Witnessing Christ’s Passion & its Implication for St. Margaret

Group: Frances, Jonah, Spencer, Jo

from: http://jessehurlbut.net/wp/mssart/?p=5840

As St. Margaret undergoes torture at the hand of the Roman Governor, she seemingly negotiates her legacy with God. She implores, “God… hear my prayer that whoever writes out my passion or hears it read from that time have his sins blotted out” (133). A dove descends and grants Margaret her prayers. What theological backstory does this call to the reader have? In his work Defaced, Valentin Groebner explains the Medieval relationship between art depicting passion narratives and the reader. In this post, we will explore this relationship and apply it to St.Margaret. 

 

Defaced

Christ’s passion, or his suffering on the cross, was the main and practically only depiction of Christ in medieval times. These artistic renditions were seen as mere images of Christ since he left no evidence of his body after ascension. Passion depictions were seen as a tool for affective piety, a Christian method of devotion involving one’s emotions. The depicted agony of Christ was to inspire compassio in the viewer; however, this term was not to emphasize the compassionate emotions themselves but rather the compassionate means to piety. 

Artistic renditions of Jesus on the cross were used as a rich memento for Christ’s passion, meant as an object of contemplation. This contemplative process was explained by the Dutch devotio moderna group; one would first remember the crucifixion, then ponder it, then emotionally respond to it. The emotional distress caused by gruesome images could deepen religious understanding.

Used in individual prayer and dire circumstances, the crucifix seems to have also been slightly fetishistic, meaning passion objects contained certain supernatural qualities to them. Viennese theologians thought that those who were on their deathbed could stare at the crucifix to get into heaven. These somewhat magical properties are evident in St. Margaret’s narrative.

 

Unpacking St. Margaret

St. Margaret’s passion draws many parallels to that of Jesus. Thus, in light of the relationship between depictions of Christ’s passion and the viewer-witness, we can understand St Margaret. St. Margaret herself seems to establish a relationship between the reader-witness and the very narrative of the text; she explains that anyone who hears the account of her passion will be washed of sin. Bearing witness to her gore can yield religious piety as watching Christ’s passion can, making her bloody narrative comparable to the recreation of Christ’s wounds. We must understand this quote as meta, essentially breaking the fourth wall. The narrator of her speech, Theotimus, essentially signals to the reader that they have beared witness to St Margaret’s passion via writing and will have their sins wiped because of it. 

Yet St. Margaret does not qualify her salvation request by asking for the reader to contemplate her passion narrative; the gesture of lending one’s ear to it seems to be enough. The dove does add that anyone who “wholeheartedly calls out [St.Margaret’s] name will be released from all his sins,” suggesting that honest conviction and wholehearted piety are rewarded (135). However, certain magical, fetishistic qualities run deep in other examples Margaret lists. St.Margaret expands on the magical aspect of her narrative by saying “where the book of my martyrdom is kept may there not be born a child who is blind or lame or dumb or deaf or afflicted by an unclean spirit” (133). The mere presence of the testimony to her passion is enough to keep a village healthy, similar to how the passion narrative could magically cause salvation on one’s deathbed. The dove even sweetens the deal by saying that anyone who touches her relics (evidence of her passion) will be healed, the most physical manifestation of her passion.

 

Takeaways

Understanding St. Margaret’s passion narrative in light of Medieval affective piety and art’s role in it shines light on how the narrative attempts to extend a hand to the reader to offer salvation. The reader of this tale was not meant to just passively learn the account of St. Margaret; rather, the narrative implies a specific reader, constructing a relationship between the text and the witness. In this relationship, the reader was blessed by mere proximity to the story. The narrative insists that its story is a tool to assist pious endeavors.

One thought on “Witnessing Christ’s Passion & its Implication for St. Margaret

  1. This was a really interesting read! The implications of religious art really are interesting insofar as the pieces are both art and an aspect of religion, whether didactic or spiritual. We’ve discussed the didactic elements of something like the visions of hell, but interrogating the more personal spiritual connotations of faith are really interesting. In class, we also brought up the question of why Margaret appears so fixated on her legacy, and how many saint’s stories have similar projected effects on the readers- something that is interrogated nicely in this post.

    This question of legacy seems, perhaps to a modern reader, to be a self-absorbed one. It seems like arrogance in some ways to focus on the way your story will be told, and what effects it will have on those listening. However, as alluded to in this post, this may be, in the Christian understanding, a mark of selflessness. The stories of Margaret and Jesus are intended to keep people’s souls or physical bodies healthy and safe. This harkens back to the Christian understanding of Jesus’ crucifixion- that he died for our sins, and was sacrificed so that humanity may be saved. In this way, Christianity links salvation and suffering, but also implies that suffering can occur on behalf of others. Thus, the effects of saints’ stories are likely due to this idea of transferrable salvation, that Margaret endures suffering so that others who hear her story may be saved.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *