This book explores one of the most significant medieval saints' cults, that of St. Maurus, the first known disciple of Saint Benedict. Despite the centrality of this story to the myth of medieval Benedictine culture, no major scholarly work has been devoted to Maurus since the late nineteenth century. Drawing on memory studies, this book investigates the origins and history of the cult, from the ninth-century Life of St. Maurus by Odo, abbot of Glanfueil, to its appropriation and re-shaping by three powerful abbeys through to the thirteenth century-Fossés, Cluny, and Montecassino. It traces how these institutions deployed caches of mostly forged documents (many translated here for the first time) to adapt the cult to their aspirations and, moreover, considers how the cult adapted itself further, to face the challenges of the modern world. John B. Wickstrom is Professor Emeritus at Kalamazoo College, USA.

Auteur
John B. Wickstrom is Professor Emeritus at Kalamazoo College, USA.

Résumé

This book explores one of the most significant medieval saints' cults, that of St. Maurus, the first known disciple of Saint Benedict. Despite the centrality of this story to the myth of medieval Benedictine culture, no major scholarly work has been devoted to Maurus since the late nineteenth century. Drawing on memory studies, this book investigates the origins and history of the cult, from the ninth-century Life of St. Maurus by Odo, abbot of Glanfueil, to its appropriation and re-shaping by three powerful abbeys through to the thirteenth centuryFossés, Cluny, and Montecassino. It traces how these institutions deployed caches of mostly forged documents (many translated here for the first time) to adapt the cult to their aspirations and, moreover, considers how the cult adapted itself further, to face the challenges of the modern world.

Contenu
1. The Invention of St. Maurus .- 2. Building the Shrine and its Story .- 3. Destruction, Restoration, and Reform .- 4. The Bishop, the Abbot, and the Invention of the Cult .- 5. Appropriating the Cult I: Maurus at Fleury and Fossés Abbey .- 6. Shaping the Past in the Glanfeuil Cartulary .- 7. A New Church and New Liturgies .- 8. Appropriating the Cult II, Maurus and Cluny .- 9. Appropriating the Cult III: Constructed Memories at Montecassino .- 10. Epilogue.