on Catherine, is explored. The major aspect of the enquiry is the tracing of the chronological unfolding of Catherine's doctrine of self-knowledge, working with the texts themselves. This is done under the headings of her three main symbols for self-knowledge, la eel/a (the cell), la casa (the house) and la citta dell'anima (the city of the soul). Each of these sections is concluded with an interpretation of the significance of the unfolding of that symbol within Catherine's thought and the chapter itself is rounded off by an interpretation of the three symbols for self-knowledge in their integration and interconnectedness. Catherine communicates her experience of mystical self-knowledge by means of a complex system of images and symbols, all of which fit together to form a whole. This warrants an investigation into the role of the imagination, imagery and symbol in mysticism, and explores Catherine's use of imagery and symbol. The study shows Catherine's own gradual integration of mystical experience and ministry as it takes place within her experience and in the development of her thought. What we are able to see, by studying the texts, is the formation and strengthening of the underlying unity in Catherine between the inner movement of mystical love and outgoing concern for others which is redemptive love. These two are really one. / Christian, Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Religious Studies)

This thesis is a study of self-knowledge in the writings of Catherine of Siena. The introductory chapter clarifies the kind of self-knowledge she is describing, viz. metaphysical self-knowledge which, in the case of mystics such as Catherine, blossoms into mystical self-knowledge. Catherine is then situated within the framework of her own era. A survey of catherinian literature follows. Since her major symbol for self-knowledge is the cell, the concept of the cell in the Church tradition of the West, and its influence on Catherine, is explored. The major aspect of the enquiry is the tracing of the chronological unfolding of Catherine's doctrine of self-knowledge, working with the texts themselves. This is done under the headings of her three main symbols for self-knowledge, la eel/a (the cell), la casa (the house) and la citta dell'anima (the city of the soul). Each of these sections is concluded with an interpretation of the significance of the unfolding of that symbol within Catherine's thought and the chapter itself is rounded off by an interpretation of the three symbols for self-knowledge in their integration and interconnectedness. Catherine communicates her experience of mystical self-knowledge by means of a complex system of images and symbols, all of which fit together to form a whole. This warrants an investigation into the role of the imagination, imagery and symbol in mysticism, and explores Catherine's use of imagery and symbol. The study shows Catherine's own gradual integration of mystical experience and ministry as it takes place within her experience and in the development of her thought. What we are able to see, by studying the texts, is the formation and strengthening of the underlying unity in Catherine between the inner movement of mystical love and outgoing concern for others which is redemptive love. These two are really one. / Christian, Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Religious Studies)