Peter Burke on Counter-Reformation Saints

Peter Burke, “How To Be a Counter-Reformation Saint,” in Religion and Society in Early Modern Europe 1500-1800, edited by Kaspar von Greyerz. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1984, pp. 45-55.

Peter Burke is an eminent and prolific historian of early modern Europe. He begins this chapter by affirming that the cult of the saints is a significant historical indicator because, like other heroes, saints “reflect the values of the culture which sees them in a heroic light.” After tracing the historical development of saint-making, Burke notes that while the idea of holy people is not unique to Christianity, “[w]hat does appear to be uniquely Christian . . . is the idea that saints are not only extremely virtuous people, but also efficacious mediators with God on behalf of the living; more powerful, more valuable dead than alive” (45).

At the dawn of the Reformation, this idea came under increasing fire. Essentially, Reformation critics of the cult of the saints said that it was hardly different from the old Greco-Roman cult of heroes (45-46). These sorts of accusations troubled Roman Catholic authorities who initiated two significant changes. First, they placed more emphasis on verifying accounts of the lives of saints. Second, “the procedure for admitting new saints was tightened up.” Along this line, most revealing is the fact that between 1523 and 1588, there were no new canonizations (46).

The year 1588 not only saw the first canonization in decades, it also witnessed another significant development: the establishment of “the Congregation of Sacred Rites and Ceremonies, a standing committee of cardinals whose responsibilities included canonizations” (46). And, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Roman Catholic authorities made the canonization process increasingly bureaucratic and systematized (46-47).

The second of two major sections in Burke’s chapter deals “with the successful, the happy few, the fifty-five individuals canonized between 1588, when the practice was revived, and 1767, which was followed by another hiatus, this time for forty years” (48). Who in this period was most likely to become a Counter-Reformation saint? Burke notes that these saints number a grand total of 55. With such a small sample, it makes no sense to discuss percentages. However, we can make some observations. Who were most likely to be canonized? Burke replies,

1. men
2. Italians and Spaniards
3. nobles, as opposed to commoners
4. clerics, as opposed to lay people
5. clerics in a religious order, as opposed to secular clergy
6. Franciscans (49-50)

Who saw these people as virtuous? Burke says that there are two places to look: first, the grassroots, home of a particular saint, and, second, the center, where sanctity was made official (50). Also, there seem to have been a number of standard saintly roles. Burke enumerates these as well:

1. the founder of a religious order
2. a missionary
3. someone who devoted himself to charitable activities
4. the pastor who was an especially good shepherd
5. the mystic or ecstatic Christian (50-51)

Finally, Burke raises the question of how and why certain cults were “adopted by the center and made official." It has to be kept in mind that in an era when papal canonization is exclusive, the ideas and prejudices of the popes are vital. What factors seem to have made a difference? Burke answers that

1. Sometimes the personal or school connections between a pope and a prospective saint were significant.
2. Pressure groups who politicked for their saint often made a critical difference.
3. Pressure or promises from rulers rarely hurt.
4. The advocacy of family members of high standing, with money to contribute to the Church, could make a difference. (52-53)

Burke concludes by observing that "[t]he imputation of sainthood, like its converse, the imputation of heresy or witchcraft, should be seen as a process of interaction or ‘negotiation’ between center and periphery, each with its own definition of the situation” (53).

This short chapter is a fine model of how a scholar might raise and respond to a significant historical question. For those teaching, say, a course in the history of Christianity, Burke’s brief survey would provide some basic points of an informative lecture.

St. Clare's Preternatural Pebble Pick

Reading the processus document for Saint Clare of Assisi, I happened upon one of the more interesting miracle stories I've ever read. According to one witness, a nun who had lived in the same monastery with Clare for many years, "a young boy of the city of Spoleto, Mattiolo, three or four years old, had put a small pebble up one of the nostrils of his nose, so it could in no way be extricated. The young boy seemed to be in danger. After he was brought to Saint Clare and she made the sign of the cross over him, that pebble immediately fell from his nose. The young boy was cured."

The Lady: Clare of Assisi: Early Documents, edited and translated by Regis J. Armstrong (New York: New City Press, 2006), 154.

A Long Lost Life of Pope Gregory I

The Earliest Life of Gregory the Great: By an Anonymous Monk of Whitby, translated by Bertram Colgrave. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1968. Pp. ix, 180.

Born in Ireland in 1889, Bertram Colgrave died at Cambridge, England in 1968, the year this book was published. Much of his academic career was focused on the production of facsimiles and critical editions of the lives of saints. For many years, he served as founding editor-in-chief of the series titled Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile.

In The Earliest Life of Gregory the Great, Colgrave's "Introduction" takes up the biggest share of the book (1-70). It includes a section on the world into which the anonymous writer was born, a brief critical biography of Gregory the Great, and helpful information about the history of the Benedictine double monastery at Whitby, home to our author. Regarding date, Colgrave argues that the Whitby writer produced his work sometime between 704 and 714, and that traditions about Gregory that circulated at the monastery represent the writer's primary source, along with a "saga tradition" that likely came from Canterbury.

The Whitby writer also knows the Bible, which he quotes or echoes quite often. Colgrave tells us that although our anonymous monk could tell a pretty good story, he is no Latin stylist. In fact, at a number of points in the text the translator has a hard time knowing what the author was trying to say. Colgrave takes up the question of a possible relationship between the writings of Bede and the work produced by the Whitby writer, and concludes that there is no literary connection between the two. He explains that once Bede had finished his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, it immediately overshadowed the work of the Whitby writer, which fell into obscurity. In the modern era, no complete text of the work was issued until 1904.

Next, Colgrave presents the Latin text and his own translation of the work as one would find in the Loeb Classical Library: the original appears on the left side of an opening with the translation on the right (71-139). As the reader discovers, while some of the stories in this life are a bit pedestrian, the Whitby writer is able to include a few entertaining episodes connected to Gregory. For example, once he was identified as the next Pope, Gregory resisted by hiding, going so far as to hire a few local merchants who carried him out of the city in a casket (ch. 7). Above all, and throughout, the writer celebrates Gregory's devotion to the English people. It was by Gregory's distant influence that England became subject and devoted to the authority of the Roman Church.

The text and translation are followed by an impressive set of "Notes" (140-65) and a "Select Bibliography" (166-67), which supplements the works found in Colgrave's list of "Abbreviations" (viii-ix). The "Appendix" is essentially an index of biblical and other ancient sources that the Whitby writer quotes, or to which he alludes. This part of the book would be especially helpful to students who want to investigate the writer's handling of Scripture, or his knowledge and use of the patristic tradition. A good "Index" of places, names, and topics concludes the book (173-80).

Colgrave's work is the ideal, self-contained study of this particular life. Since its publication, it has no doubt raised scholars' awareness and use of this significant document from the eighth century. The work of the anonymous Whitby writer, with apparently no hagiographical sources behind it, provides a good contrast to Bede's Ecclesiastical History, which, in terms of sources, falls at the opposite end of the spectrum.

After reading this fine study, I still have one question: Why is it that "the earliest life of Gregory the Great" was written at least a century after he died?