CEU eTD Collection THOMAS OF HEREFORD’S MIRACLES MA Thesis in Medieval Studies Medieval in Thesis MA Central European University Stefan Dragulinescu Stefan May 2011 May Budapest i CEU eTD Collection Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillmentof the requirements Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, of Medieval Department the to submitted Thesis Acceptedin conformance with thestandards of CEU the ______of of the Master of Arts degree in Medieval Studies THOMAS OF HEREFORD’S MIRACLES Chair, Examination Committee Stefan Dragulinescu Stefan Thesis Supervisor (Romania) May 2011 May Examiner Examiner Budapest by i CEU eTD Collection Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillmentof the requirements Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, of Medieval Department the to submitted Thesis Acceptedin conformance with thestandards of CEU the ______of of the Master of Arts degree in Medieval Studies THOMAS OF HEREFORD’S MIRACLES Stefan Dragulinescu Stefan External Examiner (Romania) Budapest May 2011 by ii CEU eTD Collection Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillmentof the requirements Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, of Medieval Department the to submitted Thesis ______of of the Master of Arts degree in Medieval Studies THOMAS OF HEREFORD’S MIRACLES ______Stefan Dragulinescu Stefan External Supervisor External Supervisor (Romania) Budapest May 2011 by iii CEU eTD Collection Budapest, 25 May 2011 25 Budapest, institution of higher education for an academicany other to form degree. in this submitted been has thesis of the part no that declare also of others, and no part of the thesis infringes on anybibliography. that Ideclare person’s nounidentifiedand illegitimate use wasmade of the work or institution’sand in notes copyright. credited asproperly information I external such only and research my Studies herewithdeclare that the present thesis is exclusively my based own work, on I, the undersigned, Stefan Dragulinescu Stefan , candidate for the MA Medievaldegree in iv ______Signature CEU eTD Collection instrumental for carrying out this thesis till the end.To all theof above, thank you! year.least,not Lastbut István Perczel’s comments, advise and encouragementwere Latin Beginners course. Annabella Pál has been supportive and kind all throughout the Academic on course her and my text of English the through hasgone Rasson WritingJudith and criticism. was Jaritz, Marcell Seb very useful.understandingmy hesitations and side-tracking as a newcomer tohistory.Gerhard Very usefulmaterials, comments, and suggestions, andhas borne with great kindness and was also Cristian-Nicolae Ga Gábor Klaniczay has read successive drafts of this thesis, provided innumerable provided thesis, this of drafts successive read has Klaniczay Gábor Ę k, andCarsten Wilkehave givenme useful suggestions, feedback ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v ú par’s CEU eTD Collection rsoeins...... 31 Aristotelianism...... ilorpy...... 77 ...... Bibliography 73 Chapter 4. Conclusion and Further Research...... hpe uutn nMrce ...... 42 ...... Chapter 3 Augustine on Miracles 28 Chapter 2 – Wonder, Aquinas, ...... andEngelbert of Admont 8 Chapter 1. Thomas Cantilupe andhis canonization...... 3 ...... Introduction 2 ...... List of Abbreviations eodr ore ...... 78 ...... Secondary sources 77 Primary sources...... 3.4 The 69 Augustinian style of reasoning ...... and the curialist’s study 61 3.3 So far away from the processes ...... of canonization . ialsi uutn...... 49 3.2 Miracles in Augustine...... in the Genesis 3.1 37 2.3 An Inference ...... on the Best Explanation century thirteenth and the Admont of Engelbert Aquinas, 2.2 28 2.1 Le Goff ...... on wonder and saints 24 ...... 1.4 Methodology 16 1.3 Analyses of the treatise –Vauchez and Kleinberg...... 12 1.2 A Curial ...... Treatise on Miracles 1.1 The only 8 Englishman canonized in the fourteenth century...... 3.2.2 Miracles asmerely 3.2.1 Miracles as 3.2.3 Miracles as merely signs (arousing signs merely as Miracles 3.2.3 Confessions merely T ABLE OF sgs(ruigwne)...... 51 ...... signs (arousing wonder) signs ...... 44 ...... 1 (ruigwne)...... 52 ...... (arousing wonder) C ONTENTS wonder ...... 57 )...... CEU eTD Collection NPNF AA.SS Christian Literature Co., 1886-1890. Co., Literature Christian Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Acta Sanctorum LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 2 ed. Philip Schaaf. 14vols. New York: The CEU eTD Collection Aspects in Aspectsa Canon,” juridiques etwithout religieux – Canonization Processesin the Middle Ages. Legal andReligious “Canonization idem, also 21-32, 16, 4 3 229–257. Concept of Miracle from St. Augustine to Modern Apologetics,” Modern to Augustine St. from of Miracle Concept has since remained the standard approach miracles to inthe Catholic Church. See J. A. Hardon, “The 1975). Aquinas’s definition of Press, miracle Dame of wasNotre refined in the University IN: eighteenth Dame, century(Notre O’Neil by J. Pope Benedict Charles and XIVBourke, and J. Vernon Anderson, 2 22.8-22.10. 2 I,Volume Series re-introduced in the West through the Arab pathway (and heavily interpreted by 1 papal canonization processes, Francis, St. of figure by)the and (directly heresies by)Cathar (indirectly questioned heavily Neoplatonism. and disintegration of the Roman Empire, wereunder pressure from Stoicism,Manicheism, turbulent the by befuddled Christians, cultivated when and martyrs of figures time when, at its inception, the cult of saints was gaining legitimacy through the by Aquinas’ meticulous survey, in his in survey, meticulous Aquinas’ by of the miracles produced at Uzalis by the relics of St. Stephen,pervaded theperiod demarcated by Augustine’sSt. treatment,in his world in the extraordinarily canbepresent God how of notions Different period. in contrast tothe understanding miracles of antiquity inlate and the medievalearly centuries fourteenth and thirteenth in the changed miracles of interpretation the which reflected in his canonization process with a view tounderstanding the general inway contra naturam, praeter naturam Aviad Kleinberg, Aviad See Peter Brown, See Peter Aquinas, Augustine, , ed. Gabor Klaniczay, (Rome: École française de Rome, 2004), 11. 2004), deRome, française École (Rome: Klaniczay, Gabor ed. , This thesis entails an analysis of Saint Thomas of Hereford’s miracles as 4 and when (potential) saints were scrutinized with juridical attentiveness in attentiveness juridical with scrutinized were saints (potential) when and On the Truth of the Catholic Faith The City of God Augustine of Hippo – A Biography (NPNF V1-02) ed. Philip Schaaf (New York: The Christian Literature Co, 1886) Prophets inTheir Own Country 3 Aquinas was writing in a period when the ideal of sainthood was [ De Civitate Dei Civitate De 5 while Aristotle’s physical and metaphysical writings, metaphysical and physical Aristotle’s while and I NTRODUCTION [ Summa contra Gentiles ], tr. supranaturam Summa Contra Gentiles, 3 Marcus Dods, Marcus (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), 1- 1992), Press, ofChicago University (Chicago: (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967). Procès de canonisation au Moyen Âge. . Theological Studies, 2 in Augustine was writing at a ], trans. AntonC. Pegis, James F. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Post-Nicene and Nicene 1 and, at the other end, other the at and, of of whatcan occur De CivitateDei, No.15 (1954), CEU eTD Collection Ages 10 9 http://www.archive.org/details/lifeofstthomasof00strauoft (last accessed 18 Jan. 2011). 8 7 1989). towards accepting the reported miracles of Thomas. In his arguments, he examines the he examines hisarguments, In Thomas. of miracles reported the accepting towards the supernatural.” the document which allows us observeto in how thedetail clergy inreacted face the of decision to acknowledge asThomas a saint, the to prior papacy the of deliberations “internal” the on light sheds which manuscript 6 5 bull of canonization, medieval England and the only Englishman canonizedin the fourteenth century. (sometimesprotection. Iattempt suchan analysisfor thecase St. Thomasof Herefordof also and relief bring called can saints that belief the contrary, the to or, miracles, reported all) St. or in (some mistrust the in society, Thomas exempla virtuous diffuse to need the canonization, Cantilupe),Weltanschauung onephilosophy and theology of the miraculous can add tounderstanding the of thein the variations the tracing Ages, Middle the during lastportrayed and perceived English saints century. thirteenth in the time Augustine’s from different, of one issay, tempted to everything else wasdifferent, atleast or many things were happenedthat beyond usualthe course of nature; yet, beside this “common” feature, Oxford, and Paris. Avicenna and Averroes), affected clerics’ minds in the recently created universities in Ms Vat. 4015,lat. fols. 123-245, also in AA.SS, 609-640,697-703. Richard Strange, Issued by Pope John XII on 17 April 1320; AA.SS, 597-598. See Amos Funkenstein, See Michael Goodich, See Michael MS BN.Lat., 5373 A - reproducedas Appendix 1 in Andre Vauchez, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997). Press, University Cambridge (Cambridge: For hisFor canonization process there is -- besides the classical elements of the When looking at saints, their miracles, and the changes in how sainthood was that framed the writing of hagiographical texts, the decisions on decisions the texts, hagiographical of writing the framed that St. Thomas of Cantilupe’s Life and Miracles 11 6 Both Aquinas and Augustine viewedmiracles as basically events The unidentified author of the manuscript is extremely favourable is extremely manuscript of the author Theunidentified Vita Perfecta 7 hagiographical writings, hagiographical Theology and Scientific Imagination (Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann, 1982), 1-19. 4 10 8 and the acts of canonization which represents “the only medieval (Princeton: Princeton University Press, University Princeton (Princeton: (Ghent, 1672) reprinted in1879, Sainthood in Later Middle 9 – a curial – CEU eTD Collection University Press,2008), 14 Ashgate, 1987), 5-9, and Funkenstein, 13 Venerable Bede and Texts 91.(Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies,1984), 225-239, and 12 tension looms in the manuscript he authored. Just to hintin this direction, Augustine into Thomas of Hereford’s the Augustinian construal miraclesof along his with “judicial,” “scientific” enquiry reported miracles. Yet, it seems fair to say that a latent way). should manifest God’s presence and will directly (be itin an unmediated or mediated which world the view of “enchanted” of an infavour causes secondary of level the of pulling in a differentdirection, namely,towards the suspension,neglect or dismissal miracles. juxtaposed with references Augustineto andhis early medieval followers’view of of the world, “empirical” enquiry,and “causal” understanding of phenomena, “naturalization” the towards drive Scholastic the as) nowadays recognized commonly are present, nevertheless.nature” areinvoked as potential causal explanations for putativemiraculous effects mentioned,In other but the patternswords, is Scholastic other any nor Aquinas neither Strangely, Admont. of of Engelbert argument in thein which same physical as such theologians by other also but by Aquinas typified textmostly or Aristotelians, physiological one can“laws ofhave (what is 11 Augustine); to indebted heavily were miracles on views whose theologians modern early two and Bede, Great the from Gregory as well (as Augustine St. from quotations writings, veracity of these miracles using analogies with miracles from other hagiographical Robert Bartlett, Benedicta Ward, Benedicta See William McCready, See William Vauchez, 14 Conceivably,the anonymous curialist thoughthe could consistently appeal to Importantly, one could argue, however, that the initial Augustinian drive was drive Augustinian initial the that however, argue, could one Importantly, Sainthood 12 . Studies and Texts 118 (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1994). Studies, of Mediaeval Institute Pontifical (Toronto: 118 Texts and Studies . and alsousing the “scientific”style of the thirteenth-century Miracles and theMedievalMind. Theory,Record and Event 1000–1211 The Natural and the Supernatural inthe Middle Ages . 9, 26; William McCready, SignsSanctity: of Miracles in the Thought of Gregory the Great Theology. 5 Signs 7-16 (year), 225-229; (Cambridge: Cambridge (Cambridge: Lorraine Daston and Daston Lorraine Miracles and (Aldershot: , Studies 13 CEU eTD Collection 18 evaluation miraclesof with passages in miracles which areaccepted at facevalue, the –thetext alternation passagesof betraying astern,critical,“empirically minded” has been emphasizedin the literature? lighton a certain conceptual inconsistency of on thepart anonymousthe curialistthat on wonder, onthe“subjective” side, the on other causes, onthe “objective” side) shed anonymous curialist? Can the tension between views two the on miracles (one centred and the the manuscript on light can shed other, the on views, Aristotelians’ canonizationthirteenth-century the and hand, one the on miracles, of understanding Augustinian and the Augustine of Thomas direct presencein the world. of Hereford.phenomena of this sort were proof thatWhat one can be deceived whenwas looking for God’sthe intention of the 17 is. miracle true a ofwhat vision our can blur 16 Inquiry dissolving in fire, and so on, were proof that miracles are possible; are miracles that proof were on, so and fire, in dissolving salt Agrigentine the moon, the with waning and waxing stone Persian the floating, of matter. be deceived bymarvels produced by unknown formal causes or by the imperfections primarily in themselves, and only secondarily wondrous for us, since one can always themselves aremiraculous. Aquinas accepted that miracles arewondrous, but can change the usual course ofnature; and that,moreover, nature and its course to look at the marvels of the worldin order to be convinced that God’s directpresence 15 133, esp.120-124. Park, Katharine placed “wonder Aquinas, Augustine, Of course, I leave aside here the fact that both Aquinas and Augustine acknowledged that demons See Lorraine Daston, “Marvelous Facts and Miraculous Evidence in Early Modern Europe,” Modern Early in Evidence Miraculous and Facts “Marvelous Daston, Lorraine See , 18, No. 1 (1991): 93-124. The main purpose of the present thesis is to see how the tension between On the Truth of the Catholic Faith, 16 The City of God of City The For Augustine, phenomena such as Egyptian trees sinking rather than rather sinking trees as Egyptian such phenomena Augustine, For Wonders and the Order of Nature,1150-1750 ” atthe coreof his analysis ofthe miraculous, , 7.29, 21.7. 18 19 3.101.2. I suggest I that itdoesand that very the crux of 6 (New York:Zone Books, 1998), 109- 15 and urged his readers 17 for Aquinas, Critical CEU eTD Collection the Later Middle Ages,” LaterMiddle the 19 help strengthen my argument. strengthen help “empirically-minded” enquiry, futurepointing also to directions researchof could that intention its andof author alternationthe of passages face-valueof “belief” and the asto my conclusion and draw manuscript curialist the to 4 Ireturn chapter In (§3.3). miracles view of causal Aristotelian the thirteenth-century with inconsistent been have would position Augustinian a genuinely that I argue and §3.2), (§3.1 elaborating on Augustine’sagainst which the specificity of Augustine’s views is best placed. Inchapter 3,after view of background miraclesscholastic the out draw to attempting -- (§2.3) Admont of Engelbert in relation to his rendition of Creation of Engelbert of Admontshould – be clear. and Augustine, Aquinas, from writings philosophical by relevant complemented manuscript the of analysis a textual – (§1.4) adopt I methodology as the literature (§1.3).At the end of this chapter the range of the questions Iaddress,as well curialistmanuscript (§1.2) and presenting the analyses themanuscriptof from the for Thomas of Hereford and his canonization (§1.1), setting out the content of the background historical requisite the out laying with 1 in chapter proceed I dimension. which I profitgreatly and which I try continueto by developing aphilosophical the manuscript offered in the literature by Andre Vauchez and Aviad Kleinberg, from of precedents in the lives of previous saints –can thus be plausibly explained. appealing quotations to from Augustine and early medieval thinkers or the existence Vauchez, wonder In chapter 2 I begin with Jacques Le Goff’s general presentation of the theme of the presentation general Goff’s Le Jacques with begin 2 I chapter In The interpretation forwardI put has a definite placein the interpretations of Sainthood , and take up two of these theologians -- namely Aquinas (§2.2) and (§2.2) Aquinas namely -- theologians these of two up take and , . Aviad. Kleinberg, “Proving Sanctity: Selectionand Authentication of Saints in Viator 20 (1989): 183–205. 7 CEU eTD Collection was Easter week, apropitious timewhen the cathedral was crammedwith people. It 1317. and 1982 between bishropric Hereford atthe his successor Swinfield, Richard a new tomb on April 3.The translation of the relics took place at the request of Thomas’s hagiographer in the seventeenth century,relates: at Ashridge, and his viscera at the San monastery).Severo AsRichard Strange, buried was heart his cathedral, in lay the bones (his miracles produce not did cathedral death. ofhis time the at in Italy appealing was he which of Canterbury, Peckham Archbishop by issued decision an excommunication to subject in Italy, Florenti, Castro CENTURY 21 Century Canonization Processes,” (PhD Dissertation:Tampere University,2006), 23. 20 Strange, Fourteenth in Practices Devotional Interaction. of Spheres and “Gender Katajala-Peltomaa, Sari 20 Miracles started to occur in 1287, occasioned by the translation of his relics to this enacted. left had he made, and weneed doubtnot but the Saint himself somanyamong decrees as nothing may be publicly ascribed before attested by legal authority; always used aspecial wariness topreventdisorders of this nature, that none were norpretended wrought to;and the Catholic church hath exhaled,blood theit sweat, morning call, &c.,formal yet miracles veneration were related on several passages, as,fragrant the it odour things more than ordinary, and such as begetmuch wonder and divers though For hissanctity. had of they opinion the to according one persons, partaking ofnomore honour than their devotion gave it,each “Herelay fiveyears it amidstthe private veneration devout of the Thomas Cantilupe, bishop of Hereford from 1275, died on 25 August 1282 at §1.1 Between 1282 and 1286 his tomb in the Lady Chapel part of the Hereford The Life T HE ONLY , 137. C HAPTER E NGLISHMAN CANONIZED INTHEFOURTEENTH CANONIZED NGLISHMAN 1. CANONIZATION T HOMAS 21 8 C ANTILUPE AND HIS AND ANTILUPE CEU eTD Collection 26 181. 2004), deRome, française École Canonization Processes the in Middle Ages. Legal and Religious Aspects Credibility of Miracles,” in 25 24 end atthe that, much so considerably, increased accordingly had enterprise an such enquiry. the of turn each of safety juridical the ensure to to the pope) in partibus inspection of evidence --enquiry entailing pre-formulated detailedlocal questionnairesfor witnesses, century the canonization processbeen had intoperfected a well-refined mechanism thirteenth of the end by the in 1197, III byInnocent Initiated be recognized. to order required a complicated inquisition on behalf theof Holy See and its representatives in certify Cantilupe’s Thomas sainthood officially. almostFor century, a hadsainthood parliament meetings,and wrote to the pope himself asking for an enquiry that would tomb on 4 April. new Thomas’s near placed had been who custodians by two down written carefully 23 Sons, 1977), 170-178. cathedral on the very day of April 3, April of day very the on cathedral healing. miraculous her reported she home, back pray at the altar of theMarch Holy 28, itCross, was suggested to seek to Edith, Thomas a mentally Cantilupe’s disturbed women help who instead;had come to once 22 whetherany miracles had atthe occurred San monastery.Severo inquired had Swinfield Richard in 1286 – happen to ortriggered expected somehow Other circumstances of the translation suggest “supernatural” that eventswere Vauchez, Bartlett, Strange, Strange, See Robert Finucane, SeeRobert Richard Swinfield spread the news of the miracles atvarious city councils and The Natural The The Life The Life, Sainthood enquiry) and enquiry) 26 --andlegalistic a apparatus consisting of notaries and translators, meant , 140. 144; Finucane, , 488. ; 10, Vauchez, ; 10, Miracles and Pilgrims, Popular Beliefs Medievalin England Procès de canonisation au Moyen Âge.Aspects juridiques et religieux – summarium Miracles Sainthood in partibus (refining the , 181. , 24 , 48; Michael Goodich, “The Criteria for the Proof and Proof the for Criteria “The Goodich, Michael 48; , moreand happen continued to afterwards, 9 , recollectio recollectio 23 Five miracles occurredin the (surveying the results of the 27 The costs for carrying out , Gabor Klaniczay ed. in fororder presentation 22 A week before, on 25 (London: Dent & athree stage (Rome: CEU eTD Collection 32 of the canonizations in the fourteenth century; Vauchez, century; fourteenth the in canonizations of the 31 30 2007). Ashgate, (Aldershot: 29 28 27 additional miracles was provided by the Hereford proctors on the final day of the Mende) listened to 320 witnesses and scrutinized35 miracles (to which a list of 470 collection), Ralph Baldock (bishop of London), and William Durand (bishop of London and Hereford between 13 July and 13 November 1307. papacy. Avignon inthe influential was who IV, Philip from help he requested that mention to not father’s cause sentletters notand only to popethe butalso totwenty-five cardinals, April 1307); April conflict with the archbishop of Canterbury (after an investigation held in London in Cantilupe was cleared of accusationthe of having died excommunicatedfollowing his succeededthrough the crisis of the Boniface VIII-Philip the Fair conflict; three popes had one hadgone papacy the meantime, the In 1320. April 17 on XXII John by Pope sealed another (Boniface VIII, Clement supported the cause of Simon de Montfort.V, and Edward I hadJohn Thomas of Hereford as one ofhis counsellors and they had both XXII);respectively. 1307, and in 1305 pope the to wrote who II, Edward and I Edward of Thomas status of saint. of status only candidates backed by the powerful rich dynasties of Europe could aspire to the The investigation into Thomas’s excommunicattionis preserved in BAV MS Vat. Lat. 4016. Finucane, Finucane, Michael Goodich, Michael Kleinberg, “Canonization Kleinberg, “Gender,” Katajala-Peltomaa, William of Tessa (a papal chaplain, responsible among other things for tax Even so, the canonization process lasted twenty-five years, finally being finally years, twenty-five lasted process canonization the so, Even Instrumental in the success of Thomas Cantilupe’s canonization was the help Miracles Miracles 32 28 andlocal a intoenquiry Thomas’slife miraclesand tookplacein 31 Miracles andWonders. The Developmentof the Concept ofMiracle, 1150-1350. , 175. , , 178. Vauchez notes that the French monarchy’s influence was decisive for decisive was influence monarchy’s French the that notes Vauchez 178. , . ” 20. 10 30 Sainthood Edward II wished to continue his continue to wished II Edward . most 29 CEU eTD Collection miraculous resurrection and how this all connected withtheir socialstatus. “Collecting,” 58-60 also analysesthis case, following the language competence of the witnesses to his 39 38 37 36 35 Strange relates: Resurrections wereactually perceived as the forte of Thomas of Hereford; as Richard can echoesdetect of the smouldering conflict between theWelsh and the English. 34 Later MedievalBritain in Century,” Fourteenth Early the in Border Welsh Anglo- the along Miracles “Collecting Richter, see Michael folios; numbers245 4015) Lat. Vat found MS in be (to depositions the compiling The dossier 120. 2003), Press, University Princeton (Princeton: the saint; the ordinary afflictions – accidents or wounds -- away from Hereford by simply invoking off men with elevated social whostatus, claimed to have been healed less from paralysis; adecade after, the persons claimingbeento have cured mostly were well- and blindness -- ailments “usual” from saint the of tomb the at healing claiming 33 one. only in 1312 and noted, were nine only in 1300 reported; were miracles 160 In 1287 hadchanged. them like the content of the miracles, and peoplethe (claiminghave to been) experiencing these miracles herbs stonesor were applied any or other natural medicinalor things. what were used words by those requested thesewho if miracles, in or operation of the nature, to contrary or above been had miracles if Thomas’ things, other among asked, established questions of thestandardformulary were answered. The witnesses were Thomas had almostceased. Latin); hearings). See Bartlett, Finucane, Finucane, Finucane, Bartlett, See Richter, “Collecting,” 53-54, Bartlett, Robert Bartlett, 34 Significantly, by the time of this local enquiry, the miracles performed by performed miracles the enquiry, local this of time the by Significantly, of course, translators and notaries attended in order to ensure that the pre- The Hanged 38 33 Miracles Miracles Miracles in least one at theof cases of “spectacular”miracles, a resurrection,one Four languages were used in the enquiries (French, English,Welsh, The Hanged, The Hanged Man. A Story ofMiracle, Memory,and Colonialism in the Middle Ages , 18-187. , 183. , , 180. , , ed. D. A. Trotter(Cambridge:D.S. Brewer, 2000), 53. , 13-14, 23-24, Goodich, 37 Around 1287, the cured persons were mostly simple women Bartlett analyses the resurrection of William ap Rees. Richter, Rees. ap William of resurrection the analyses Bartlett 36 The impetus stirred in 1287 had gradually dwindled, just dwindled, hadgradually in1287 stirred impetus The The Hanged Miracles 11 The Early Fourteenth Century.Multilingualism in , 25. , 87. 35 39 CEU eTD Collection 43 Kleinberg, “Proving,” 203 42 periods. previous to the compared century thirteenth the in increased canonization, intended for the eyes of a cardinal or even the pope himself.43 It was It himself.43 pope even the or acardinal of eyes the for intended canonization, written down for the final meeting of the curia before taking a decision on 41 London. and Hereford in miracles curia on the results of thelocal enquiries into Thomas Cantilupe’s life and reported a curial manuscriptdetailing the observations made byan unidentifiedmember of the 40 primary resource for my enquiry needs to be introduced. to needs my enquiry for resource primary the to itcame When investigation. the of phases the of filters the through passed and then committee miracles, no doubt carefully selected by the threemembers of the mentioned in the Bull of Canonization issued byPopeJohn XXII were resurrection stand for asproof the sanctity of candidate saints. Vauchez, MS BN. Lat., 5373. AviadKleinberg argues that the curialist must have been an Englishman; see SeeVauchez, Strange, As mentioned in the “Introduction,” a crucial primary source for my enquiry is my enquiry for source primary acrucial “Introduction,” in the mentioned As Such “spectacular”miracles werein fact preferred by the papacy in order to Saint. our with wrought He it; andthus communicates Who concurrence whichthey do, is by His theypoweryet and dispensation,so,control; without both or keys as the hands own in His keeping and death, that so are work,also He all lendsthejuridical miracles them withrecord.sometimesnotordinary so was dead, the raising Our the ouror miracles, of palpabest The Lord todoneglorious Hisand Saviourservants, hasby Saintthewho, sole theirwhat dominion that of fortylife proper such resuscitations virtue standbut uponby a His § The Life 1.2 Sainthood 40 A Sainthood , 155-156. C URIAL , 488. . Vauchez also notes that the number of reported resurrection miracles had miracles resurrection of reported number the that alsonotes . Vauchez T REATISE ON 42 The manuscript appears to be a to appears manuscript The M 12 IRACLES summarium 41 Three outof miraclesthe ten recollectio phase, however, acrucial and summarium summarium in partibus , CEU eTD Collection miracles and hagiographic texts -- addressed the supernaturalto origin of an Heevent. employs analogies with biblical be could that objections possible the all of rejection the i.e., analysis, of method person initially cured. partial recovery) whose incomplete success is explainedby lack the faith of of the instances of “partial” healings (that is, initial healings followed by relapses or only paralysis recovery as was casethe priorthirteenth tothe century, drowned on a pond; Agnes, daughter of William and Letitia, smothered by her mother herin sleep. son of Gervase, aged 2 years 3 months, dead after fallingRobert, a river; in from drowned a tower; 9, aged Lucy of Asperton,Pescarius, of John son child Nicholas, drowned; months, 1 year6 aged 47 7years for paralyzed adult, LaPutte, de 46 45 had drowned. six cases of resurrection --the “spectacular” recoveries of six children,four of whom miraclesHereford, in was nota candidate as an“officially” curedperson. Thereare the sparked had healing whose woman disturbed mentally the Edith, – process real miracle, at or leastis not considered amiracle worthmentioning in a canonization acceptedin the fourteenth century.instance, For curing madness wasnotconsidered a manuscript reveals significant patterns in the array of miraculous events commonly asdubious, others 44 thirty-six reported in the XXII on 17 April 1320. John by Pope reached Cantilupe Thomas canonize to decision final the and enquiries probably produced in Avignon in 1319 earlyor 1320, Joan, daughter of Adam le Schirreve, aged 5, drowned in a fishpond; John, sonof William Drake, The cases of Philip Paniot, adult, paralytic, Lucy of Asperton, child drowned ina pond, and Anicia paralyzed. adult, Pichard, ofMilo The case Vauchez, On the level of arguments, the anonymous curialist appeals to the The anonymous curialist examines twenty-eightmiracles of out initialthe Sainthood 47 The range of healings does not include such a great proportion of , 489. 46 and theaccepts rest.Ona“phenomenological”level, the recollectio Itinerarium Clementis Itinerarium , dismisses only one of of them, one only dismisses , 13 44 that is,between the 1307 local , the , Lives 48 but there are some of of SS Hippolytus, 45 regards three sic et non CEU eTD Collection 50 whetherfear experienced during fallthe can cause deathin itself, and so on. organs, interior the of thecrushing with but harm of signs external no with impact air in orderfor the impactbe to as strong as possible, whetherit is possible to have an of falling bodies, considering, for instance, what position a body should have in the tower and was found alive with only fractures – the curialistRobert, son ponders of Gervase an-- a childentire 2 years theory and three months old who had fallen from a fully as causal explanations.instance, For in one of the cases of resurrection -- that of miraculous effects in which physical physiologicalor “laws nature” couldof count perpetuum victorie sue circumferat triumphum to stress the point: 49 doubtful. as regarded others two and 48 ecclesiastica gentis anglorum que proChristi nomine pertulerunt God: quoted to back up an argumentgo back that to“incomplete” normal after recoveriesthat of John, son of William Drake,being in which the child’s skin colour did notentirely saved, may serve book the XXIIglory of of Augustine’s De Civitate Dei is Augustine’s patristic early or medieval sources, among which the mostfrequent are St. from quotations on draws also he importantly, and Francis; and Myra, of Nicholas Appendix 1 in Vauchez, Appendix 1 in Vauchez, Only eight out of the twenty-six cases represent paralysis cases, and among them one was dismissed fortassis in ille regnoin corporibus martyrum videbimus vulnerum cicatrices minorem corporis concussionem. Sienim in descensumembra et tibie contingendo rupem vel terram et cum hoc modus casus fortuiti facit ad debebat appararere fracturaminoremque ictum dare in descensu corpus perfecti hominis et quanto minoris ponderis, tanto minor Dicendum quodlicet fuit tenerum, tamenminoris ponderis quam The patterns of argumentinvolve ruling out or questioning putative De civitate Dei De civitate non ex impotentia curandi cicatrices in Christo fuerunt sed ut in sedfuerunt ut Christo in cicatrices ex curandi impotentia non Sainthood Sainthood , Gregory the Great’s . For instance, in another case of drowning resuscitation, , 545. , , 545 . 49 A quotation from Bede’s 14 . 50 Dialogues , and Bede’s , Super Lucam is taken Historia CEU eTD Collection 53 52 and “empirically-minded” enquiry is the crux of the text. How can this be explained? precedentslives in the of previous saints. This alternation betweenface-value “belief” of existence the and thinkers, medieval early and Augustine from quotations to miracles alternate with passages in whichmiracles are accepted atface value, appeals motivainterioribus. in 51 lon no was soul the that show breath and movement coldness of thethese signs are reliablebody -- the soul is both the form and motor andof the body and thus the lack of sensation, physical rigidity, and the absence of tempore, privatio anelitus, carencia usus sensuum ( mother in her sleep, the author of the corporis et membrorum immobilitas, inflexibilitas iuncturarum, frigiditas in frigiditas inflexibilitas iuncturarum, immobilitas, etomni corporis membrorum Appendix 1 in Vauchez, Appendix 1 in Vauchez, Appendix 1 in Vauchez, Overall, showing passages stern,a critical,empirically minded evaluation of operatiovegetative tollitur sublato omnis etviget,calore ergo corpus nutritur medicante radix aliorum, quia calor est instrumentum anime vegetative quo est manifestum, de vegetativaetiam que est quasi fundamentum et arguunt carenciam operationum anime ut est forma, quod sensitiva de utroque modo carencia eius usus sensuum, frigiditas in omni tempore motor, et premissa arguunt carenciam omnium operationum vitalium; Dicendum est quod sic, quoniam anima unitur corpori utforma et ut In the case of Agnes, daughter of William and Letitia, smothered by her smothered Letitia, and William of daughter Agnes, of case In the apparebit. impulsus extra lineam sui descensus, vix fractura incorpore experimentaliter probatur in tantum quodsi propre terram fiet dictus descensus perpendicularem, minus sentiat lesura,de quod descendendo per aliquem interpellantem moveatur extra lineam confrangetur. Unde corpus descendens a magna altitudine si in vero in descensu membra predicta moveantur, minusquieta teneantur corpusvelud lapis fortiorem ictum dabit corpus cadens. Si 51 Sainthood Sainthood Sainthood . 53 , 549. , , 551. , , 547. , summarium 15 lists five physical signs of deathtrue ), 52 g and presents a theory as to why er active inthe victim as virtus CEU eTD Collection suggests a political motivation lying behind the superficial scrutinizing of the of scrutinizing superficial the behind lying motivation apolitical suggests Vauchez that -- included) Hereford of Thomas of (that canonization of decisions over power of dynastic influence political the of discussion previous Vauchez’s given – taken taken up and it wasjustifiable toregard them as miraculous.” accepted Thomas Cantilupe as a saint and is that why “themost amazing facts were sense.” provided a scholarly justification forfacts which, at first sight, offended common mind’ ‘great this of science the attitude, critical a from encouraging why “[f]ar is That issue. thorny a such on conception” his formulate opportunity…to the with author] [the “provided context the because out set was simply but it nature, laws of as signs these of use up the back to intended not was interaction mind-body of the theory five signs] strikes the [of “None theory. interaction mind-body a by up backed cases, “resurrection” the us as convincing,” in death true of signs physical five lists author the that writes opinion an giving of sake the Vauchez, “supernatural”source of certain phenomena. It seems, forinstance, that itis only for Vauchez theargues, curialistseemnot question does eager to the reported Cantilupe’s reported miracles. Thomas most of or all uncritically accepting towards inclination positive a reveal to whichand to I now turn for anexposition.According Vauchez,to thearguments seem enquiry my situating for crucial are which Kleinberg, Aviad and Vauchez Andre by 57 56 55 54 Vauchez, 491. Ibid., ibid., 491. Vauchez, 56 In the literature main arethere two interpretations of manuscript,the provided § 1.3 The anonymous curialistmust have known thatPope John XXII had already Sainthood Sainthood A NALYSES OF THE TREATISE OF THE NALYSES , 491, italics added. , 489. 54 Even usingwhen medical or “scientific” arguments, 16 – V AUCHEZ AUCHEZ AND 55 who also suggests that the 57 One has to think here tothink Onehas K LEINBERG CEU eTD Collection Press, 2008), 6-10. come back these into aspects chapter 2 60 59 58 miraculous could well be used in order to continue and enlarge Vauchez’s excellent the of interpretations medieval multiple the of bearing the and issues philosophical and knowledge, the modal notions of necessity and possibility, and soforth. presence, omnipotence, God’s of understanding in the shifts pregnant for stage the discussionfor -- instance, thefact that the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries marked this on bearing a have should that issues conceptual other of a host course, of period notdid have multiple,buta single, of concepts “supernatural,” medieval the Introduction, in the mentioned as I because, with, concerned is thesis demonstration of political andto-and-fro, alsoincludes a different, subtler dimension. supernatural source of report. Butthe Vauchez’s analysis is richer than a mere of that period. disbelief and scepticism modernthat readers almostineluctably manifest to the clergy canonization processes; andat that, the sameone time,attribute should not the type of employed in an analysis miraclesof represents a drastic change broughtabout by very fact“medical” that and“scientific” arguments referring“laws to of nature” are careful treatment of miracles adopted in his excellent book on sainthood -- that the rejection, were formulated. Thus, Vauchez observes in-- line with differentialthe and theological or means political by driven justification approval, or scepticism which coherent concept of “nature,” the Great, St. Augustine, and Bede,the that anonymous curialisthave did not a R.Bartlett, 491. Ibid., 498. 494, 490, Ibid., Indeed, on a broader level, Vauchez also points to the Vauchez infers, among things,other from the use of quotations from Gregory The Natural and the Supernatural thein Middle Ages 58 59 and this raises one of the main problems the present 17 ; at this point,just I note that these (Cambridge: Cambridge University Cambridge (Cambridge: Weltanschaung 60 and there is, 61 within I will CEU eTD Collection expressions such as such expressions 65 197. “Proving,” Kleinberg, see narratives; the in believed really 64 63 mentioning Augustine, and Bede, Gregory, Bible, the Cardinal Petrus Colonna for one of the miracles of Louis IX. (after-miracle, health) e.g., wereetc., present, as one seesinthe analysis by provided statements of witnesses, establishing that states contradictory from A (before-miracle, coming falsification e.g., of illness) sources with dealing and or B eliminating 62 61 decision. be held, a principle that,while allowing doubts, was sufficientfor reaching a juridical proceeded using juridicalthe principlein that the absence of falsification a claim can admitted the fallibility of these processes inandpractice theexamination of miracles investigation ending in the discovery of truth.” of discovery in the ending investigation canonization “wasseen as a trial resultingin asentence, notas a philosophical really miracles sanctifying or aperson was who not really saint. The process of might give the wrongcanonistsinvolved in processesthe of canonization didnot exclude thatthe enquiries results, in the interested in whether an occurrence was indeedsense amiracle? Kleinberg argues the that of recognizing miracles which were not whether an occurrence manuscript, provided by Aviad Kleinberg. the of interpretation crucial atthe other look should one how, see to order In analysis. proved Kleinberg, “Proving,” 202. “Proving,” Kleinberg, texts of hagiographic writers and readers the that exclude not should one that for instance, Arguing, 10. “Canonization,” Kleinberg, see also added; italics 203, “Proving,” Kleinberg, Kleinberg, “Proving Kleinberg, Funkenstein, .” The anonymous curialist, on the other hand, was a theologian, quoting from According Kleinbergto “the curialist was more interested in a discussion of 63 65 But what was differencethe between a miracleproving beingand really It is in this juridical sense that canonists wanted to prove miracles, by Theology. . ” quod experimentaliter probatur was indeed a miracle than of whether miraclea hasbeen 18 62 64 Both Innocent IV and Hostiensis and IV Innocent Both and auctores medicine auctores ut experimentum docetut 66 and using ; he CEU eTD Collection 71 70 69 68 67 66 the the document also reveals a sortofconfusion or conceptual ambivalence. After Kleinberg, to according yet, And Hereford. of Thomas of canonization in the interest lookingmiracles at with the “cold” eyes of “scientist,”the andwith noparticular for cardinals toform their opinion . the manuscript does not provide the kind informationof that would havebeen useful rejected by the curialist and one miracleto restrict the range miracles; of bullthat the of canonization mentions one miracle does not appear in the document at all; proximal causes couldthat have mediated miraculousthe effects. also of possiblecanonist and went well into aninformed investigation not only statesof A and Bbut “natural” explanations for the move from A to B,68 as well as miracles than the then less supportwould havebeen needed, not more; the document approves of more viewif – the had pope already thetaken decision tocanonize Thomas of Hereford rubrication,” the before written my view in miracles, the of examination the to introduction theoretical canonization and aiming toprove miracles,but some sort of theoretical exercise, “a Vauchez claims; it was not a documentsupernatural.” directlywas a man “who [did] not hesitate to use his involvedknowledge of science to deal with the in the process of Kleinberg, “Proving,” 203, n. 84. 203, “Proving,” Kleinberg, 203. “Proving,” Kleinberg, 205. 204, “Proving,” Kleinberg, 204. “Proving,” Kleinberg, 204. “Proving,” Kleinberg, 202. 201, “Proving,” Kleinberg, It seems then that the anonymous curialist wasafull-blooded Aristotelian Thus, accordingKleinberg, to the manuscript a wasnot 67 His interest thus lay beyond “proving” miracles in the manner of a of manner in the miracles “proving” laybeyond thus Hisinterest 70 Kleinberg writes, and he brings in several additional reasons forhis recollectio , and the usual path from path usual the , and 71 19 recollectio 69 to summarium summarium was , as , CEU eTD Collection 75 74 73 72 belief) of those times shouldnot be confused with modern scepticism and belief. precedents, Kleinberg notes that, stressing the curialist’s that main method of ascertainingappeal miracles wasto to notoriously vast and intricate systems of persuasion of the curia. of the persuasion of systems and intricate vast notoriously influencing the opinion a of cardinal through an unofficial channel within the influencingmiracles what wereselected in therubrication,in perhaps the sense of canonization, andnot just to be a “theoretical introduction” –perhapsin the sense of with respect tothe miracle involving thefall of a childfrom heighta that: Whatsort ofconceptual confusion precisely did the curialist have? Kleinberg writes what sensewasthe scepticism andbelief those of times differentfrom modern belief? a not is in question document the indeed, Perhaps, some points. on curialist, the of origin English probable the given think, still can One it? in writing pressures political of influence the out rule why Still, rubrication. the before written was In chapter 4 I will come back in to the issue of political pressures. ofpolitical issue the into back come I will 4 In chapter 203. “Proving,” Kleinberg, Kleinberg, Kleinberg, “Proving,” 203, italics added. curialist’s… The redundant certainly and in terms, a contradiction almost be effort would occurrence a miraculous to explanation giveanatural To to isolatecontradictions in the evidence in order to discover lies and inaccuracies. to themselves restricted canonists The naturam. contra thedefinition by are miraculousmiracles Yet sense. make to miracle the wanted He dead. moment the writer was not satisfied with establishing that theis boy was definitely one of the first Elsewhere,like just Vauchez,Kleinberg mentions that the scepticism (and medieval ‘rationalists.’ for canonization). Nevertheless, for valid consider would canonists the kind (the examination from long tradition, orthefameof the writer,not from ‘objective’ [t]he problem with past examples was that their authority was derived Kleinberg’s subtleinformative and analysishas left still discussionthe open 74 that itcouldhave been meant tohave directinfluencea on the process of Prophets , 1-19, esp.16. 72 they retained their full status as precedent 20 75 And moreover,in summarium 73 and CEU eTD Collection could not have happened “naturally.” It is precisely the thorny issue of whether the miracle occurred miracle the of whether issue thorny the precisely Itis “naturally.” happened have not could events the that namely, question, acounterfactual implied tasks the but says; as Kleinberg miracle, after Aristotelianism, and thejurists’ question as to whethera miracle was was or not about what amiracleis, namely, the construal of miracles of thirteenth-century included aspecific theological understandingmiracles, of acertain style of reasoning them healthy and free of their ailment.” of their free and healthy them seen witness the had miracle said after long how for and healthy, were they for long how and pauses, the miracle they were fully and completely cured and healthy;after and whether whether Tenth, continuously ailment. from such and without suffering they were that they knew how and anailment such from suffering them seen they had miracle] [the before days many for how and place, took miracle the the emphasizes that the commission investigating the miracles Hereford in andLondon did enquire about possibility of translated by Michael Goodich inGoodich, [ ailment of what and long [ above occurred miracles said if third, be enquired] issued by Pope Clementin 1307 toV guide the panel ofinvestigators indicated this direction: [It should 77 76 events. was implicitly assumed that “natural” explanations could notexplain realmiraculous contained the question whetherof amiracle hadbeen explicitly jurists by devised Thequestionnaires matters. in these thinking theological foils. “empirical” miracles,in which curialistthe employs hosta wholeof physiological and physical “naturally,”Kleinberg as himself observes whenlooking atthe discussion of two and Bof a miraclealso entailed rulingout that Bcould have followedfrom A A states the establishing since canonization,” of processes the on thought scientific of influence the of signs first the of “one been have hardly could event amiraculous of This was the case for Thomas of Hereford as well; seeBartlett, as well; Hereford of Thomas for case the Thiswas 205. 204, “Proving,” Kleinberg, supra naturam 77 happen?’ to asking ‘Could it have happened? haveit ‘Could asking to happen?’ canonization. The hadprocess moved from asking merely ‘Did it signs of the influence of scientific thoughton the process of Oneis accordingly tempted to play down the difference between juridical and enquiringYet, into thecausal proximal factors acting between A andstates B The processes canonizationof were devised within an intellectual milieuthat ex arte character of the miracles in the Scholastic sense. Among others, the very charge very the others, Among sense. Scholastic the in miracles the of character miracles, for which there was a need to establish the states A and B, before and before B, and A states the establish to need a was there which for miracles, aegritudo ] were they miraculously cured; how long had they suffered before suffered they had long how cured; miraculously they ] were Miracula ex processu Thomae Miracles 21 supra , 88-89. These were tasks to deal withthe ] oragainst] [ 76 supra naturam contra The Hanged , in AA.SS, in 3 October I,585-6, ] nature. … Ninth, for how … Ninth, nature. ] , 110-111., Bartlett or not, and itand not, or supra CEU eTD Collection than the chaplains who had prepared the rubricated the prepared had who chaplains the than the Pope,which would explain why the author of the by been taken virtually already had Cantilupe Thomas St. canonize to decision the 1319, in probably was written, it when that, is explanation Apossible same. the always they are not and (nineteen), summarium 79 182. Criteria,” Fide Auvergne’s of William with familiar been have would processes canonization the in participants the that notes Goodich InCriteria”, “The Andreae. Johannes instance, for canonists, fourteenth-century 78 §1.2. above see Augustine; St. from quoting after accept to ultimately comes instantaneously or not that the anonymous Curialist has problems in one of the miracles,which he sense, the curialist states what he the curialist’s analysis was in a sense sincere and less inhibited; less and sincere a sense in was analysis curialist’s the curialist’s awareness of the pope’sdecision, Vauchezimplies as that, a consequence, But when Vauchez that states the amazingfacts”“most accepted duetothe were pope had already taken a positive decision, then lesswould support have been needed. connotations that the latter couldhave entailed. Of as course, Kleinberg reasons, if the discovering the truthpoints of out,miracles, just like Kleinberg, and a dimensionnotsaintis and that hewhy accepted “themostat inproving the curialist’s miracles, discussion thatmusthave known thatPope John aimed XXII had withalready accepted Thomas of Herefordat as a all the politicalKleinberg’s than Kleinberg himself thinks. When Vauchez argues that the curialist are the multiple interpretations miraclesof reflected in the work of the curialist? discourse of the curialist; henceand again once onecomesback question the to –how Kleinberg toconceptual whenhepoints ambivalenceambiguity “rational” inor the by as attested miracles, construing of ways alternative, other, with co-existed miracle couldnot have happened “naturally.” naturam Vauchez, SeeVauchez, , Aquinas’ There is, moreover, a sense in which Vauchez’s analysis is much closer to closer much is analysis Vauchez’s in which sense a moreover, is, There have to seems however, miracles, of understanding Aristotelian this yet, And was not innocuous – it included the counterfactual suggestion that the that suggestion counterfactual the itincluded – innocuous not was examines more miracles (twenty-six) than were retained by the authors of the rubrics of the authors by the retained were than (twenty-six) miracles more examines Sainthood De Potentia Dei De Potentia Sainthood , 488-489, n. 22 “There is one problem I have not been able to solve; the solve; to able been not Ihave problem one is 22 “There n. 488-489, , , 497, n. 48 on the influence of Aquinas’ definition of miracleson and Summa Theologiae believed 22 recollectio in, and it turns out that he was able to summarium 78 amazing , and Albert’s and , ; but this is simply a hypothesis.” was less critical, contrary custom, to contrary critical, wasless facts” as miracles, Vauchez 79 Summa; he implies that, in a Goodich, “The Goodich, De CEU eTD Collection Goodich’s insightful to back study I come in chapter 196. 4 when Criteria,” “The drawing my Goodich, concluding remarks. sanctity,” to claim saint’s putative the clinch order to in employed was standards juridical and philosophical the to according tested fully been not had that miracle or a revelation private a hand] other the miracles….[On of confirmation and examination rational the in arguments by philosophical supported was procedure judicial refined increasingly an one hand, the “On processes: of such “practice” and the “theory” the between difference the InnocentIV, AlexanderIV, III, and ClementInnocent under VI; Goodich,canonization of “The Criteria,” processes inthe 187-196.views Goodichambivalent or thus ambiguities underlies such of series 81 80 analysis of the curialist document: curialist of the analysis his of end the at writes Vauchez is why That lacking. was analysis Aristotelian believe in miracles even in places where the rigorous proof demanded by an there are ultimately different ways of believing in miracles. in believing of ways different ultimately are there accepting almost at face value themost amazingfacts, as Vauchez writes, in which means miracles facing in which emphasises, as Kleinberg sufficient, considered resemblance to types of miracles attested in traditional hagiographic writings is counterfactual scenariosis juxtaposed with an alternative reasoning in which the century “empirical” reasoningspecifically appealing “laws to of nature” and ambivalence in the curialist’s discourse which stemsfrom the fact that thirteenth think Vauchez and Kleinberg share incommon – there is a certain ambiguity and And such ambiguity was not at all singular in the age. Michael Goodich has catalogued an entire an catalogued has Goodich Michael age. the in singular all at not was ambiguity such And Vauchez, people. scriptural texts, and contributed to the edification of the Christianwho werein agreement, borearesemblance thoseto describedin the ready acceptto them as long as they were by corroborated witnesses should they that therefore question the reality of those submitted to them, they were concluding from far But proven. objectively be faithful. They were inasmuchsceptical as, for them,miracles not could popes and cardinals wasvery much the same as that of the ordinary come tobelieve that this is not the case, andenquiries that the the of basis attitudethe on curialists of up by the the drawn documents working the studied carefully Having mind. popular supernatural were differentfrom those found at that periodthe in to the reactions whose a world constituted universities, and schools My discussion below follows and seeks to develop precisely this core which I Sainthood 80 I longbelieved myself that the clerical elite,products of the , 498. 23 81 in partibus , I have , CEU eTD Collection “Wonder,” 82 book on the natural and the supernatural: methodology I adopt is nicely illustrated by a passagefrom RobertBartlett’s recent the other, the on views, followers’ his and and Augustine hand, one the on miracles, issue, which I address in the next subsection. inthe next address I which issue, How one should proceed in analysing these different discourses is a methodological document. curialist in the beseen can tension whose miraculous the of discourses their writings howthey construedand wonder onecandelineate themain two at bylooking precisely is that suggestion my and period, medieval in the miracles of analyses widespread and popular most two the provided Aquinas and Augustine medieval theologians whose views on miracles were greatly indebted to Augustine. quotations from Augustine and alsofrom Gregory the Great and Bede, twoearly the passages suggesting an “uncritical” acceptance of miracles are punctuated by extraordinary; and atwhose distance ismeasuredby their different rapport withthis the wonder aroused by the point one shouldin thesensewhat thatI seek to describe aretwo different construals miraculous of the remember that in the curialist document On the importance of the theme of wonder for the medieval world, see Caroline Walker Bynum, Walker seeCaroline world, medieval forthe of wonder theme of the importance On the review of my own beliefs concluded that they were consistent,coherent, What of own our beliefs? I wouldbe surprised if a thorough and sincere This urge is doubtless well intentioned but seems to prejudge the issue. beliefs seem have to astrong urge search anthropologists, of forto inner the or coherence of the scholars thoseliterary some like historians, intellectual they studyperiod – there will be nothing about ‘the medieval mind.’and Some “Thismight book is concerned with debates and differences in the medieval talk easily of ‘belief systems.’ With respect to Aquinas’ and thirteenth century Aristotelians’ views on views Aristotelians’ century thirteenth and Aquinas’ to respect With In fact, the notion of amazement or wonder plays a central role in my enquiry, § 1.4 American Historical Review Historical American M ETHODOLOGY , 102 (1997): 1-26. 24 82 CEU eTD Collection Chicago Press,2002); Alexander Bird, 84 83 about the falling bodies –quotes Augustine’s signs clinicalof (backeddeath upby a theory of mind-body interaction) andthe rules The anonymous curialist having --after laid nature” down the “laws of about five the definite extent incompatible with Aristotelianthe discourse of the High Middle Ages. relevant philosophicalgeneral texts attitude, -- thathistory appears to offer. My methodologythe takes itsin cue from Kuhn and Bartlett’sAugustinianthe sense inKuhn was also concerned toargue against discourse the seeming continuity and consistency thatwhich I wishon miracles to argue was -- tovia a a textual analysis of healings): Lucam was an incommensurability meaningof and conceptual schemes. there which between communities scientific within reasoning of styles of existence paradigm. Asis well known, Kuhn has argued that the history of science reveals the Thomas Kuhn, Bartlett, to explain to how certain aspects miraclesof couldappear incomplete (e.g., discomfort in the Middle Ages. in Middle the discomfort uncomfortable. Ilook at severalinstances of intellectualsuch Kuhn,is latent when anomalies in ourparadigmsbecome visible and – this, in termsthe made familiar by historian the of science Thomas Their discord only becomes apparent, however,in certain circumstances beliefs. discordant many I hold I think people, most Like and steady. victorie sue circumferat triumphum”, et Augustinus, De Civitate Dei DeCivitate triumphum”, etAugustinus, circumferat sue victorie impotentia curandi cicatrices in Christo fueruntnomine reportaverunt, seddicente Bedaut super in Lucam perpetuum deChristo“non ex augmentum glorie et signum sue victorie quam moriendo pro Christi etiam in corporibus martirum idem creditur esse futurum ad probationem veri corporis et victoriam ac gloriam resurgentis, sicut Respondetur quod sicut in corpore Christi apparuerunt cicatrices ad sanitatem. sitplenam restituere potentie divine cum coloribus dissuetis, corporis colori pristino restitute apparentibus in quibusdam partibus Dubium oriri potest quin post resuscitationem sintnon omnes partes Bartlett refershere, with his characteristic Thomas charm,to Kuhn hisand The Natural, The Road since Structure:Philosophical Essays,1970–1993 2. Thomas Kuhn 83 25 (Chesham: Acumen, 2000). Acumen, (Chesham: De civitate Dei (Chicago: University of and Bede’s 84 Just like Just Bartlett, Super CEU eTD Collection matrimoniale: il miracolo fra Agostina e Tomasso D’Aquino, eTomasso Agostina fra miracolo il matrimoniale: 89 Eerdmans, 1984)1-20, Ward, Dispute Keller, Marie-Luise and Ernst also views see Forsimilar added). (italics Augustine” Thomas, the two most often quoted in theby St. subsequent given literature ofmiracle are definitions various the … Among theology speculative in classic become terminology remained standard in the Church until the time of St Thomas Aquinas. The latter adopted Augustine’s 88 87 allocate to Augustine at most 2-3 paragraphs; see for instance, Ward, instance, for see paragraphs; 2-3 most at Augustine to allocate in Augustine Aquinas’ distinctionbetween inherited from tradition.”patristic the Bartlett, that than nature and miracle between line sharper a created causation, of orders of different importance primary the stressing in miracle, of theories Scholastic dealt….Hence, theologians Scholastic which in type of the categorizations conceptual clear togenerate was unlikely but awe reverential 85 86 chapter 2, in which, based on Goodich, Bartlett, and others, I merely seek to offer the discussion Augustineof in chapter 3is a more extendedbit (and polemical) than rejecting this thesis mostthe important figure is Luca Bianchi. and the thesis that Aquinas simply refines an Augustinian theme; Augustinian an refines simply Aquinas that thesis and the commentators who reject the continuity between Augustine and Aquinas miracleson useful. of the scholastic world, among which Goodich’s miracle is indebted to Bartlett’s study, and also draws from numerous other analyses of understanding Aristotelian of the discussion My onwards. century twelfth the from with scholasticism andway “scientific” the thinking infiltrated themedieval world ultimately miracle, can be seized. paradigms, two styles of reasoning entailing specific meanings of wonder, belief, and two between tension the of something phenomenon, inthis that, claim I would Luca Bianchi, “Quotidiana Miracula,” Commune corso della natura e dispense aldiritto edispense natura della corso Commune Miracula,” “Quotidiana Bianchi, Luca For instance Hardon, instance For Goodich, Vauchez, Appendix 1in Appendix Vauchez, Bartlett, (London: SCM Press, 1969) 26; Colin Brown, 87 cicatrices que pro Christi nomine pertulerunt. “fortassis in ille regnoin corporibus martyrum videbimus vulnerum Bartlett mentions Augustine in his discussion, As concerns Augustine, however, I seek to follow the minority of minority the follow to I seek however, Augustine, Asconcerns Miracles , with added clarification The Natural , 15-28. , 6,9, 16.Bartlett notes thatAugustine’s styleof thinking could “inspire The Concept Sainthood Miracles , 545. , , and the made several formulations of his own that have since have that own his of formulations several made the and , , 2. , , 150-151 states “Thethat Augustinian conceptof miracle contra The , 26 supra Natural Miracles Mindand the Critical , and , Miracles and Wonders , 9. Usually miracle or sainthood theorists Quaderni Storici praeter 85 86 but he is mostly concerned mostly he is but Miracles expansions naturam , 2,3, who also discovers (p.3). 131, (2009): 312-328. 89 onthe doctrine of St. That is why my 88 among those among isparticularly (Grand Rapids: Miracles in CEU eTD Collection Augustine’s position is best presented. of particularity the which against background Scholastic the of lines general 27 CEU eTD Collection miracles and the pre-Christian construal of a mythical world. the the extraordinary thus making a transition to chapter 3. chapter to a transition making thus in §2.3, curialist the of dilemma basic the addressing explanation best the to inference an formulate I which of help the with (§2.2), Admont of Engelbert and Aquinas imagination,91 which I presentin §2.1, as a preamble tothe views miracleson of between whathe calls “miraculous”the “marvelous”and the sides of medievalthe miraculous. A good introduction to these twodrives is Jacques Le Goff’s distinction “enchanted,” “marvelous” side --which alsopresentwere in the construal of the viewedin almost a “scientific” way, the other poised to unravel experienceor its accordingly two opposite drives -- one towards the“naturalization,” of the world, views is measured by their different relation to the notion of call the scholasticAugustinian and stances –where difference the between these be explained in terms of the different stances on the supernatural – what one could 91 3. “Wonder,” Bynum, See world. multi-faceted their and people medieval between relation of the indicator a complex attitude, engaging as an but reaction, as “psychological” merely key, post-Cartesian 90 Jacques LeGoff, Jacques a in understood, be not should us, reminds insightfully Bynum as Caroline wonder, medieval Where upon which they gazed with eyes wide open,but originally there was I Not all Not The “miraculous”distinct “marvelous” andthe are two waysexperiencing of § In the previous chapter I stated that the tension in the curialist manuscript can manuscript curialist in the tension the that I stated chapter previous the In C 2. HAPTER 1 L mirabilia E Medieval Imagination , G which Le Goff lays down in the context of a discussion of Christian of a discussion of context in the down lays LeGoff which OFF ANDSAINTS ONWONDER 2 were things that men admired with their eyes, things eyes, their with men admired that were things – W ONDER (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982). A DMONT , 28 A QUINAS , AND E NGELBERT OF NGELBERT wonder , 90 directing CEU eTD Collection 93 is related to protective objects and fabulous animals like the unicorn, griffin, and The marvelous is closedreams, to metamorphoses andmagic (both black and white); bemarvellous. indeed can contexts, in certain miracles, of range A certain Christian. miraculous is ispre-Christian, marvelous the sense primary in its factthat from the stems also This predictability. and regularity, of rationalization, product the being up) even (ending or to, sensitive being miracles both miracles and marvels transcending the ordinary. The contraststems from and at the same time a contrast between marvels andmiracles. The similarity lies in andmakes one look with wide open eyes. Le Goff implies that is there asimilarity 92 LeGoff, LeGoff, The marvelous is then associated with the unpredictable, with appearswhat ceased to partake of the tradition of the marvellous God’s plan andregularity to of a certain kind built by God, but are determinedinto once andfor all the regularity that Godhas willed also course of are which events, natural from be distinguished his creationLatin the (from marvel unpredictability essential its of stripped legitimately be considered miraculous, the marvel is “rationalized” and singular in the God, is author that but sure, forces. Now, in Christian marvels of multiplicity a lies and which miraclesbehind actions and objects thereof diverse is an author, to be that what will come to pass. In other words, at some point hagiography loaves raiseor the dead exorciseor a demon. There is no surprise in going to do.Given the situation, there is no doubt that he will multiply towards the saints: man’s attitudes inmedieval lassitude a growing detect to possible is it Ithink example. for saints, of intercession the through obtained The miracle depends only on the will of God, in which respect it may monotheistic religion. As rules develop todefine whatmay of the marvellous is problematic in any religion, but particularly in a plural or beings (notemarvellous is of course that of beingthe produced by supernatural forcesplural)think, animportant reference to the eyes.... One characteristic of the and one finds something of the sort in the Medieval Medieval mirabilia not , 28. , , 27, 30, 31, italics original, underlines added. See also Bynum, “Wonder,” 17. “Wonder,” Bynum, also See added. underlines original, italics 31, 30, 27, , on a par with the border between Christian and pre- (or non-) of of the MiddleAges. Themarvellous embraces a world the moment sainta appears,one knows what he is . Nevertheless, miracle the is alsoto subject mirare 93 even if theborder between themarvellous and the , tolook at) suggests a visual apparition. 29 . Etymologically, the word . In other words, the status the words, other In . . Many miracles are . 92 CEU eTD Collection 98 97 96 change theirunderstanding, asit were. phenomena arousing wonder wereactually confronted by the Church in to an attempt upon “looked clerics Such eye.” ascientific with marvels scrutinizing spirit, scientific the call nowadays would we what would “possessed who Gervase of Tilbury is taken as an example for the specific attitude of certain clerics, 95 sanctioned by Bible.”the if not even be true to them considered and occurrences unnatural not but exceptional “Christianity rationalizes marvel.”the ontology because “the Church controls the occurrence miracles,” of and that 94 to the official ideology of Christianity,” is their (occasional) capacity to amaze. to capacity (occasional) is their by saints, angels, and demons. dragon; yet, can be enacted by fairies, midgets, and giants with their powers, but also LeGoff, LeGoff, LeGoff, LeGoff, LeGoff, obliged to traditions in question being continuous, medieval ChristianityThe was pre-Christian. always almost are marvellous the of roots The elements of which we encounter in beliefs, literature, and hagiography.in tradition, embodied is essentially marvellous the then, Christianity, however, influence Christian thinking aboutmarvels. Within did, They function. and nature both in marvellous from the different miraculous are on the subject, totakecentral sides.By thecontrast, supernatural and the opinion have an conceptsto had Christians Hence existed. already marvellous of Christianity,concept anda developed these Christians Medieval thought. in Christian role essential seem to meof ambition is simply marvels, circumscribeto anideaadmittedly, that, played I do not presume I to think,define the Christian because sense of the marvellous. an My influential tradition of the Lenotes Goffalso that, in a sense, marvelous“the was form one resistanceof Medieval Medieval Medieval Medieval Medieval , 28, italics added. italics 28, , , 34. , , 35. , , 32. , , 35. See, also Bynum,“Wonder,” 18-21. confront them throughout its history. its throughout them 97 Le Goff thus draws a picture in which it seems that 94 Whatunites all these eclectic characters and actions 96 A late twelfth--early thirteenth century author, 30 95 that the marvel is limited in Christian in limited is marvel the that 98 mirabilia as extreme or no CEU eTD Collection that in Aquinas the wonder-dimension of miracles is greatly reduced. is greatly miracles of wonder-dimension the in Aquinas that marvels capacity and the miracles. amazeassociatedto with It is however, certain, is made to turn back, a endowing matter with a “new” form which nature is unable to attain (as when the sun aloneWhatGod iscan do tosurpass thepowers of nature, either substantially,by can doand,accordingly, what thepowers of created natures could neverachieve. miracles have to be “objective,” that is, strictly defined in terms of what God alone form that nature can attain, but not in such a subject (as in the resuscitation of the CENTURY 99 one as particularly adequate. sainthood, how themarvelous dimension of saints’ deeds was rationalized --strikes to referring strictly or, -- shaped was marvels and miracles between distance the how of picture LeGoff’s be accepted, should miracles and which saints which considers thirteenth-century the that saw theprocesses canonizationof regulating development of rules andthe unpredictability, of techniques, stripping of the lines main the along century, thirteenth the a search for “natural” in prominently most eroded, somehow was miracles layer of wondrous marvelous, the explanations, etc. If one allow me to enter into. What I wish to retain is his indication as to No doubt, Le Goff primarily had in mind the High Middle Ages in his depiction of the Christian the of depiction his in Ages Middle High the mind in had primarily Goff Le doubt, No The classification of miracles is fastidiously framed in Aristotelian terms: Aristotelian in framed fastidiously is miracles of classification The in words, Le Goff’s Aquinas, whether besure One cannot Le Goff touches here on many themes which the limits of this thesis do not § 2. A RISTOTELIANISM 2 A QUINAS supra naturam , 99 E NGELBERT OF NGELBERT miracle), or subjectively, by a subject with a 31 A DMONT ANDTHETHIRTEENTH DMONT a process in which 100 For Aquinas, For confronts the CEU eTD Collection 103 102 (Westminster, MD: The Newman Press, 1952), Q. 6,art. 2. 101 marvels at it.” who one the of ability or expectation the beyond unusual, or arduous appears which itthe did unusual that arouses wonder. Aquinas reduced the scope of this definition. one. deceive could also course, of demons, produced by unknown, created formal causes by imperfections or the matter; of by marvels be deceived can always one us, since for wondrous secondarily only 100 dimension. marvelous and their miracles of view turned into wine, disease, without medication and long-standing a of cured issuddenly withoutperson a when (as attain cannot nature that way a period of convalescence, in a or themselves whenmanifesting can possess a subject that forms having by waterqualitatively, is Augustine in Augustine dead, restoring sight to the blind orvirgin birth, SeeDaston, On Truththe ofCatholic Faith On the Power of God On the Power of God natural causes produce theirin effects the same way, inmost cases, but inthings, not on whatis always In so. fact, many The order imposed onthings by God Aquinas accepts thatmiracles are wondrous, butin themselves, primarily,and What Aquinas is referring here to is a definition of miracles provided by manifest His power. order implanted in natural things by God produce an effect, without prejudice to its providence, providence –thenitis more certain that can divine power sometimes what is usually of a createdto nature itwhat can happen that the natural order is changedoccursfrom – aswhen nature gives rise to asixth finger on a man. unsuitable condition of the matter, or to an agent withgreater strength different way,either due to defecta inthe power ofan agent, or to the always. Marvelous On the Profit of Believing Profitof the On 104 The scopeofAugustine’s definition was clearly large, addressing as Sometimes,indeed, thoughrarely, an event occurs in a praeter naturam , Q. 6, art. 2, 3. , 93-100;Daston and Park, [ Questiones Disputatae De Potentia Dei 103 , 3.99.9. miracles). rarely , according towhich a miracle is “anything 32 102 101 Wonders is based on what usually occurs, usually what on is based –without any change of divine . He does this at times to , 121-122., contra naturam frequently ], tr. Laurence Shapcote Laurence tr. ], So if by means apart from the but not miracles) or CEU eTD Collection 104 to singleto what alone out God can Infact,wonderdo. hereloses allits psychological one whoin theory couldknow all the powers of created world and thus bewould able not by one or another person withfrom its definition? Wonderin isthis context various an “ideal” emotion, tobe experienced degrees of causal “ignorance,”(or an essentially different meaningif ofit), the persons experiencingare eliminated but by the But whatis leftwonder of miracles’ (and capacity to amaze)but themerename itof as God. such work in nature, they should believe in the existence of a supremely unknowable cause reader maketo a“cold” inferencesince -- causal elements beyond their knowledge the invites Aquinas Rather, miracles. are and will God’s express if they as accidents inadequatematter, or anagent with greater strength.use wonderNo then to at agent, an of power in the a defect dueto accidents are there God, by imposed order this within Rarely, happens. always not but frequently, what for responsible God,” since this order and the array of natural causes attached to itare actively Most Augustine, mirabilia hidden from every is man God.” every from hidden relationto one person another.or in simply filled what isitselfnot wonder, withnamely, admirable wondrous in anunqualifiedway, thisand the name, miracle, suggests; but not so to another. person, to one is wondrous event a certain so, And cause. the ignores he for wonder, must science of this isignorant who person but the not wonder whenhe sees an eclipse ofthe hesun, for knows its cause, some wonder, others,while others theand thedo samenot.result cause isone since And atForits causes. know timesnot do but effect the observe we instance,for known is to some that, people and unknownthe generally establishedof to order astronomerof things severalThings that at are times divinely accomplished, doeswho see an effect at some time, On of Profitthe Believing are not, strictly speaking, above “the order imposed on things by So,thing a that has completelya hiddencause is [ De Utilitate Credendi De Utilitate 105 Now, absolutely speaking, the cause 33 , are customarily miracles,called ], tr. C. L. Cornish, in NPNF, V1-03, apart from the CEU eTD Collection metaphysics of modality it entailed seeFunkenstein, entailed it ofmodality metaphysics and moral laws; on the distinction between distinction onthe laws; moral and orders world alternative of creating possibility his and power God’s vis-à-vis addressing was century supra 107 roots. pre-Christian has always such almost as marvellous the that conjecture LeGoff’s and analysis Arendt’s between connection the discuss to here nospace is There 1978). (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958) and Heideggerian interpretation of wonder at theGreeks seeHannah Arendt Transcending: Devaluing God in Aquinas’ theology in general; see, for instance, Laurence PaulHemming, 106 from the sphere of the supra-natural, corresponding, for instance, to Petrus to instance, for corresponding, supra-natural, of the sphere the from Timaeus Platonic by the influenced were authors God, of influence causal direct the isolate 105 “Quotidiana,” Bianchi, See also LXXX. Or “could it have happened ‘naturally’?” happened ithave “could Or counterfactual question “Could it happened have by the of powers created natures?” the to answer anegative of need is in -- andawe of wonder “subjectivity” when, seeking separate to the miracle from thoroughly causal, causation underlies it.Indeed, the account ofmiracle proposed by Aquinas is spectator oranotherhas been andof cut out, course, insofar as the righttype of precisely insofar asthe psychological connection with whatevermay it arouse in one itto attributed be could which itself event the of a property is almost wonder,” traits; that an event is wondrous “in an unqualified way,” filled with “admirable See Bartlett, There is an entire Heideggerian literature discussing the major importance that causes came tohave came causes that importance major the discussing literature Heideggerian anentire is There On Truththe ofCatholic Faith, naturam What followed was the ambitoall’operare dellequasi-autonomy creature. limitiruoloe dell’operacreatice di Dio, riservandospecifico uno of relazionithe fra cause edeffetti: di laqui loropreocuppazione definire di world ofcio ecome unsistema e regulato, perciorazionalmente indagabile, di nature, asproposero di studiare laseparated natura come ordo, nexus, e series causarum, The origins of this account, as Luca Binachi notes, lie in the twelfth century, twelfth in the lie notes, Binachi Luca as account, this of The origins , or not echoes or parallels the questions that the theology of the twelfth (and thirteenth) The Natural 106 which, for any putative miracle -- as a way of departing from the from departing a of as way -- miracle putative any for which, , 6-10. Bartlett suggests that the question of whether putative miracles are miracles putative of whether question the that suggests Bartlett 6-10. , (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2005). On a 3.101.2, italics added. whose analysis of Aquinas I follow here to a certain extent. a certain to here I follow of Aquinas analysis whose potentia potentia Dei absoluta 108 107 34 The Life of the Mind Theology mirabilia , 124-144. , monstra and potentia Dei ordinata (London: Secker & Warburg, Secker (London: , and , , The Human Condition prodigia Postmodernity's and the and and to CEU eTD Collection Christi 113 Psalmum Peter Lang, 1995) 89-111, where Goodich analyses and edits Engelbert of Admont’s Cultural Convergences in the Crusader Period 112 111 110 Funkenstein, but even going into “deciphering” the mechanisms of authentic miracles involving miracles authentic of mechanisms the “deciphering” into even going but naturally,” happened have “could that miracles rule out to only not miracles, analyse Engelbert of Admontdoes nothesitate to use his knowledge “empiricalof science” to prior to (1053/1054 – 1124) otherwise capable of by actingitself. when a superiorcause influences the mode actionof of an intermediate cause thatis the intermediate cause not being capable of acting by itself, and when asuperior cause by meansacts some intermediaryof cause serving asits agent, these changes, starting with the anonymous the with starting changes, these 109 108 naturam categorization miraclesof as Aquinas. There are three types of miracles: and commented on by Michael Goodich. Aristotelian, Engelbert of Admont, some of whose translationsworks of Avicennian medicalhave treatises.“scientific” by recently attended were Aristotle from translations been philosophical particular, edited “empirical” enquiry couldthat reveal some of the secrets of the “established” inorder; Aristotelianism,least at in its Avicennian form, alsocame withastrong emphasis on impulse from thirteenth-century Aristotelian natural science. and the things whose Lombardus’causes distinctionbetween things whose causes “are in God and in creatures,” “are in God alone.” See Goodich, See See Michael Goodich, “A Chapter in the History of the Christian Theology of Miracle,” in Miracle,” of Theology Christian the of History the in Chapter “A Goodich, Michael See Steven Kruger, Steven Bianchi, “Quotidiana,” 315-316. Bartlett, Bianchi, “Quotidiana,” 315. is in Goodich, De mirabilis sacrae Scripturae In this context it is worth mentioning the work of another thirteenth-century another of work the mentioning itis worth context In this and the prologue to his to prologue the and , when a superior cause acts alone without any inferior cause, The Natural Theology Miracles Dreaming in the Middle Ages De Pignoribus sanctorum Miracles , 126-127, and I will come back to this in chapter 3. , 7. Of course, criticism of the “traditional” accounts of miracles accompanied miracles of accounts of “traditional” the criticism , Of 7. course, , 22, where Goodich looks at Engelbert’s at looks Goodich where 22, , , 22-26. De Miraculis Christi Miraculis De there was no systematic attempt to interpretmiracles as natural; De mirabilis sacrae Scripturae mirabilis De ; see Goodich, , ed. M. Goodich, S. Menache, S. Schein, (New York: (Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1992), 69. 113 35 112 What is particularly insightful is that is insightful particularly is What 111 Engelbert appeals to roughly same the roughly to appeals Engelbert . A more extensive analysis of analysis . Amore extensive 109 Miracles, This separation received avital De Gratiis et virtutibus 15, 16.Funkenstein notes that and Guilbert of Nogent’s 110 praeter naturam Indeed,Arab supra naturam Expositio Super De Miraculis . contra Cross- , , CEU eTD Collection Goodich, investigatemiracles employed distinguished theologians who familiarwere scholastic with arguments,” 116 l’enseignement supérieur public mutation scolastique (1270-1320),” in la imagination: volonté et “Miracle, Boureau, Alain see miracles, performing in of imagination role the and interaction mind-body to respect with particularly supernatural, the of components “natural” the deciphering in theories Avicennian of the importance the On 96. Chapter,” “A Goodich, also see 115 Goodich, “A Chapter,” 93. See at Padua. logic of chair the the held who VIII, Boniface Pope to physician later Brescia, of 114 curing as a result of spiritual change that effectedin turn a change inhumours. emphasizing absencethe of warmth and in water pathological conditions, explains the theory humoral Avicenna to appealing by and, disease produces degradation spiritual Jesus’ healingman a dropsy with 14:1)is(Luke framed in terms of ideathe that natural warmth has disappeared. interior the stops breathing when that showing evidence “experimental” empirical invokes and organs interior and other heart inthe warmth natural on depends life reliability of the signs of death With respect tothelatter, for instance,in one of are casesthe of resurrection in which the discussed, the curialistcounterfactual reasoning causation on uses or of medical appeals“scientific” knowledge. to the theory that the study of anonymousthe curialistone can recognize well-defined traces of processes of canonization familiar were with basicthe texts of scholasticism, intermediate causes onthe level causation.proximal of Goodich, “The Criteria,” 182. Not to mention that “all the commissioners appointed by Rome to by Rome appointed commissioners the “all that mention to Not 182. Criteria,” “The Goodich, Goodich, wasWilliam Padua in convent Dominican atthe teachers one of Engelbert’s outthat points Goodich One should emphasize again that the members of the Curia involved in the cordis cordis animalis propter vehemenciam caloris sicut nec igne sinein experimentum docet, hoc non posset sustinere digitus in illla parte recenter mortui pro aliqua parte est tantus calor quod, ut vivivel enim animalis In corde estextinctus. interioribus aliis membris sentiuntur, tunc enim innotescit quod calor naturalis in corde et in non et expiratio respiratio etiamquando adhoc facit nasum et circa spirituum corporalium circa cor in temporibusostendit deficere et et idemarguit impulsibus quando non perpenditur motus brachium in motivam interioribus virtutem iuncturarum et inflexibilitas motorem Actus autem deficiens in corpore arguit animam non uniri corpori ut Miracles Miracles , 26. , , 23. Goodich follows fols. 31-32 of Ms. Codex Admontensis 398, fols. 22r-38r; (25 congrès,Orleans, 1994), 159-172. Actes des congrès de la Société des historiens médiévistes de médiévistes historiens des Société de la descongrès Actes 36 114 For instance, his analysis of 116 115 and in CEU eTD Collection Goodich writes Goodich canonization of Thomas of Hereford and the manuscript of the anonymous curialist, the on Commenting scrutinized. they miracles the of in some belief value face- their present to justification or background argument, an needed have would high theological training,in the position of participatingin a process of canonization, know the answer to this question. It seems fair to say, however, that people with such into the moot debate of the difference between high and popular culture and Idonot between 1287 and 1312.Was itthe same type of“belief”? One need not enter here do, just like the pilgrims visiting“believe”to straightforwardly in some miracles,theseof justlikelay people would the tomb of Thomas of Hereford would have done 117 These passages standin need of explanation as well. or, at least, beyondwonder, asit were, beyondhis critical rational capacity and “empirical” knowledge, the Scholastic alsostyle have the otherof passagesreasoning in which the anonymous and Curialistenquiring seems to be struck about in miracles. Appendix 1 in Vauchez, in 1 Appendix These passages standalsoinneed of explanationbecause the curialist appears This Aristotelian filiation notwithstanding, this is just one side of the coin. We coin. the sideof one just is this notwithstanding, filiation Aristotelian This vere mortis. anime et corporis mors est. Sequitur quodpremissa sunt veraindicia animam nec uniri corpori ut formam nec motorem,igitur separatioanima non uniatur corpori pluribus modis autem et premissa arguunt combustione et ad huius refrigerationem etiam respirat animal, cum § 2.3 A N I NFERENCE ONTHE NFERENCE 117 Sainthood , 549. , B 37 EST E XPLANATION CEU eTD Collection 120 which appears arduous or unusual, beyond the expectation or ability of the one who one the of ability or expectation the beyond unusual, or arduous appears which conversion from Manichaeism,according which amiracleto is simply “anything referredwonder wasthe atcoreof the Augustinian conception miracles.of have I already to Augustine’sEngelbertof Admont, and the rest of the scholastics. In fact, one could even claim that the distance between wonder andmiracles does not appearas greatas in Aquinas, first definition of miracles, formulated soon after his 119 curialist frames his “face-value” assessments of miracles. isby appealing to Bede, Gregory theand Great Augustine that the anonymous medieval world up to the twelfth century, when scholastic treatises emerged, 118 great deal Augustine.to a owed miracles concerning latter the of thinking the demonstrated, has convincingly Early Modern disguisesin Gregory the GreatBede, and since,William as McCready the candidatebest explanation, Augustinian reasoningabout miracles itsor one of orderensure to the “objective” status of canonizations? Itwouldhave been, Iinfer as reasoning in terms of causes, which was assumed on a general level by the in Curia See Ward, SeeMcCready, Goodich, Indeed, whenit to comes Augustine and the early medieval view of miracles, Whatcould havebeen an alternative to the scholastic (and canonical) and hagiographic precedents. with contemporary medical and philosophical knowledge, along and century Biblical thirteenth early in the developed procedures inquisitorial integrate the rules of evidence from taken lawRoman into the survive,records they allindicate genuinethat efforts were made to highest standards of verifiability were accepted.Although few internal concerned ensure to that only miraclesthose which conformed to the the others thatprecedeit, indicate that curial officials werevery much and Hereford, of Thomas concerning document this that argue would I Miracles Miracles, Signs, , 85. , 2-3, and Goodich, 225-239, and McCready, 119 It was this reasoning on miracles that dominated the dominated that miracles on reasoning this was It Miracles 118 38 Miracles, , 13. , 1-20. 120 and it and CEU eTD Collection 122 121 123 126 124 marvels at it.” 125 wonders for the purpose of worshippingfalse gods, as a putative warning against the possibility of us being deceived due to our to due deceived usbeing of possibility the against warning putative as a ‘prodigies’ or‘miracles,” we call this, to contrary does God whatever and nature; of course and known usual the itself. nature) (or world the – marvel a within happening like portents and theeffects produced by stones, fountains, and salt, aremarvels praeternatural powers -- and God’s power. Healings by produced saints’just relics, distinction between level the “secondary of causes” --the of powers created natures, whenit comes to miracles,Augustine does not busy himself with drawing any extraordinary eachof “normal” event–certain unusual phenomenahappen. to Again, be strictly can event no nature: that fill it;” fill that Creation: “theworld itself ismiracle a greater andmore excellent than all the things perceptive enough see to through each “normal” eventin the consequences of simply means that itself nature should beviewed asmiraculous, if were one nature of each created thing?” will of God be contrary to nature, when the will of so great a creator constitutes the observation.” and experience their is beyond “what readers to look at the marvels of the worldin order to be convinced that God can do Augustine, Augustine, On the Benefit of Believing [ Augustine, Augustine, Augustine, Augustine, Of Of course, when readingAugustine’s claim “wethat: give the name ‘nature’ to Such a “subjective” approach miraclesto is in keeping with a holistic view of The City of God 125 The City of God The City of God The City of God The City of God, and it means that God wills -- given our actual insensitivity to the 121 In The City GodThe of , 21.7. , 22:10., , 21:7., , 21:8., 127 7:51. something like anAquinas-ian chord seemsbe to struck -- 124 contra naturam This does not mean that miracles do not exist; it De Utilitate Credendi , Augustine warns againstdemons effecting 39 “for how can anything done by the 123 122 ], LXXX. ], but at the same time urges his 126 CEU eTD Collection 129 128 Srothern,in NPNF, Series 1,Volume XXVI. 4, 127 will overthe powers of all created natures, within the plan of Providence andseeking toestablish the superiority of God andhis assertion was strictly his related to “objective” stance miracles, on viewing them dimension. non-causal an eminently contained which thinking an Augustinian over here the soul’s “will.” soul’s the here “personal” as anything that partakes intimately of the human soul can be, including and “psychological,” “subjective,” is as wonder where wonder, arousing signs merely constitutes the nature of each created thing” ispart of a construal of miracles as Augustine,For that nomiracle is above sincenature “the will of so great a creator ( Augustine’s “usual course of nature” with Aquinas’s order implanted in natural things wouldbe just to stamp the Aquinas-ian scheme over Augustine’s thinking, toconflate except that of themiracles Creation of nature itself. However, as I argue in chapter 3, this againstnature when itis contrary to whatwe know of nature,” ignorance; andfurther, when reading Augustine’s claim that “God does something praeter ordinem naturalibus inditum rebus Augustine, Reply to Faustus the Manichaean, XXVI. Manichaean, the to Faustus Reply Augustine, [ Manichaean” the Faustus to “Reply Augustine, On Truththe ofCatholic Faith things are moved in any way by God. most fitting for it. Therefore, it is not contrary to nature when createdan instrumentlike instruments for Him.for This is why it is not contraryit to theto naturesince of be movedGod is the byprimary a principal agent…. all thingsagent, that but,come after rather, Him are is Aquinas also held that, strictly speaking, nomiracle is abovenature, but his can only lead one to think that in Augustine there are no “real” miracles “real” no are there in Augustine that tothink one lead only can , 3.100.3. 40 129 ) and toover-impose causal ) categories Contra Faustum Manichaeum 128 Aquinas’s notion of ], tr. Richard ], CEU eTD Collection Aristotelianism. is different, andto adefinite incompatible,extent with the reasoning of scholastic that reasoning of style is a This justified. is also miracles Christian the at wonder then appealsa to different argumentif – his readers wonder at marvels the of the world, 3, in chapter Isuggest as Augustine, God. as such cause unknowable the supremely of existence in the believe should they in nature, work knowledge their beyond elements personal invitingwonder and a make“cold”readers to inference --since causal miracles plausible, but he did so, as noted above, by de-emphasizing the role of Aquinas also appealed tothemarvels of the world to make the existence of 41 CEU eTD Collection basis for such enquiries into the life and miracles of putative saints, Augustine would Augustine saints, putative of miracles lifeand into the such enquiries for basis metaphysical or theological of any in absence the that, and principle; in nonsensical or contradictory, preposterous, sounded have would century thirteenth in the initiated discussion is simple. I wish to argue that for Augustine, the processes of canonization Questions, On Perseverance,theVarious God Giftof TheCityof the Trinity the drawing on material from other Augustinian writings: Augustinian other from material on drawing conversion of theconversion, internal and external miracles, love, and image will, and turning or soul. I thenwonder, and knowledge, beliefs signs, move non-temporal, and temporal between in § 3.2 to expand on some of these themes, in the past provoked wonder. provoked past in the has or provokes which of that miraculous, as existence the to wonder from inference the attempt tojustify face-valuethe acceptance miracles,of proposing adirect scholastic construal miraclesof and itthus could have offered a viable alternative in Augustinian style of reasoning wastoadefiniteirreconcilable extent with the thinking on miracles.The chapterpresent is intended to substantiate the claim that this of the miracles attributed to Thomas of Hereford might well be the Augustinian some of assessment face-value in his curialist anonymous by the exhibited reasoning Confessions 240. Augustine,” to according and Miracle Order “Creation 131 130 Genesis being a proper approach to the theme of miracles in Augustine; see Chris Gousmett, see Chris Augustine; in miracles of theme the to approach aproper being Genesis manuscript. in the from tradition miracles to past appeal the to I here refer I have argued in previousthe thatchapter the bestcandidate for the style of I start in §3.1 from the rendition of Creation provided by Augustine in his in Augustine by provided Creation of rendition the from in §3.1 start I , , 131 On Grace and Free Will in order to demarcate his basic views providence,on the relation C HAPTER 130 3 - A , UGUSTINE ON On Christian Doctrine Christian On 42 Evangelical Quarterly On the Profit of BelievingProfit of the On M IRACLES , . The purpose of my of purpose . The ToSimplicianus on 60,No. 3(1988): 217- , On CEU eTD Collection ancient miracles…. ancient the all recount I to were tedious seem “I should upheld. is 2) chapter in mentioned (also 132 entire mature work, and are also woven togetherin his construal miracles.of his through less or more run that thinking in Augustine’s themes basic some underline Origen’s influence, though; as stated above, I use the rendition of Creation in order to flavour of certain passages. My discussion in the following section is notby Origenist the centred out is borne as book, endis in atransitional the in 396, on queries of reading crucial the after written though this point of From Augustine. mature by the view adopted will free and grace on views by the enriched it is entirelydefinition ofmiracles thatwas upheld all through thesuitable way to to startin in 392 provided who well, as Augustine with the is mostly concerned with the mature Augustine. I refer, however, to the young passages betraying aface-value assessment miracles of (§ 3.4). is atleast plausible (§ 3.3); finally, and I return to the curialist’ treatise and the miracles and the thirteenth-century scholastic ones,which I discussed in the chapter 1, on views scholastic thirteenth-century the and Augustine’s between incompatibility threads from the preceding sections indicateand some reasons why the their pastoral activities. Atthe endchapter the pull Itry of looseto together the life of Churchthe and educationalthe tasks that themen Churchof shouldfulfil in mosthave at conceded that of processes canonization couldhavein arole the daily See The City of God As can be seen from the above choice of Augustine’s writings, my discussion writings, Augustine’s of choice above the from be seen As can For who can but 10. 8, where the approach to miracles provided in “On the Profit of Believing” Profit the “On in provided miracles to approach the where 10. 8, marvel that Abraham’s barren wife should have given birth to a to birth given have should wife barren Abraham’s that 43 Romans On the Profit Believing Profit the of On occasioned by Simplicianus’ Confessions The CityGod, of , which, even abasic 132 to be to CEU eTD Collection forthcoming. – world” of the eternity On the treatise lost Porphyry’s of track the India? On in Philosophy “Greek Perczel, István issue See onthis Genesis. on Commentary lost be Origen’s to seems world, material the creating in activity God’s Christian the by ordered was which motion, a negligent in resulting fall, precosmic toa asreferring 30A Timaeus interpreted probably before Augustine, which, text, mediating The soul. evil by the caused motion” disorderly and of a “negligent ordering as the world 135 and not through face” to a “mirror”,“face God, of which the chosen contemplation ones eternal will the enjoy. in of time reabsorption the and salvation in culminates time, in the “ redemption. That is,Genesis 1 and 2:1-3 constitute the “simultaneous” (or beyond the successions of unfolding of the history of temporal the the church themselves and the temporal within interval enclose between somehow “events”) the fall and the of non-temporal final a series (as 2:1-3 Genesis and 1 Genesis creation; of days the by signified “time” the and time historical between connection the is parts these between connection the where parts, as enclosed are creation of allegory the and church historical of the allegory the which in story figurative a larger fact, in is, this that argue could One Augustine’s predestination.referencesto role in redemption; there is alsofigurative a of reading creation as such, as attested by no correspondence to temporal unfolding, Genesis 1:2-31 allows a reading through a through reading a allows 1:2-31 Genesis unfolding, temporal to correspondence no peace without an evening. by theirsins following thefall, ending some)(for in the Sabbath oflife eternal and the what proceeds in time is a reordering of the disorderly motions of the souls , causeddiscussion of Creation. his in by Augustine developed rationale main the summarise Thirteen Book 134 Augustine: A Chapter in the History of Origenism in reject 133 wonders woman children… prolific bear a could even not when age an son at allegorical figurative.and ishighly 1 of Genesis reading The 1:26. Genesis and 1:1 Genesis between connection putative a of discussion and no 3, Genesis and 2 Genesis of rest the to references in Book Eleven) discuss Genesis 1 and Genesis 2: 1-3. There are no explicit This sounds as an interesting reference to Plato’s Timaeus 30 A, which treats the creation of the creation the treats which A, 30 Timaeus Plato’s to reference an interesting as This sounds See to came he a principle writings, early inhis Augustine by adopted principle a heuristic to According Confessions According to Augustine, time unfolds the pre-existent ideas of things, while Books Twelve and Thirteen of Confessions (following the discussion on time § done by Moses to rescue God’s people from the yoke of slavery in Egypt” (italics mine). (italics Egypt” in ofslavery yoke the from people God’s rescue to by Moses done The Literal Meaning of Genesis 3.1 present G ENESIS IN THE ENESIS [ ” of eternity) framing, or indeed, creating, the pattern of temporal happenings that happenings of temporal pattern the creating, orindeed, framing, eternity) ” of Confessiones 133 135 ], tr.Albert C.Adler (Philadelphia: WestminsterPress, 1955),13: 34. There is an allegory about the Church and its historical Except for Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 2:1-3, which have which 2:1-3, andGenesis 1:1 Genesis for Except C ONFESSIONS , see György Heidl, György , see (Piscataway,NJ: Gorgias Press,2003) 140. 44 134 ChaptersXXXVII XXXV,of XXXVI, Origen's Influence on the Young How striking also were the were also striking How CEU eTD Collection 137 136 intelligence, aswomen subordinateare men, to such that, amongmiracles others, and be renewed, would faithful the of minds performed andimitated, aftertheir kind.After image the God, saysof Augustine, the be deeds good and continence, of strength by the be ordered can passions so that wicked,leaving space for the earth of the faithful, in which the living couldbe raised, signified byfowl flying overthe waters, in accord with firmament.the wonders, and miracles came them with and heaven, of this stars and lights the were below, the fallen beings subject to its authority. Thevoices of prophets and holy men firmament, separating thewatersfrom above, the angelicfrom beings waters from the waters was moving over us. The authority of the Old Testament was established as a manifested: historical glance, revealing the hidden things before time that would then come to be Confessions, 13:34. Confessions, Confessions The waters below would withdraw into a sea, thenot look beyondsea toward its perfection. of the ungodlysoul has a higher lifeand and unless, the after the word of itsmysteries wouldadmission,be not able profit to from if itthem not were that their it did corporeal thy on made dependent and initiated and instructed been phrases ‘creeping creatures’ and ‘flying fowl.’ Still,men who have the I interpret way is the this For words. and deeds mystical their forth show to in order ‘waters’ many of midst in the signs tangible would have been no need for thy ministers to use corporeal and there Thus, his belly. from forth flowed have never would moving, restlessly so swelling, boisterously so prying, deeply race--so human sea--the brackish that thee, from away fallen not had if Adam And over moving Spirit sin;the of darkness the was 1:2 in Genesis darkness The season….. in due us help us to over profound darkness away from thee, and thy good Spirit was moving into and wehadsunk us over sins were our since disorders-- our reorder mightest and manifest things hidden make mightest thou that in time, thou didst begin to unfold the things destined before time, so , 13:34. , 45 136 138 137 subordinating rational action to the to action rational subordinating CEU eTD Collection 141 140 139 138 proceeds in and from time. time, and yet has madesays all Augustine, those the rest of Himthings who sees not in time,which movesworked not in intime, areus, willrests rest,seennot inand we willin resttime in Him. And thatandday will be everything Hisof rest everlastingthrough us, that duration, when God, Who has given us our good works and has God sees. what beseeing would Spirit, through creation, perfect faithfulthe in this life); the faithful the wonders would be nolonger needed, and no human authority would be necessary for Confessions Confessions Confessions Confessions All things in time, with morningown likeness,’ so that then we mayand be able to prove what thy will is. evening, afterwill his kind,’ passbut rather, ‘Let usaway make man in exampleonour own imagethe and our seventh theof a neighborbettermind.’ This will not now man--forbe “after your their of renewing the by kind,”be transformed ‘But who saidst, as thou ifwhen add we were following went thou in fulfilledhas been then didst will followimmediately us, thou what before didst conformednot to this world,”us, which thou didst speak through thy say,apostle, not “Be or word, the when and well; living by soul” living be “a to began as‘Let if we when and ill; wemanliving by wedied in which world, the of love the werebe made livingLord, our God, Creator,our when our affections have been turned from afterflying creatures which the those waters of in need thestand brought not does waters forth the above founded hast at thou thy word. …Thus, O whobelieve but to those who do not believe.” And the earth which bitter by infidelity. Thus, for them, “tongues are a for sign, not tothose earth” is separated from ‘the waters’ of the sea, which have been made refuse to believe unless itsees signs andmarvels, now that “the faithful miraculous works by which buttressto faith. For such a soul does not appointed thatbaptism should bethe entrance. doesit Nor seek great, no other entrance intothe Kingdom of Heaven, since thou hast had, or as it did when it was covered heathen with the as of baptism, the need has longer waters--andno soul this now And itself! there can be soul’ living ‘the but life,’ has that creature flying the and creeping ‘the not forth, brought that water, the of brackishness the from separated And thus, in thy Word, it was not the depth of the sea but ‘the earth,’ themselves , 13: 37,38. , 13:21, 22. , 13:21, , 13:21. , , 13:22. , to perform good deeds (even if ministries would also needed to needed also would if ministries (even deeds good perform to 141 139 and such that seeing and loving the good of 46 140 CEU eTD Collection 146 146 Manicheans 145 Girardi and Marcello Marin(Bari: Edipuglia,2002), 277-297. Italiano diricerca su «Origene la tradizionee alessandrina (Bari,» 20-22 settembre 2000) Pontique,” in le d’Evagre penséesystématique la sur “Notes Perczel, István See ofPontus. Evagrius in found 144 attacked at the end of the fourthand the middle of the sixth century. is the Word itself. Word the is see Heidl, 143 Word -- abyss like the lightlessly flowing and heaven, of heaven 142 “turning,” noon.” Augustine then introduces the concept of “formless spiritual creation” and of cleaving thee to with a supernal love, andglow shine from likethee a perpetual the the earth as we know itwas shaped by the addition of Forms. us. wisdom, the Son of God; in and evenits though we can find no time before it,wayit should not be confusedit with divine is wisdom, but a the sweetnesscreated of contemplating God, butwisdom, mutability as such still exists. Itmother was created, to simultaneous face.” whole, to “face understandto where heaven intelligible an delights, His contemplating perfectly spirits saintly is to know allcreated the Heaven heavensof --a spiritual the creature, of House occupiedGod by at once -- beginning Godcreated heavennot and Augustineearth means for that “in part,”in the That for my discussion. important are also it on views Augustine’s but “through a mirror,” but as a Confessions Confessions, Confessions Confessions Confessions Confessions 144 Its mutability entails that it “could become dark and cold, if it did not, by and illuminated and illuminated and Genesis 1:1, just like Genesis 2:1-3, does not have a temporal correspondent, a temporal have not does 2:1-3, like Genesis just 1:1, Genesis As to intellectualthe creature, its mutability is greatly restrained because of Origen's, 145 , see Heidl, Origene e l’alessandrinismo cappadoce (III-IV secolo): Atti del VConvegno del Gruppo , 13:2. , , 13:2. , stating theformless spiritualthat creation preceding the “in-formed” , 13:2. On the concept of incorporealmatter ofinvisible things in , 12: 8. On the heavenof heavens and formless matter in Augustine’s earlier writings, , 12:15. This constitutes a particular interpretation of the wisdom of Proverbs, also 13:2. 85-90. These are eminently themes of Origen’s interpretation of Genesis, much Genesis, of interpretation Origen’s of themes are eminently These 85-90. 146 Origen’s Thus, the mutability within the heaven of heavens, entailing that entailing heavens, of heaven the within mutability the Thus, “ , 91, 97, 101. made light,” made 142 Healso createdformlessmatter out ofwhich “as an image of that Form [of Light]” which 47 143 has been turned by the by turned been has before any day Genesis against the against Genesis , ed. Mario, , He CEU eTD Collection 150 Schwartz and Volkhard Krech (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck,2004), 205-236. Origenists in the Sixthand Manichees Century” Apologetics: of Religious Service the in:in Myth Philosophical “A Perczel, István see issue On this distortion. present and freedom original its as as well world to objective the God and relation its consciousness, of individual origin the explaining by Plotinus, used ones the to analogous myth, philosophical a be Platonist to seems latter The so-called. myth” “Origenist ofthe meaning real the precisely not is this whether may wonder one However, analogy. of level heuristic on the only is that allegory historical temporal, the and allegory non-temporal the between association explicit an makes Augustine fallen, of being state present or our fall our and heavens of heaven the from fall the between connection the to comes it when but “days,” creation of allegory the by attended indeed “Origenism”on that started at timeofthe controversy the writing of the the Confessions); from allegorythe of historicalsafe him time is kept has this doubt no (and concerned are statements explicit as his asfar “orthodox” perfectly seems Augustine at least, surface, On the writings. early Augustine’s the demonstration provided by Heidl, in 149 148 147 within itself the possibility of darkness. In the waters below the Spirit are those not even as it flows in its own darkness.” in is which livingall at not the thing same happily living as the Spiritmoving over the waters was moving “over that life which thou hadstmade: corporeal matter, out of which the corporeal universe iscreated, Augustine thatstates creation (before being turned God andto forming intelligible) the and formless the associated with happiness); itmoved over turning away from God. the attending deformity” “spiritual same the of suggestive highly are statements the Spirit moving over the watersto world,148 the of side corporeal of the and creation the to returns theAugustine heavens, bringing forth of the corporeal heaven, his turned away from God. thee,” given that we are also by turned in being had received itlight the lose a [would] thee, from spiritualaway “turning creation by virtue of it “couldbecomeour dark and cold” is accompaniedsouls by the possibility that a soul,by and once we Here,of course, one could make the point that the Confessions smack of Origenism, bearing in mind Confessions Confessions Confessions In a paraphrase, the Spirit did not When, after having discussed the (possibility of) the fall from the Heaven of Heaven the from fall the of) (possibility the discussed having after When, , 13:5. , , 13:5. , , 13:2. , 147 149 Mentioning in the same phrasetheformless spiritual Religious Apologetics Philosophical Argumentation Philosophical Apologetics Religious Origen’s 150 48 , that Origen was a major source of inspiration in waters, over thatcreated life has which rest in waters, on , since that life still lives waters (where restis , ed. Yosset , ed. in CEU eTD Collection Augustine’s De Trinitate 153 152 151 other explicit reference to miracles is shaped in negativea tone – miracles should no mutable. Fallen spirits have lost the by Jesus and his disciples, insofaris clearly made tothe theophanies of Oldthe Testament (and tothemiracles wrought as they were needed reference the where angels, God’s to and people by holy about establish brought fowl, flying the authority). by signified events, extraordinary – heaven firmament/corporeal of the and stars lights figure explicitly in places. two Inthefirst place, they are thehappenings attendingthe become manifest in time, in the interval betweento which I turn now. the Fall and Salvationthemes that bearan intimate relationship Augustinianwith the conception miracles,of – miracles knowledge; wonder, conversion, and beliefs signs, non-temporal; love, and temporal between relation the will,providence, and the turning of the soul. These Augustine’sare all allegorical rendition of Creation contains the seeds of his basic view on not obeyed andremainedrest, reposing at contain wholethe spiritual creation if all mindsobedient inheaven the heavens hadof garments oflightwe will also wear,when God will usrestore to Himself. lift them up by granting love. by granting up lift them of their spiritand between torn concupiscence andtheneed for the gracethatshould rest, but those in need of rest, in need of love, driven downwards by the uncleanliness Seealso Confessions Confessions In the figurative reading of the days of creation -- days hiding whatis to § 3.2 On theProfit ofBelieving , 13:10; see also , Book 13:7. M IRACLES IN IRACLES (Oxford: Oxford 2008). University Press, The A City of God 151 UGUSTINE , chapter 32, and Luigi Gioia, Luigi and 32, chapter , The abyss, Augustine, states would have cometo garments of light , 22.29. 49 in the Spirit, which moves over and come to exhibit darkness; The Theological The Epistemology of 152 everything 153 The CEU eTD Collection 155 154 have the movements of the heart targeting what is outside and not what is inside. In isinside. what not and is outside what targeting heart of the movements have the to be oriented towards the corporeal world,love to temporal things for themselves, to is ignorance healedfor those whobelieve and follow the authority of the Scriptures? how words, Inother forth? isbrought earth dry the of soul living the once unnecessary become miracles Why should only? them for Why God? of forgetful those For another, why and how could ignorancecorporeal in this context.miracles For one, in whatconstitute senseand wonder of mentioning isAugustine’s to ignorancein connection arise that questions related thean motherentry of wonder? into faith for nature. of course usual the beyond goes that anything about wonder of full and amazed thus are and abyss, darkened intheir Him from hidden and God forgotten have who those ignorant, the for faith into entry the are world, forth. is brought “livingsoul” the longerbe needed for those on the dry land separatedfrom the sea of the wicked, once Where this perfectly corresponds to Augustine’s theory of visions in visions of theory Augustine’s to corresponds perfectly this Where Confessions Ignorance mother is the of wonder because beto amazed at external events is external corporeal, the involving events extraordinary miracles, External ‘the living soul.’ Seek the Lord and yoursetting, soul men will heed,shall not with a in such For thelive imitation. mereto up them intent stirring and them before andtoliving hear, ‘thebut also to act.earth’ by faithful the unto may example be an them Let abyss. the of bringwhirlpools forth Instead, let thy ministers themselveswork from face,thy have andbecome who a darkenedabyss. even as on ‘the dry land,’into safe from the entry faith isthe this For things. strange and occult of fear its of because for the which ignorance--thesonsmother of wonder--gives them an attentive ear ofin expressions, mystical and Adammysteries and by miracles and speak who preach hadto they when are ofinfidelity, waters’ in‘the formerly did they forgetfulNow, therefore,let ministers thy do theirwork on earth’--not‘the as of thee, who hide , 13:21. , 154 50 155 On the Trinity. On the There areseveral inter- CEU eTD Collection 160 1982). Press, The Newman York: New (S.J. Taylor Hammond John tr. Shedd, NPNF V1-03.See also 159 158 chapters 9 and 10. “subsequent” causality in time. reasons, causal principles implantedin the days creationof and responsible all for the seminal of Origen) and in Plotinus especially popular, quite time, by Augustine’s but, this world” of elements corporeal in the concealed are [and] visibly, and corporeally born are that 157 Odyssey of Soul this gross and roughbody after the fall; see Robert O’Connell, God 156 temporal, in temporal changes follow the non-temporal pattern set out in the Creation “days”. is even conceivable. is even fulfilsthat God’s will is nature, declares Augustine, andhence no event againstnature Everything nature. above situated putatively events as reality any have not do they depending on the emphasis. I take these sensesin turn. wonder) (arousing signs merely are miracles But change. of world in the changes scintillating wondrous, through about bebrought only understanding. allows us todo atmost –to fall down and down, lacking faith, belief and, of course, have, beings human body that rough and gross in the body, the See A body different from the subtle body human beings will have at the end of time; see On the Trinity The City of God On the Trinity 22.21. Apparently, in the Confessions, Augustine’s teaching is that human beings came to have to came beings human that is teaching Augustine’s Confessions, the in Apparently, 22.21. On Grace andFree Will Precisely in order to underline the dependence of the temporal on the non- the on temporal the of dependence the underline to order in Precisely § On a first count, corporeal miracles are 3.2.1 160 On the Trinity (Cambridge: Harvard (Cambridge: andsuch seeds alsoin act the case ofmiracles. , 3.8.13. 157 [ , 21.8. M De Trinitate For a mind immersed in the love of the corporeal world, faith can IRACLES AS IRACLES 158 Augustine advances a theory (distantly inspired by the Stoics by the inspired (distantly a theory advances Augustine Providence, furthermore, entails, as noted already that the On the Literal Meaning of Genesis ] 3.8.13 - 3.9.16, tr. Arthur West Haddan, revised by William G. T. [ De Gratia et Libero Arbitrio MERELY 159 University Press, 1969). Press, University There are “in truth, some hidden seeds of all things all of seeds hidden some truth, are“in There SIGNS 51 merely ( AROUSING WONDER , signs (arousing wonder) because and this is so in a triple sense, triple a in so is this and ], tr. Peter Holmes, in NPNF V1-05, [ De Genesi ad Litteram De Genesi St. Augustine's Confessions: The 156 161 this is freewhat will For miracles, thus, miracles, For ) ], 6.11.18-19, The City of CEU eTD Collection 162 is less proximal (say, magical) and so on. curiosity,discriminate trying to between causes, what separate is proximal from what Augustine speaks disparagingly of those lookinginto causes, prey to the malady of (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994) 23-41. Rist John also See 1-4. chapters 2, book 1-3, chapters 161 not have asufficiently clarified causal competence. does events extraordinary to responding person the because primarily not wonder of mother is the Ignorance “ignorance.” of issue the in Augustine by adopted attitude the faithful. the of sight blurred still the given signs, remain of temptation and dispense with authority -- the teaching of the Church and the Bible to understand; actingvirtuously, but not mustering sufficient strength to become free enough not but knowing see Himclearly; to enough not but God loving – faith of path grace of God, external miracles as signsfootsteps of fulfilthose lacking understanding andnot seeing. Even theirwhen, through the purpose and men swerve intoSalvation. the Men have decayno and, in fact, this isway how the mind works in our temporal livesto in the absence of contemplate because isthis howGod the human mind knows, orbegins toknow, in its pre-faith“face-to-face,” state of so signs direct the possibility – an important train of thought to which I will return in §3.4. return I will which to thought of train an important – possibility natural “functioning”created worldof the entire and explanations offering for their the into them integrating miracles of a “physiology” to amount reasons seminal See On the Trinity On theOn Christian Doctrine On a second count,corporeal miracles are merely This emphasis on “simplicity”the of miracles is crucial for making sense of § 3.2.2 3.8.17. M IRACLES AS MERELY AS IRACLES [ De Doctrina Christiana SIGNS 52 ( AROUSING WONDER , Augustine -- Ancient Thought Baptised ], J.F.tr. Shaw, in NPNF V1-02,book1 162 163 In numerous passages signs (arousing wonder) ) CEU eTD Collection of there-enacting,a soul, certain limitedto and (insofar extent asfaith forrespectand reality of miracles is negate to the reality denyof grace, to the existence of the turning it). “triggered” have might which ones corporeal external, the love hearts, into our external miracle --precisely because conversion iseffected by the Holy Spiritpouring for Augustine -- which may be preceded or“triggered” by witnessing a corporeal, having had the soul turned by the Holy Spirit towards the inside, the non-corporeal. the inside, the towards Spirit Holy the by turned soul had the having precisely, more or soul, the of aturning realised having means faith having because external miracles, with their reality, should become unnecessary for those with faith, manifestationsas exist they and signs, as exist They exist. miracles that deny not does Augustine of God’s will to send a waking call to those who forgot Him. But 167 Spirit. Holy the of actions denying to amount Origenism. called 166 vulgarly par excellence, Platonism Christian fordefining condition sufficient not chapter 6. Once again, this strong dichotomy between the spiritual and the corporeal isa necessary but 165 Park, and Daston see also On the Trinity 163 164 return to this aspectlater. because they totheare related corporeal world. See Lorraine Daston and Katherine Park, Katherine and Daston SeeLorraine would it moreinconceivable; the all is reality their deny to miracles, also are if conversions And III of Book in discussion his see vein; causal this in argue does sometimes Augustine though Even Confessions Catechising of the Uninstructed Conversion faith,to as issuch, also a miracle initself, an “internal” miracle not desiredfor any saving end, but only to make trial of him make trial usto drives prompting of this itself, in religion GodEven arts. magical the when this same motive of perverted curiosity for knowledge that weconsult The person who believes, has faith, should leave miracles behind mainly behind miracles leave should faith, has believes, who person The which men desire to know only for the sake of knowing. And it is with itAnd knowing. of sake the for only know to men desire which our destiny—which do not profit us to know about, and concerning out the secret powers of nature--those which have nothingdowith to exhibitedin the theatre. Itis also sights reasonthe why we proceed to search strange those all for reason isthe curiosity of malady This , of the example of a faithfulperson falling sick due to devotion; 10.35;on the curiosity attending philosophers’ enquiries see 166 Wonders (and as an internal,interior miracleis it accordingly superior to , 123. [ De Catechizandis Rudibus signs Wonders and wonders are eagerly askedhim- of 53 , 39-40,, 123. 165 avoidTo misunderstanding – ], tr. S.D.F. Salmond, NPNF V1-03, NPNF Salmond, S.D.F. tr. ], 167 The City of God of City The Hence, to deny the On the Trinity . 164 , 3.2.7. I , 10.28; CEU eTD Collection 169 renewing of the mind, and in the eternal contemplation ofGod. 168 is preciselyoutside objects and reality towards the intelligible world inside, towards God. Wondersuch a movementsoul”), themovements of the soul are restrained andre-oriented from lovethe of ofconverted (signified,in the moral reading of Creation by raisingthe of “livingthe the soul, a movement that, when triggered by and atleastmake an attemptat wisdom: heaven of heavens do, but enough for itto turn from the outward form of all things partially cleansed, not sufficiently for it to cleave to the truth, as only souls in the heavens. of heaven the of in hisdiscussion mentions Augustine that creation spiritual formless of the light through in-forming and turning the is concerned), authority An in-forming that only becomes complete after the bringing forth of the living soul, only after the after only soul, living the of forth bringing the after complete becomes only that Anin-forming On the Profit of Believing When miraclesexternal become unnecessary for faithfulthe mind which easily he sees the truth. and the soul: from which filth morethe any one iscleansed, the more say shortly whatI mean, is the love of any things whatsoever save God which the filthy soul is utterly unable to do: but the filth of the soul,inhand, able thatwemay tobewise,be is, cleavethat to to the truth; to business the is now this But it? denies who man; wise the to necessary by miracles,in part by multitude of followers: no one of these is itis very hard for fools to understand pure, movesunto God. us Buttwo this, ways; setting in part aside reason, which (as we havesome authority,often whereon, said) resting as on a sure step, we may be lifted up appointed hath Himself God same the that hope all give up not must private, all better order the mindsof seek God, to andserve to God; we in and public in as itwere, exhorts, conscience what, inward not assuredly flows from some fountain of truest beauty,But if both the outward and form some, of all things, I whichknow we mustbelieve religion. about busy ourselves to need no have we affairs, human over not presides God of Providence the if For, moved. be to not wretched more surely but by authority, be deceived to wretched indeed is it to hasten unto wisdom. So longthis worldas unto the Truewe God. It iscannot authority alone which moves understand fools pureof our[truths], mindfrom dwelling on the earth, this a first turning alifting up this wholesome mostauthority, me,a is,believe This from the love of 168 Under the “authority” of corporeal miracles the filth of the soul should be , Section 34. 169 54 CEU eTD Collection 171 whole of creation as good,as God sees it; 170 beginning of this chapter, for him the processes of canonization would have sounded have would canonization of processes the for him chapter, this of beginning curiosity about of nature, into enquiry of causes, for search the of disregard the Augustine’s on dwelling corporeal world,sillyview to miracles as naturebeyond (except as beyond nature as we know it).By one can begin to plan of providence andseefact the thatfor Augustineit would have been intellectually why, as I claimed in the a search for (whatis falsely called) knowledge,in fact the knowledge of a dead soul: as itself disguising curiosity of poison the it with carrying is serpent, the soul” “living Confessions not, comingfrom God or putatively not comingfrom God. As Augustine saysin the or magical non-proximal, and proximal causes, of types different between discerning mind soul or who becomes uninterested in the details of the corporeal inworld, entirety; its in creation of whole the to addressed deny their realitythe hardening (and of theI will soul external events, signifiesof a certain grossness roughness or of comethe soul; notthose asserious as whoback are not toeven this),able to believe but in lessmiracles subtle and than the wonder This isevident when Augustine commentsthat after therenewing of the mind man should see the The City of God And with this I return to the previous issue discussed in § 3.2.1, regarding the and conformed to it. the fountain of -not so deadthatit haslife, lost all motion, but dead becausehas it deserted and so hasdelight of lust, andbeen the poison of curiosity are motions takenof the dead soul-the pride, of haughtiness the say, is to that mind: upour of motions the are by this transitoryfigures these in allegory, For, harmless. made serpent and the subdued, world called knowledge. Thus may the wild beast be tamed, the cattle is falsely what andfrom luxury, of passions indolent from the pride, they are loved. Restrain yourselves from the unbridled wildness if of death bring which things those by avoiding lives soul The it. from ‘the living soul.’ Be not conformed to this world; separate yourselves Seek the Lord and your soul shall live and ‘the earth’ may bring forth , one of the animals to be tamed and made harmless after the raising of the of raising the after harmless made and be tamed to animals ofthe , one 10.12. 171 Confessions 55 13:31. See also 170 and certainly less subtle than the The City of God , 10.12. , CEU eTD Collection 172 miracles and wonder. this more clearly one should look at the precise relationshipbetween these corporeal utterly useless andinefficient means tofind outanythingin this regard. In order to see an eye an Augustinian to seemed have would questionnaires their and Lawyers inside. turning and subtle becoming or hardening its soul, the of states the about wonder, processes of canonization would).” miracles Corporeal Augustine to are about don’t ask questions about causes, the problem miraclesof would dissolve (just like the the jurists, theologians, and kingsimplicated in the processes of canonization “if you and the problem of universals will dissolve.” Augustine, I think, would have advised see, which, once (partially healed), should have left the corporeal world behind. world corporeal the left have should healed), (partially once which, see, was anignorance related tothe weak nonexistent) (or “interior” andsight capacity to is God’s action alonein the corporeal world, above the powers of all creatednature. It and “natural”from what isangelic and demonic, andmagical, and circumscribe what possible in practice) discern between various types of causes, separate what is human knowledge ofcauses, by an enquiry into causes that could (atleast in principle,if not world. The ignorance that Augustine has in mind could not be dispelled (only) by arrive at what God aloneto eliminate all the stemmingeffects from of the powers created nature inorderto could have put intoorder toascertain amiraclethat was real, thepractice Aquinas-like reasoning was one hadthat as an effect the participants in the processes of canonization, causalin epistemic incompetence; in the corporeal preposterous or unnecessary. Ignorance nourishing unwarranted wonder was for all The City of God Derridasay used in to a differentcontext “Don’t inspeak of terms universals , 10.14. 56 172 CEU eTD Collection miracles for the veneration of God, demons perform miracles for their own veneration, as is the case in case the as is veneration, own for their miracles perform demons God, of veneration for the miracles fairly straightforward criterion to distinguish demonic marvels from miraclesChristian –saints perform sufficient condition175 as demons could also work marvels. Augustine appeals to what is meant to be a City of God the through way the all upheld Augustine spirit whose definition a wonder, arousing unusual anything just as amiracle defines Augustine in 2, which in chapter mentioned 174 173 to recall the definition of miracles in is an essential,necessary component of the (corporeal)miraculous. existor areplausible because they believed.are Thus, addressing the Platonic sceptics miracles saysthat basically which an argument miracles, of possibility) (or existence view. In between wonder anda corporeal miracleis also significant from a different point of relationship close the But in §3.2.2). (mentioned senses” “the of world the from away stay to in order soul the cleansing of necessity onthe insists and in §3.2.1) (mentioned events supra-natural as miracles of reality the targets Augustine miracles, corporeal See See Bianchi, “Quotidiana”, 314-315. On the Profit of Believing The City of God and preposterous. Therefore to man unable to see the truth,authority is itis purged for the very purpose that you may see, is surely perverse as when soul, your purge to inorder truth, the see to wish to Therefore brought nearbrought senses to the suited for the people, and in general forfoolish men, than what is power of them who wonder. Of which kind there is nothing more miracle, whatever appears thatis difficult unusual above or the hope or a that I call But multitude. by in part by miracles, in part prevails, this himself to be cleansed; and, atas I said a littlehand, above, no one doubtsin that order that he may be made fitted for it, and may allow By emphasizing that wonder is an essential, indispensible component of component indispensible is essential, an wonder that By emphasizing On a third count,miracles are merely signs (arousing wonder § The City ofGod 3.2.3 . 174 M IRACLES AS MERELY MERELY SIGNS AS IRACLES , 10.8. , LXXX (italics and underlining mine). Wonder is a necessary but not , Augustine advances a strange argumentin favour of the . 175 On the Profit of Believing Profitof the On 57 ( AROUSING WONDER that I have already 173 ) because) wonder Here it is useful ) CEU eTD Collection 176 chapter. of this end the pagan rites; see the whole world has come to believe it because the Apostles performed miracles, and miracles, performed Apostles the because it believe to come has world whole the incredible atall,says Augustine, because the whole world has comebelieve to it. And properties, impossibilities in nature, etc., Augustine interjects: natural nature, about discussions having of if tired as however, 5, In chapter life. daily in our experience we that body and soul of union incredible the to by pointing time Resurrection and the resurrection the of chosen in asubtle,spiritual body at theend of XXII whodenied bodiesthat could existin a spiritual realm, Augustine argues inBook The City of God , Chapterthat 4, thescepticsleastaccept should at the possibility Christ’s of stolid they are; and if it is incredible, then this also is an incredible is an also this then incredible, is it if and are; they stolid thing which is believed, then let those who do not believe educated uneducatedor are see still staggered by it. howIf this is crediblea the of feweither very a only while places, heavenly the to ascension unlearned have believed in the resurrection of the flesh and its of Christ was received up into heaven.Already both the learned and message, consisted of wonderful works, not words. For they who had persuade to effectually so able been have should noeducation, and rank, lowest andthe birth mean believed soincredible a thing; itis incredible a that very few men, of have world should the that is incredible it heaven; into flesh with ascended and flesh in the risen have should Christ Jesus that incredible The miracle of Christ’s resurrection and ascension to the heavenly place is not place heavenly tothe ascension and resurrection Christ’s of miracle The and who testifiednot only with words but wonderful signs. things, these hadseen they how related who those believed body, risen His with heaven into ascending nor flesh, in the risen Christ seen not thing, that what is incredible should have receivedsuch credit witnesses. The witnesses. contemptible insuch manifestly more the all appeared itself thing the of divinity the because is it no education, and rank, lowest and the And if the world has put faithhow isit it that has in already received credence in wholethe a world? small… numbercredible, it isIf not of world. whole in the men,believed and preached already of mean birth and His ascension into heaven with fleshthe in which He is rose, so incredible a thing …. It is indubitable that the resurrection of Christ, belief the to come has world the now, “…behold, The City of God , 22.4 (underlining mine). (underlining , 22.4 eloquence , 10. 7, 8. I will come back to this aspect concerning demons towards demons concerning aspect this to back come I will 8. 10. 7, , , indeed, which lent persuasion to their to persuasion lent which indeed, , the world, and even itsmen, learned of 58 that the earthly body earthly the that ” 176 . … It is CEU eTD Collection dialogues. 177 brought upon Egypt, Augustine writes that “the hardening which God causes is an causes God which hardening “the that writes Augustine Egypt, upon brought Pharaoh’s heart, which made him insensitive to the devastating plague miraculously “perceive” the external miracle andforwonder to arise. should also berequisite for the “dead” immersed soul in the corporeal world to corporeal miracles is moreintricate in that. In a sense, atype of “turning of the soul” in and believing in Christ belief Holy-Spirit-mediated the between relationship exclusively at the corporeal world. Infact, however, such for “dead” souls, the by those whose impurity of heart had ledmen, and “internal” that miracles them could be“triggered” by externalmiracles witnessed to have the eyes of the into mind love pouring Spirit Holy the to due directedmiracles “internal” of as types themselves conversions considered Augustine that in §3.2.2, mentioned I him. against used been have well very could which of) premises (the arguments himself for and using causal (Aquinas-like) construal miracles.of Augustine was inthehabit taking up of Resurrection show the power of superstition? in the believe to come have world) whole eventhe (or of people multitude the Platonists would havegladly used against Augustine –does not the fact that the plebs, haughty that premises of type the precisely itemploys because inappropriate by way indicatingof beliefthat in miraculous events is already in Andplace. it seems incredible.seems It circular because itis meant to justify belief in miraculous events properties, putative impossibilities, etc., but tofaith, belief, and what appears unusual, inappropriate.seems It oddbecauselonger itno refers causes, to effects, natural these miracles were in believed.turn Augustine’s argument appears odd, circular, and Platonists had a long tradition of mocking “popular” beliefs, starting from Plato himself in his early his in himself Plato from starting beliefs, “popular” of mocking tradition a long had Platonists Commenting, in Commenting, But the argument seems oddand circular only if viewedthrough the gaze ofa To Simplician on Various Questions, 59 177 on the hardening of hardening the on CEU eTD Collection Warfield, chapter 23 (italics added), in NPNF V1-05. NPNF in added), (italics 23 chapter Warfield, 179 Westminster Press, 1953) miracle, asitbecause were, faith (also faith inmiracles) is a given, a consequence of Burleigh Augustine puts itin creatures with hardened hearts follow. Only grace can bring change into this. As Unbelief results from free will, the free will not to believe in wonders that the fallen 178 and Bethsaida, Augustine notes: Augustine and Bethsaida, made better.” is aman whereby nothing he provides that only but worse, ismade aman whereby by God imposed is anything that think not must We merciful. be to unwillingness On the Gift of Perseverance of Gift the On To Simplician on Various Questions , In other words, as far as miraculousthe is concerned, believing inmiracles is a them a heartof flesh.Ezekiel 11:19.’ give will and stone, of heart the their prophet, I them from will take obstinacy andhardness, He wouldnot say, through the from if remove human its to God able even not heart But wereyour hearts. not harden voice, His hear will you if ‘Today, is said, it when will is addressed tofaith. freeMan's opposed and perverse are perfect propriety,that we Almightyunless do, God to iswith ableturnto to useless beliefbelieve, absolutely be wills would itthat This believe? may they that believe, not will who for those we pray do why by given God, is not and of, is simply if faith …Now be faithful because Iwas faithful;buthe said, I have obtainedmercy in order to to the that grace—so mercyapostleus, tellobtained have not didI the will of him who believes,haveI already discussed the point concerning faith,is,thatconcerning even so far as to show that it appertains in you, they would long ago have repented in dust and ashes.’ and in dust have repented ago long would they in you, done been have which Sidon and in Tyre done been had works mighty when He says, ‘Woe unto thee, Chorazin and Bethsaida,done becauseamong themselves. if And thisthe the Lord, reproaching them, declares “Certainly itis easyaccuse to the unbelief theof Jews, arising as it did from their free will in Augustine: Earlier Writings Earlier Augustine: 178 In On the Gift of Perseverance On Grace and Free Will , since, they refusedbelieve to in such great wonders [ De Dono Perseverantiae De Dono [ De Diversis Quaestionibus Ad Simplicianum , The Library of Christian Classics 6 60 180 : , discussing the chastising Chorazinof ] , tr. Peter Holmes, revised by Benjamin W. Benjamin by revised Holmes, Peter 179 (Philadelphia: The ], tr. John H. S. John CEU eTD Collection minds, “we may be able to prove what [God’s] will is.” will [God’s] what prove to able be may “we minds, 191-192, and one can recall here the statement in in 182 faith andthenfaith nourishes belief in miracles. order to perceive – they need the 181 turning of the heart? – one should emphasize that in this Augustinian thinking the path or hardening the about ascertain questionnaires canonization causal their and lawyers view the processes of canonization wouldhave looked strange –indeed, what could “method” like juridicalthe one employed in the processes of canonization. be a “method” at all (as wonder simply arises) and,with a vengeance, it couldnot be a not would it course, Of belief. own one’s at wonder to otherwise, miracles believing multitude at the wonder to if witnessed, miracle an external at wonder -- to wonder existence,for anyone heartisnot whose hardened irrevocably or be turned, would to aside as insignificant then rightthe “method” left to“ascertain”miracles and their possibility of corporeal miracles themselves. believing and wondering at the extraordinary in order to infer theexistence or miracles is notbegging thequestion because itamounts to pointing out miraclethe of circular at all. To argue for the existencelooked at from a non-causal orpoint of view,possibility Augustine’s argument does not appear of miracles from the belief in 180 eternal life in which God who does work in us, rests in us). only remember here Augustine’s depiction in grace, a working of the Holy Spirit against obstinacy and hardness and obstinacy against Spirit Holy the of a working grace, This is, in a sense, coherent with the mechanism of “physical” perception that Augustine describes Augustine that perception of“physical” mechanism the with coherent asense, in is, This Additionally,in On the Trinity On Grace and Free Will Returning now to the previously raised point that for an authentic Augustinian an authentic for that point raised previously the to now Returning § set was world corporeal the into enquiry causal if the key, Augustinian this In 3.3 S according to which the eyes (and senses in general) need a certain intentionality in intentionality certain a need general) in senses (and eyes the which to according O FAR AWAY FROM THE PROCESSES OFCANONIZATION O AWAY THEPROCESSES FAR FROM The City of God of City The , chapters 28-29. will 22.8 a mechanism of feedback is emphasized – miracles nourish miracles – emphasized is of feedback amechanism 22.8 to see (the trinity of perception);Luigi Gioia, 61 Confessions Confessions 13.22 that with the renewing of our 13:37 of the Sabbath of 182 That is why, when why, is That 181 The Theological (and one can , CEU eTD Collection the reasoning employed by jurists and theologians would have amounted to some sort some to haveamounted would andtheologians jurists by employed reasoning the the sanctity of a person from starting evaluatinghis/her (life) and miracles,reported anythingdo to with these “mushrooming” cults. andreported miracles. the “cult” characteristics (pilgrimages, precededvows, etc.) and the bysubsequent the publicgrowth of the cultdevotion to a saint, followed by miracles, the emergence of Augustinian traits of these popular cults; Ward, more general level that one should not infer from High Middle Ages discussions in theology and theology in discussions Ages Middle High from infer not should one that level general more libro deXXII del Civitate in Dei”, 183 known. widely more itmake to attempting and was news such of spread the limited how miraculous stories that happened elsewhere,Augustine’s reaction was amazement at canonized saints). thirteenth century (and after the thirteenth century,in parallel to the “official” cults of 186 185 184 E.Cavalcanti (Rome: Herder 1996) 373-379. reaction amazementwas and then publicizing the event. unusual events brought about in his church by the relics of Stephen,St. Augustine’s the witnessing When of. heard he had miracles other and Stephen St. of miracles as miracles/would arouse wonder, then his/herextraordinary deeds wouldbe miracles. believed were if they and wonder; arouse miracles/would as be believed would deeds something a of double conditional: ifa person wasasaint, then his/her (extraordinary) from the inthe one processes of canonization. The reasoning have beenwould from sanctity miracles to in cult the saints of would follow an entirely different path Kleinberg, And as they stilldevelop in the Orthodox Church. The City of God The City of God 184 When the processes of canonization began, the with purpose of ascertaining This is precisely how Augustine himself evaluated and rendered the witnessed This is precisely how the cults of saints developed in general prior to the to prior in general developed saints of cults the how isprecisely This Prophets , 22. 7. , 22.8. See also Sofia Boesch Gajano, "Verita e pubblicità: i racconti di miracoli nel miracoli di racconti i pubblicità: e "Verita Gajano, Boesch Sofia See also 22.8. , 185 , 28, 30,, 28, 33, 36, Kleinberg, “Canonization,” Benedicta14. Ward notes the These were “mushrooming” cults, to use Kleinberg’s expression, 186 The papacy and the enquiry into causes did not have Il DeL’opera, Civitate Dei. leinterpretazioni, l’influsso, 62 Miracles , 32. Caroline Walker Bynum argues on a argues Bynum Walker Caroline 32. , 183 When hearing of ed. CEU eTD Collection 189 Prophets Kleinberg, in cited 1199, 12 January ofCremona, Hombonus for of canonization Bull death;” morum [ behaviour of moral power the necessary: are things two militant Church the Triumphant….in Church the in for sanctity required is alone perseverance final of grace …the “Although 188 wonder the but ignorant), causally be might (who person orthat of this wonder be the not should that wonder 187 8,9. Augustine. asks miracles? Christian accept not then natural philosophy thatwonder and wonder-centred events disappeared inthatage; Bynum, Christian miracles themselves hold to the existence of such marvels innature. of adversaries the that and explained not are that phenomena quotidian numerous Chapter 7(which Ihave already intouched on §2.3)isin that nature there are Christian miracles, argument another advancedin defend to order In him. against used been have well could which of premises the canonization, miracles and causes preceded wonder and hence preceded sanctity. of processes in the involved jurists and theologians the For and miracles. wonder should be considered asaint. an For Augustinian, sanctity (and grace) preceded relics a of person are supernatural, then should they bebelieved the attending happenings if the form: the of conditional in a (converted) consequent, the affirming of fallacy the namely, eye, Augustinian the for fallacy logical of See Bianchi, “Quotidiana” 313. “Quotidiana” SeeBianchi, initiated were canonization of processes the when 1199, in declared III AsInnocent Recall from chapter 2 Aquinas’s attitude to wonder in general, and to the “correct”, “theoretical” “correct”, the to and general, in towonder attitude 2 Aquinas’s chapter from Recall ] and the power of signs [ in itself , 27. , works of their own literary men, though no rational explanation of explanation rational no though men, literary own their of works in the written are they because believe, themselves many among things in the authors of our adversaries, and that Imight prove how many affirming or denying them; andexempt I …Buthave the rest of citedthe prodigies them I receive becausewithout definitely I triumphsread them over the corruption from which not iron,the but has theno effecton a straw; flesh the peacock’s flesh which of Plato is attracts suction andinsensible mysterious its by which magnet oil; the readily verify, suchas limethe is which heated by water and cooledby can one any which or observation, my own under come have either accepted, forI do not myself believe them implicitly, savethose which For my own part, Idonot wish all the marvels I have citedbe to rashly I have mentioned above that Augustine was in the habit of using arguments them them is given at the deeds that can be performed by God alone. God by be performed can deedsthat at the , and yet they scorn to believe us when we assert that virtus signorum ], thatis, works ofpiety during lifemiracles and after 63 The City of God 187 and that person that and , Book XXI, 189 Wonder 188 Why virtus , CEU eTD Collection the same chapter 7, he mentions that: hementions 7, samechapter the 191 190 seems aware of this causal Augustine discovered. yetbeen not have which causes proximal effects, marvellous the explaining causes proximal be must there marvels “natural” in these that perspective miracleson inargue order to againstmiracles. is, That one could argue associated with the existence ofmiraclesin his ownview, andhis argument stands – The City of God God, of City The … our adversaries, Isay, who,so farfrom denying emphatically, assert The premises of this argumentcould actually beused, however, on a causal wonders. cited just have we asthose objects material such but spirits, rational nor animals rational neither are which things other of properties wonderful the them before lay we when way), magical some in or prayer, or rite some by invoked are they because or accord, own their of (whether that theremarvellous arepowersinthe whicheffect world results the natural propertythe power of scorchingof it not to waterbut to fire. But this they say, is and salt, ofmelting power the water to but fire to not given has which water is that this is its nature. Yet this seems rather contrary to nature,whole reason Agrigentinewhy saltdissolves in fire and incrackles the Thus them. to belonging naturally powers the are these nature; effected according to the word, and by the power of that God who predicted and Those things which are regarded as impossible be will accomplished many marvelsother which have already to passcome were predicted? bring them to pass, having predicted them in those books in which than to begiven can things such say for reason and stronger better what For work. that the Almightyobservation; and experience their isis beyond what do will God andAlmighty able this theyto bringdo even thoughthem weto assign pass, a reason and forwill His But Augustine reasons differently, precisely because iswonder intimately by sonight, inthat either extremeit be cannot touched. fountain, of which sameone reason,is therefore, account thatassigned to Garamantian for and the same runlet is chill by day and boiling , are in the habit of replying, This is their natural property, their that the incredulous the that , 21:7, italics added. 190 21.7 (italics added) (italics 21.7 talk intalk the case of quotidian marvels, this salt, to show effects contrary to these. The nations should believe should nations 64 191 since previously,in incredible CEU eTD Collection 193 this thesis. challenges; see Goodich, “A Chapter,” “A Goodich, see challenges; complicated issue (involvingAverroist also of the ArabAristotelianismside and Jewish- and Muslim- more amuch is theology thirteenth-century in predominate to came miracles to approach causal predominate (see Ward, (see predominate Western thinking I (as chapterdiscussed in itseems 2), to fair say that the Aristotelian vein came to Aristotelianism itspronounced(with slant towards empirical enquiry)massively was infused into vein, with its slant towards the incorporeal, was predominant. Platonic the but When, in the elements, thirteenthStoic and century,Aristotelian Arab Platonic, between synthesis a realised philosophy was due to Aristotelianthe vein thinking,in their since, as is wellknown, from onwardsPlotinus their 192 God could also reply to the Platonists, in the aforementioned discussion of from God,” i.e., a causal veinin histhat argumentation is always the mere affirmation “allthat things come God is the ultimate up to take causalthe talk when discussingmiracles. But ultimatethe outcomeforsuch cause of everything. counterfactual reasoning about causation in miracles. Indeed,if “all things come from in order to defend miracles, this causal vein would not have gone as far as to accept exist,and hence there is noreason to deny the existence of Christian miracles. if the adversaries of Christian miracles believe in such marvels, then miracles do See Conceivably, that the (Neo-)Platonists would use such causal argumentation with respect to miracles to respect with argumentation causal such use would (Neo-)Platonists the that Conceivably, , 21.7, in their own language: On the Trinity to believe what we affirm, on the groundthat it is impossible author of all natures, reply. how is it that our adversaries, when they satisfactory refusea own, I and, truly, reason other reason is given for them than this, that this is their nature, therea brief seems tobe an extraordinary property contrary to nature, And so of the rest, which I am weary of reciting, and in which, Surely,as notedin caseof the “seminal reasons,” Augustine himself was able In other words, even if Augustine could adopt the causal talk in hisdiscourse talk causal the adopt could if Augustine even words, other In impossible? bepronounced certainly would our own observation, orreported by recent and credible witnesses, ascertained, asIhave been showing able to create so many marvels, not only unknown, verybut wellwill,—He He all do to mighty is He because only Almighty that this is the will God this Almighty isthe that of unwillingto accept from us a better explanation thantheir own, viz., , 3.2.7. , Miracles , 6, Kruger, 6, , 89,Goodich, Dreaming 65 , and which, were they not under not they were which, , and Miracles , 66-73, 83-87). Admittedly, why precisely the precisely why Admittedly, 83-87). 66-73, , ,—for certainly Heis called 194 , 15), which is well beyond the scope of scope the beyond well is which 15), , But since God isthe 193 Hence Augustine Hence whowas yet no though , are , The City of 192 CEU eTD Collection 196 thinking. Western subsequent and the him between continuity of the view a general with consistent is which Augustine, in miracles of construal the claim regarding alocal above I discuss only debate. this into toenter is not above the http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/jod/augustine/augauth.html (last accessed May 2011). All of17, questions that deservestill attention.” Villanova University St. Augustine Lectures, 1991, are be,these came to howit and were, limits its what exercised, was influence way this what just often assumed that ‘the early middle Itages’is were a period influence. profoundly of Augustine’s spread influenced the of by question Augustine,the of but in treatment unsatisfactory, little very really and satisfactory, have no we that literature scholarly our in gaps remarkable one of the is “it lectures Augustine’s St. 1991 O’Donnell’s James view,see decided For aless distinction. the essence/energies ignoring Augustine to due mainly scholasticism, in thinking for Western grounds metaphysical the Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2008), 11-41. Ingeneral, orthodox theologians see Augustine as laying out 195 194 Readings ofAugustine in East,” the in ‘West’ The Orthodox, the and “Augustine see their work; Romanides’ John to appealing existence, God’s is essence God’s that thesis for Aquinas’s ofafoundation laying the Augustine grant Papanikolaou Aristotle and Demacopoulos E. George Augustine. to connection the Plotinus Avicenna;andJohn Rist, “Plotinus and Christian Philosophy,” in Enneads VI.7and VI.8 thegerms of the distinction first formulatedexplicitly by AlFarabi and Plotinus ignorance that mainly worried Augustine. causal not was It God. about forgetting and world corporeal in the immersed being towards by curiosity up opened path the on a signpost just -- Augustine to nonsensical miraclefrom non-miracleby way of counterfactual reasoning would have seemed which I will comeButlooking back to. into the “natural” secondary causesdiscern to reasons suggests precisely a certain mechanism of proximal causation formiracles, seminal of his theory thecontrary, on this; denies never Augustine and be discovered, “Could it havehappened ‘naturally’”? Proximal causes for miraculous events could God” then what sense itdoes makeask to the counterfactual question about amiracle: as can be seen precisely in the discussion of miracles in Book III of Augustine always chooses toemphasize God’s direct presence through natural causes, miracles). characteristichierarchy beingof scheme (a grounds which Aquinas’ approach to (probably via Plotinus) the germs of the essence/existence distinction, with its See KevinKerrigan, “Essence and Existence in the Enneads,” in On the Trinity The City of God , ed. LloydGerson, 307-413 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1996) 407,who traces , ed. Lloyd Gerson, 106-124 (Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1996) who traces in This is not to deny in Augustine,that especially 195 This is to say, however, that when it comes to miracles and causes, 3.2.7-3.9.19. , 21.7. , ed , . George E. Demacopoulos, Aristotle Papanikolaou (Crestwood, NY: St. NY: (Crestwood, Papanikolaou Aristotle Demacopoulos, E. George 66 in The Cambridge Companion to The Cambridge Companion to On theTrinity On the Trinity the On , one finds Orthodox . 196 CEU eTD Collection subjects for “naturally”butneed beto seen “modified”as bythe action of God alone (either as simply as receivers of miraculous effects -- these proximal subjects cannotact performing miracles involves proximal subjects -- asintermediary causal agents, or God’s though even is why, and that miracles, vis-à-vis alone” from “God be separated proximal causes in miracles. Aquinas, For incontrast, “God and creatures” needs to presentor not in miracles, orrather, favours the presence of natural intermediate reason Augustinethat notdoes bother about whethernatural intermediate causes are miracle atthe marriagefeast in Cana: transformed becomes wine, which sweetens asitmatures". When Jesus performed the thus water "the Augustine, says it, nourishes vine and a of roots the with contact manifested in them. of Because the seminal reasons, whenever water comes into emphasizing they that happencould naturally, even if the of is power God especially miracles against the same Platonists who affirmed theirimpossibility, precisely by talk within his seminal reasons theory,Augustine defends the existence of those if one thinks outside the Aquinas scheme of miracles) is thatsubjects of byforms they naturallyadopting possess but acting in a the causal miracles, as subjects of forms thatnature can attain butin differentsubjects, as or 198 197 Dei alone does and whatGod what between God distinction scholastic the of in Augustine and equivalent is no there creatures do, as it appears in Abelard or the See Bianchi, “Quotidiana,” 312-317. On the Power of God absoluta Indeed, what seems particularly strange in Augustine (but perfectly reasonable perfectly (but Augustine in strange particularly seems what Indeed, In other words, at leastinsofar as causes and corporealmiracles are concerned, / supra naturam potentiaDei ordinata , Q. 6, art. 2. forms that nature cannot attain, or, in distinction as it appears in Aquinas. appears asit distinction 67 praeter naturam contranaturam 197 mode). Itis for this potentia 198 CEU eTD Collection naturam bywhich one mode as processes causal of acceleration the to appeals Aquinas Lombard; 201 2:1-4). 8 on(John Homily 200 199 for miraclesfor happen, to the thirteenth century authors retained the acceleration part, of seminal reasons accordingwhich to natural processes becould in accelerated order immersed in the corporeal world, whose souls have not yetturned. See Bartlett’s discussion of Abelard inBartlett, Literal Meaning of Genesis, 6.13.24 Homilies on the Gospel ofJohn miracles can take place; can take miracles Miracles are signs within a wonderfulmade. hasHe iswhat nature for whom God, for not but world, naturallyagainstnature except for us, who have alimited knowledge of nature, happen sent not do they happen, like this events When a serpent? by into God to thoseand AaronMoses Did and developed. born, formed, havebe implanted, to kind their to to wait all helpof time? Allserpents requirea certain numberthese of days according days guestbefore who had his fill would praisethe it? Did rodthe Authorany such aids He changed wine,water into of such and thattimewine even couldthe need the be turneddid the Lord need a vine, or earth or this passage of time when without From Augustine’s discussion of Moses’ miracle, as in general from his theory worship Him. to sleep from men as rouse might He wonder, with them striking reservedHimself to thedoing certain of extraordinary actions, that,by which they should daily praise Him as theCreator, God has, aswere, it differentmatter, have lost the consideration of the works of God, by is a mighty thing, it considersinspires the vigorous power of a single grain anyof seed whatever,himit with awe.regulated,is who not amazed and overwhelmed with miracles? he If But since men, intentthe on a thatworks which was done in the water-pots.its constantrecurrence. Andyetit suggests a greater consideration than For who is there ofthatlatter, because considers it happens every year: ithas lostits marvellousness by God,into wine by the doing of the wherebysamethe Lord, so in likeLord. manner also is whattheBut clouds pour forthwe of changed do doing not by the wine into turned wonder was water-pots the into put servants at the self-same doesthis year in every vines. Forwhich even as that the this those six water-pots, which He commanded be to filled with the water, wholedoing. Forwater into wine, is He not marvellous the made He whereby whoworld to Christ, thoseJesus Lord our who of indeed know miracle The that itmade was God's wine onis that governed day at the marriage feast,and in 200 On the Power of God [ In Joannis Evangelium Tractatus 68 , Q. 6, art. 2. The Natural , 6, and his discussion of Peter ], tr.John Gibb,in NPNF, V1-07, 199 praeter 201 CEU eTD Collection down on at the time of writingwith the multitude, the “fools” in need of corporeal signs (whom he was looking him acquainted long had Hippo remote in the abishop as experience harsh the after context when he was writing thebook. It was completed towards the end ofhis life, corporeal miracles than in his earlier writings earlier his in than miracles corporeal portended hard times for the Church. for the times hard portended and larger and larger loomed Empire Roman the to danger Vandal the when books of things). corporeal awe of and love inthe stuck remain might realm) superior were to external miracles (always attendedby the danger thatone incorporeal inthe journey attending the (and miracles internal that thought Augustine TREATISE miraculous cures in Africa should not be regarded as a sudden and unprepared surrender to popular 206 204 203 see 205 2008) 171. accelerated in miracles to a view in which miracles presuppose the presuppose miracles which in aview to miracles in accelerated and of the powers of created things (including the case of case the (including things of created powers of the and 202 arouse wonder, even if produced naturally naturam denying their existence, and viewing accelerationthe of causal process as of causal processes as natural in Augustine in order to defend miracles againstthose but not the naturalness. the not but Brown, Greer, Rowan See See also the discussion in § 2.3 on Aquinas’ stance on stance Aquinas’ on § 2.3 in discussion the also See Even though the superiority of incorporeal, internal miraclesover corporeal signs is still maintained; See Goodich, See The City of God In spite his of detailed and subtle construal of wonder and corporeal miracles, § in Aquinas in order to distinguish miraclesfrom existing events that could 3.4 The City of God Augustine T Miracles HE 10.12 on the miracle of man being superior to any external miracle. any external to superior manbeing of miracle onthe 10.12 , 413 ff “….Augustine’s sudden decision to give a maximum of publicity to publicity of maximum a to give decision sudden ff “….Augustine’s 413 , The Fear of Freedom A UGUSTINIAN STYLE OF REASONING AND THE CURIALIST ANDTHE REASONING OF STYLE UGUSTINIAN , 26, where Goodich points out the change from a view of the processes being 202 I think that the difference viewing between accelerationthe Augustine speaks less disparagingly of the importance of The Genesis against Manicheans (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, University State The Pennsylvania Park: (University 206 69 is significant. is 205 mirabilia praeter naturam is conceivably thedue to time and . 203 suspension miracles). 204 That in the last two , for instance), and instance), , for of ordinary causation of ordinary praeter ’ S CEU eTD Collection miracle had been indeed been had miracle a whether and causes proximal into partenquiring the with at least canonization, of processes the with agreed have not would Augustine iii) hence, miracles; of interpretation causal on a hinged canonization of processes The ii) discourse, own Augustine’s and discourse causal the between incompatibility an onwards, point a certain from was, There i) arguments: factual on two based is argument counterfactual My charge. a potential such up clear to room me gives andthis specificity of lack or ambiguity of dangers the avoid to however, tried, I have exposition; my clarifying of purpose was the for This of canonization. processes the about thought have would Augustine what asking by reasoning counterfactual used myself I have chapter In this ofcanonization. processes the to noconnection with 210 Cathar heretics with the Pharaoh’s magicians; Goodich, magicians; Pharaoh’s the with heretics Cathar the compared III Innocent Pope For instance, miracles. perform also could demons that suggestion 209 say besidesthat, the “Aristotelian” passages, wefindin the curialist’s study somewhat the Augustinian thinkingalternative to the thirteenth-century Aristotelian couldstyle of reasoningmiracles about that have offered to the anonymous curialist. It is fair to 208 207 The Fear Greer, also see faith;” of as supporters important urgently become miracles….now [M]odern credulity. putative miraculous event could have happened by “natural” means. a whether inquiring and causes about asking questionnaires canonization ofthe core about miracles, I have tried toprocedure for pragmaticshow reasons.ashis However, basic concerns theological thinking that he would have been verye.g., theposed threat by the Cathar heresy,he would have approved of whole the puzzled as to the magic, and such practices. other would have approved the set of questionsfor witnesses destined to rule outwitchcraft, given his preoccupation with the fact that demons could alsoperform wonders, Perhaps, century? thirteenth inthe initiated canonization of processes the on agreed have Augustine Would Church. the of centuries subsequent in turbulent the role contributed to the cult of St. Stephen) and these cults played an important, stabilising contemporaries, Note that this is a factual argument concerning Augustine’s thinking, developed in his own writing As Goodich notes, Augustine inspired the canonists of processesthe of canonization with the See Vigilantius. is example famous most The The City of God On this basis one should judge the issue raisedin chapter 2 concerning the Augustine died in 430 in a Hippo besieged by the Vandals; unlike some of his , 176. 207 he had been a proponent of the cults of saints (having himself , 8.9. supra naturam supra 209 . For. anargumentthat the logic ofcounterfactual conditionals Perhaps, had he known the external circumstances, external the known he had Perhaps, 70 Miracles , 14. 210 208 he CEU eTD Collection 213 true God; see God; true the worshiping of purpose for the are orangels saints of Christian miracles the whereas themselves, beworshiped to is purpose their because be discerned can demons works of –the point atthis simple fairly is argument Augustine’s Hence, God. Christian the to addressed not are they because demons 212 God of see demons; out rule to intended was also miracles of metaphysics Aquinas’ Of course, been performed by demons or were by demons performed been have could they ask whether and miracles about becritical to Aristotelians century thirteenth for the 211 Counterfactuals,” is no differentfrom the logic of materialconditionals, Jonathan Lowe, “The Truth about after having been measured when taken out of the water. resuscitated was and drowned had who instance, for Schirreve, le Adam of daughter precisely in orderin certain the cases, anonymous curialist appealed tobiblical references to miracles to miracles. rule “orthodox” from miracles demonic distinguish to outsolutions simple the demonic,preoccupied by this aspect should not be underestimated,as evenif he offers fairly in the case of Joan, the 5-year-old days, retaining however an unusual yellow-green colour in the eyes and over the over and in eyes the colour yellow-green unusual an however retaining days, of couple next inthe only recovered fully and then second, the then eye, an opened first in question child the when do to What intervention. direct God’s proved have have beenbroughtabout “naturally.” A sudden and complete resuscitation would demonic or could also perform miracles; demons that -- beyond andwell century thirteenth the up until in place remained “neutral” passages,reflecting thegeneral preoccupation of patristicthe which age-- Appendix 1, Vauchez, 1, Appendix The demoniac wonders are mainly those acknowledged by pagans, and they are performed by are performed and they by pagans, acknowledged those mainly are wonders The demoniac It is important to bear in mind that, as Boureau rightly emphasizes, the Church did not have to wait have to not did Church the emphasizes, rightly asBoureau that, mind in to bear important Itis , Q. 6, art. 2, 3. ‘Domine Deus meus, revertatur anima pueri huius in viscera eius viscera in huius pueri anima revertatur meus, Deus ‘Domine mensus est super puerum tribus vicibus clamavitque ad Dominum: mensurandi Heliseo.ab HelyaincepitHelyas et enim expandit se atque Dei et ipsius honorem fiat cereafacula velcandela; qui mos plerisque partibus hoc fieri eadem utde mensurareliquias ad sancti in fuerat corpusculum mensuratum. Responsio: consuetudinis est in videtur effectumDices mirandum ad quem patremdictepuelle per However, in the case of John, son of William Drake, aged 9, also drowned, no The City of God ex arte Philosophical Quarterly suspicion is at play, but the fact that the subsequent revival could revival subsequent the that fact but the play, is at suspicion Sainthood , 10.4-8 and 22. 9, 10. and 22. 10.4-8 , 211 , 543. ex arte and on this point, the fact that Augustine was also 45 (1995) 41-59. miracles, contrived by humans; Boureau, “Miracle,” 160. “Miracle,” Boureau, by humans; contrived miracles, 71 ’ 213 On the Power the On 212 Thus, CEU eTD Collection 215 214 saints venerated as a result of popular devotion. examples provided by hagiography, past miracles were powerful enough to have enough to arouseindicated in chapter 2, he havecould well appealed The miracle to. was powerful wondercurialist in the hearts does of notthe enquirewitnesses, further, just as in usingthe previous the medical knowledge that, as I have ingrained in the eyes and skin of the child. Was it a With respectdoubts to about the persisting colour of the skin, the curialistresponds: writings: hagiographic from examples past to by appealing reasons first curialist The nose? Vauchez, Appendix 1 in 1 Appendix Vauchez, Vauchez, in 1 Appendix donatus ad monumentum talis resuscitationis. qua estvite priori de mortis generis vestigia reservantur suscitato corpore Consimiliter in Christi propertulerunt. nomine cicatrices que “fortassis in ille regnoin corporibus martyrum videbimus vulnerum Dei DeCivitate etAugustinus, triumphum”, sue circumferat victorie perpetuum in ut sed fuerunt cicatricesinChristo curandi impotentia nomine reportaverunt, dicente Beda super Lucam deChristo “non ex augmentum glorie et signum sue victorie quam moriendo proChristi etiam in corporibus martirum idem creditur esse futurum ad probationem veri corporis et victoriam ac gloriam resurgentis, sicut Respondetur quod sicut in corpore Christi apparuerunt cicatrices ad After the resuscitation, nature as a sign of the miraclehas remained almost nec statim sed facto temporis non modico intervallo benedictione sedavit dolorem, deinde fugatumoris horrendi est secuta ut nichil prorsus incubito inflexionis haberet, benedicens primo sua Eboracensis archiepiscopus brachium virginis tumore tanta inflatum Curatio miraculosa est aliquociens succesiva. Sanctus enim Iohannes Sainthood Sainthood , 545. , , 545. , 72 215 supra naturam . 214 event? The event? CEU eTD Collection miracles theyscrutinized. Whathave could been an alternative the to scholastic (and of the insome belief his face-value present to justification or background argument, an needed have would curialist the of canonization, inaprocess of participating position in the training theological high such with persons the all like that, suggested curialist appears to “believe”form straightforwardly of what philosophers in some of these ofmiracles science and I and 3. 2 havein chapters call outlined –are canonization of processes the characterising style “inference to the beststyles explanation.” of reasoning about miraclesThe discoursesmiracles. about irreconcilable discourses, These two two and discourses -- the Augustinianincompatible two between tension is the style “proof,” or information “insufficient” and the causal, scholastic couldproduce not death) alternates with face-value acceptance miraclesof given reasoning putativeabout miracles (e.g., regardingfall the bodiesof which could or counterfactual where in passages the document, in curialist the that hypothesized have Kuhnian stance on the stability and coherence of beliefs in a given historical I period, large Augustinian tothe approach. thinking miracles about and another, face-value, approach which corresponds by and embodies a confrontation between “rationalistic,” “empirically minded,” causal the insightful comments of Vauchez andKleinberg, was that this curialistmanuscript enquiring intothe miracles of Thomas Hereford.of My hypothesis, stemming from ambiguity or conceptual ambivalence in the arguments of the anonymous curialist I have presented the reasons favouring the plausibility of this hypothesis inthe hypothesis this of plausibility the favouring reasons the presented I have Also, on a methodological level, takingmy cue from Robert Bartlett’s a certain been has 1, in chapter as outlined analysis, this of point starting The C HAPTER 4. C ONCLUSION AND ONCLUSION 73 F URTHER R ESEARCH CEU eTD Collection candidates or theirmiracles. the processesalso be employed for rhetoricalof purposes,canonizationbetween Vauchez Kleinberg;and in it rather entails orderthat Augustinian reasoning could to respond to various pressures inshown 1, chapter was at the heart of the disagreement(andmisunderstanding) on that didpolitical pressures or interests in the work of the anonymous curialist, which, asI have not have to do with the sanctity of the Augustine that the curialist proceeds in his “face-value” assessments ofmiracles. and Great, the Gregory Bede, is byquoting itAnd in parallel). evolved they since “mushrooming” cults of saints prior to the processes of canonizationtried suggestto in chapter 3, (andthatit was even this reasoning after, that was consonant with the the the notedage. As in I 2,Michaelchapter Goodich has catalogued an entire series of in singular means no by was curialist anonymous the of ambiguity The canonization. interpretationa wider series to enigmatic of ambivalencesin present theprocesses of Augustinian inreasoning the scholastic age andalso toextend the range of my medieval up work to the twelfth century,when scholastic treatises emerged. 218 217 Hereford and the of manuscript Thomas of of the anonymouscanonization on the curialist, in comments Goodich, Goodich’s See canonizations. of status “objective” 216 immensely to Augustine. to immensely convincingly demonstrated, the thinking ofthe latter concerningmiracles owed disguises in Gregory Greatthe and Bede, since, asWilliam hasMcCready best explanation,theAugustinian reasoning aboutmiracles oroneits of early modern canonic) reasoning in terms of causes? See Ward, McCready, the ensure to order in by Curia the level on ageneral assumed was argued, has as Goodich Which, Note that my interpretation does not entail ruling out the significance of Through further research I hope in the future to clarify the extent and details of and details extent the clarify to future inthe hope I research further Through Miracles Signs, 225-239, and McCready, , 1, Goodich, 217 219 It was this reasoning on miracles that dominated the Miracles , 15, 18. Miracles, 216 74 It would have been, I have inferred as the 1-20. Miracles , 85. 218 I have CEU eTD Collection 223 222 221 220 2002). Press, University Cambridge thirteenth century onwards; see Gabor Klaniczay, seeGabor onwards; century thirteenth 219 parallel the speculativeto enterprises of theAristotelians: Goodich isalso a source of challenge and direction, given his argument inthat, Michael here and its diffusion, to writings hagiographic and sermons of contribution century,be hope research able what I futureto in to is the “subterranean”the would be useful for extending and strengthening my interpretation. Louis IX, for which documentsLooking atthese processes of canonization, particularly those of Celestine V and of the same type as the curialist document exist, between the “theory” and the “practice” of such processes: III, Innocent IV,Alexander IV,and Clement VI, Innocent under canonization of processes in the views ambivalent or ambiguities such Goodich, Goodich, Goodich, “The Criteria,”196. Goodich, “The Criteria,” 187-196. Gabor Klaniczay has documented the dynastic interests that lay behind many canonizations from the from canonizations many behind lay that interests dynastic the documented has Klaniczay Gabor the superiority of the Christian deity overthe forces of nature. which the apostles, saints, angels are and others it endowed; illustrated cold; grown had faith whose those it of faith the renewing and nonbeliever served medievalas predecessors as themost effective means of converting the an illustrationitechoed the paradigmatic aimsof its Jewish, Christian and early [t]he contemporary miracle continued tofulfil several traditionalof roles: the gift of the divine grace with As to the extent and filiation of Augustinian reasoningin the thirteenth sanctity. to claim saint’s andjuridical standards was in employed order to clinch the putative philosophical the to according tested fully been not had that miracle a confirmation miracles….[On of the other hand] aprivate revelation or and examination rational inthe arguments by philosophical supported On the one hand, anincreasingly refined judicial procedure was Miracles Miracles , 26. See also Ward, Seealso 26. , , 80-83., 221 Miracles 75 , 24. Holy Rulers and Blessed Princesses Blessed and Rulers Holy 220 emphasizing the difference 223 (Cambridge: 222 CEU eTD Collection the concept of miracle that occurred in the thirteenth century; Boureau, century; thirteenth the in occurred that miracle of concept the 225 grace. of workings they were showing pernicious curiosity about causes in the incorporeal realm and the miracles by combining thenatural with the supernatural, one canin museturn that Augustinians’ attemptat deciphering mechanism the imaginationof effecting Neo- the to respect with then soul, the of turning or hardening the about anything the jurists drawing up the canonization questionnaires could not havefound out miracles by later preachers,” Goodich, preachers,” by later miracles of discussion for the locus” major “a was sanctification” God for on aredependent place man and miraculous and atthe same time, “what iswithinusmorewonderful than whatis without” and “both the Augustinian theme broughtabout byHughof St Victor according to which the entire Creation is of author and Christianity to a convert Scheda, 224 involved in involved were looking into soul andimagination forintermediaries, proximal takingAvicennian up theories in the background of Aristotelianthe natural sciences scholasticism, andnot through the work of the so-called Neo-Augustinians, who, by of Augustine’s reasoning as presented in chapter 3were preserved in the age of as the diffusion of works by Augustine,Bede, Gregory and the Great that the contours century, twelfth in the miracles of foundations See Alain Boureau’s argument that these neo-Augustinians played a crucial role in the mutation of mutation the in role crucial a played neo-Augustinians these that argument Boureau’s SeeAlain Goodich, Miracles, 16. Goodich gives the example of Praemonstratesian Hermann (Judaeus) of (Judaeus) Hermann of Praemonstratesian example the gives Goodich 16. Miracles, Goodich, from If, Augustinianauthentican perspective, one indeedinterject can that Goodich also notes that that, in spite of Guilbert of Noget’s attack on the on attack Noget’s of Guilbert of spite in that, that notes also Goodich It would have been through such sermons and hagiographical writings, as well writings, hagiographical and suchsermons through been have would It necessary as a sign to non-believer.the rather are they his faith confirm to miracles of need has no believer supernatural.They continuedreiterate to the patristicview that the in the belief the to foundation aphilosophical provide to attempts posed by both the arguments of non-believers andcontemporary many contemporary hagiographers preferred disregard to the challenge supranatural events. Miracles 225 , 16. , De Conversione Sua 76 224 . Goodich remarks in addition that addition in remarks Goodich . Miracle , 164,, 165. natural causes CEU eTD Collection Augustine. Augustine. Augustine. Augustine. Augustine. Augustine. Augustine. Augustine. Thomas Aquinas. MS BN. Lat., 5373 A. Vauchez,Andre. Appendix 1. NPNF AA.SS Thomas Aquinas. 585–696. AA.SS, miracles.” and life Cantilupe’s of “Thomas Hammond Taylor. S.J, New York: The Newman Press, 1982. William G. T.Shedd. NPNF V1-03. NPNF V1-03. V1-02. revised by Benjamin W. Warfield.NPNF V1-05. John Gibb. NPNF V1-07. 1955. Press, Westminster Salmond.NPNF V1-03. Laurence Shapcote. Westminster, The MD: Newman Press, 1952. Notre Dame,IN: University Dameof Notre Press, 1975. Anton C. Pegis, James F. Anderson, Vernon J. Bourke, and Charles J. O’Neil. P 1886-1890. Co., Literature Christian Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1997. L Nicene andPost-Nicene Fathers, Acta Sanctorum IST OF IST RIMARY SOURCES On theDoctrine Christian On On the Profit theProfit On Believingof On theGiftofPerseverance Homilies onthe Gospel Johnof Catechising of the Uninstructed the of Catechising On the Literal Meaning Genesisof On the Trinity the On Confessions A On the Truth of the Catholic Faith theCatholic of the Truth On On the Power of God BBREVIATIONS [ [ Confessiones De Trinitate B [ [ IBLIOGRAPHY De Utilitate Credendi De Doctrina Christiana [ [De Dono Perseverantiae]. Questiones Disputatae De Potentia Dei ]. Tr. Albert C. Adler. Philadelphia: Adler. C. Albert Tr. ]. 77 ed. Philip Schaaf. 14 vols. New York: The ]. Tr. Arthur West Haddan. Revised by [ [ In Joannis Evangelium Tractatus De Catechizandis Rudibus [ De Genesi ad Litteram [ Sainthood in Later Middle Ages Summa contra Gentiles Summa ]. Tr. Rev. C. L. Cornish. ]. Tr.J.F.Shaw.NPNF Tr. Peter Holmes, ], tr. S.D.F. ]. Tr. John ]. Trans. ]. ]. Tr. ]. Tr. . CEU eTD Collection Daston, LorraineDaston, and Katharine Park. Bynum, Caroline Walker. “Wonder.” Brown, Peter. Colin. Brown, Boureau Alain. “Miracle, volonté etimagination: la mutation scolastique (1270- Bianchi, Luca. “ <>, Commune corso della natura e dispense e natura della corso Commune Miracula>>, <