SAINT-JACQUES ANTHOLOGY.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

A compilation of devotional and other texts in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment. A remarkable anthology of texts from the library of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Jacques, Liège, illuminated with one large miniature depicting the Wound in Christ's Side notable for its early date, bound in the substantial remains of a medieval binding.It comprises four main parts, the first with texts by Augustine, Anselm, and David of Augsburg; the second an ordo for giving communion to a sick monk; the third with prayers to the Virgin; and the fourth a miscellaneous collection of prayers, devotions, a miniature of the Wound of Christ, and texts concerning the use of images.The volume contains one large miniature depicting the Wound in Christ's Side (fol. 119v). The last few decades have seen an explosion of interest in medieval images of the Wound in Christ's Side. In most depictions of the Crucifixion, the wound is shown as a horizontal laceration, but when shown separate from Christ's body it is often depicted in close-up and vertically, and this has led many scholars to read the image in other ways. As David S. Areford puts it, "Although the mandorla-shaped wound suggested the presence of Christ's body and the totality of his suffering, its fleshy form certainly encouraged other corporeal associations. In this regard, several scholars have explored the erotic, gendered, and psychosexual aspects of these images, interpreting the wound as a not-so-veiled substitute for the vulva

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