A Monastic Death Ritual from the Imperial Abbey of Farfa

Lengthy and complex rituals surrounding illness and death were an important part of the collective experience of medieval monastic communities. In manuscripts from as early as the eighth century, the texts for Christian death rituals consist of prayers, readings, and chants for the visitation of the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Boynton, Susan (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2009
In: Traditio
Year: 2009, Volume: 64, Pages: 57-84
Online Access: Volltext (JSTOR)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Lengthy and complex rituals surrounding illness and death were an important part of the collective experience of medieval monastic communities. In manuscripts from as early as the eighth century, the texts for Christian death rituals consist of prayers, readings, and chants for the visitation of the sick, unction, communion, the funeral mass, and burial. Even though many of the early medieval formularies were copied in monastic scriptoria, the texts could be performed in secular or monastic settings. The earliest death rituals that are explicitly written for monastic communities and contain extensive prescriptions for the actions that accompanied a monk from his final hours of life to his grave are transmitted in monastic customaries of the eleventh century.
ISSN:2166-5508
Contains:Enthalten in: Traditio
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/S0362152900002257