eBook
Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
Related collections and offers
Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780520963368 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | University of California Press |
| Publication date: | 01/24/2017 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 384 |
| File size: | 4 MB |
About the Author
Valentina Napolitano is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Toronto.
Maya Mayblin is Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh.
Read an Excerpt
The Anthropology of Catholicism
A Reader
By Kristin Norget, Valentina Napolitano, Maya Mayblin
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Copyright © 2017 The Regents of the University of CaliforniaAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-520-96336-8
CHAPTER 1
Excerpt from "St Besse: A Study of an Alpine Cult"
Robert Hertz
The works of French sociologist Robert Hertz (1881–1915) are now staple readings in general anthropology. This study of the cult of a saint in the Italian Alps is lesser known than Hertz's celebrated essay on the symbolism of death and sin, "Death and the Right Hand" (1907), yet it remains a model of classic ethnography. Hertz was raised in a devout Parisian Jewish family, studied at the École Normale Supérieure under Émile Durkheim and Marcel Mauss, and later became a critical member of the famous Année Sociologique group. The influence of the Année — its concern with theoretically driven, detailed, holistic, and integrative analyses of social phenomena — can be seen in his essay "Saint Besse: Étude d'un culte alpestre" (first published in 1913 in the French Revue de l'Histoire des Religions and translated into English in 1988). The essay is a painstaking, eloquent ethnohistory, locating Saint Besse intimately in divergent paths of regional history and local tradition, where Saint Besse's shrine in a rocky Alpine overhang is, quite literally, embedded in the landscape. The essay portrays beautifully the independent spirit of popular Catholicism, especially in the flexibility of the hagiography of Saint Besse, which allows each community — whether mountain peasants or village dwellers, even church authorities — to lay claim to the saint through the qualities he is seen to manifest: the courage of a soldier, the moral stature of a bishop, and the devotion of a pious shepherd. The work is methodologically unorthodox for a Durkheimian, for Hertz not only draws on oral and archival sources, popular, local, and ecclesiastical traditions, but also has left his Parisian armchair for direct, "participant observation" in the field. In the Italian Alps, as elsewhere, a vibrant popular Catholicism evolves from pagan, telluric sources, sometimes articulating with official Catholicism, sometimes not. In typically Durkheimian fashion, Hertz describes the tremendous power of Saint Besse to knit together diverse communities of people morally and physically throughcollective religious devotion. In Hertz's focus on Saint Besse as a material source and mediator of social identity we can read this work as a precursor to many other great ethnographies on Catholic saints (popular and more official), whether in Europe, Latin America, or elsewhere. But we can also read in the essay the political and moral vision of a socialist, activist — and Jewish — scholar who saw in a popular rural Catholic saint cult the vitality of community life that he might have seen as missing in his own social milieu of pre–World War I France.
* * *
Every year on 10 August, at the head of a remote valley in the Italian Graian Alps, a devout and joyful crowd gathers right up in the mountains at a height of more than 2,000 meters: this is the festival of St Besse, the protector of Cogne and of the Soana valley. To the rare outsiders who witness it, it offers a picturesque and poetic spectacle. Inside and around the little chapel, built against a steep rock, throngs a motley band of pilgrims. The bright colors of the costumes of the Canavese region stand out against the gray of the rocks and the monotonous green of the pastures. As soon as the procession and the service are over, animated groups spread themselves out, eating, drinking and singing as they relax after the morning's hard climb. Their noisy revels, however, barely manage for these few hours and within a small space to disturb the silence and peace of the immense mountains.
But neither the grandeur of the surroundings nor the especial charm of this ceremony can make the historian of religions forget the problems posed by the festival of St Besse. What meaning do the faithful give to their annual presence in this place, and to the rites that they carry out here?And, beyond the perhaps illusory reasons provided by the believers themselves, what is it that brings together every year in this solitary spot, at the cost of a painful climb and often a long journey, a whole host of men, women and children, who come from the neighboring valleys and even from the plain of Piedmont?
Simple observation of the festival did not provide an adequate answer to these questions; and thus it proved to be the point of departure of a long and complicated inquiry. First of all it was necessary to interview a large number of those devoted to St Besse, or rather to let them talk freely. Then, several educated people, who know the region well from having been born there or from having resided there for some time, kindly agreed to reply to the questions which I put to them. Finally, if St Besse has up to now been the object of no monograph, one can glean some information, at least indirect, about him from the historical and hagiographical literature. It is from these three sources that the information analyzed in the present study has been drawn....
II. THE DEVOTION TO ST BESSE
If you ask local people who St Besse was, when he lived and what he did, you will usually obtain from them only vague and incoherent replies. However, as far as the status of the saint at present is concerned, they will answer you with unanimity and precision: St Besse is a saint who has "great powers" and who performs "many miracles." His name arouses in them above all, not intellectual curiosity, but feelings of tender veneration, gratitude and hope. To honor their great patron, they will vie with each other in telling you stories in which his power is conspicuously manifested. Some of these are drawn from everyday life and concern their close relatives: the sister of one is sure to have been cured by St Besse "alone" of an old and chronic illness; the child of another, who had gone on the pilgrimage hobbling on his crutches, had left them at the shrine. Other stories touch on the marvelous, the fabulous: in the mountains, a man could not free himself from a snake which held him prisoner, he vowed to carry out a novena in honor of St Besse, and at once the snake slipped away. What the saint has done for so many others, he will surely accomplish for us, if we worship him as we should. Anyone who has a favor to ask must participate in the festival of 10 August. Anyone whom misfortune strikes or threatens "makes a vow" to St Besse: he promises to attend his festival the following year or even for nine years in a row. Anyone who fails to fulfill a vow should beware: some "accident" will certainly befall him! But if he perseveres in his devotion, he will not be disappointed.
The power of St Besse is not limited to any particular category of favor: he is a saint who "gives firm protection in all circumstances." He is invoked against sickness in people, and in livestock, as well as against the spells of witches; for there are still very evil witches in the valley. Nevertheless, according to some, there is a class of things which is the particular province of St Besse. As the images represent him in the guise of a warrior, he is, in a special way, the patron of soldiers. No man who has to leave for the wars, or simply for the barracks, would fail to attend the festival and to bring away from it a "stone of St Besse," which he will wear on his person constantly. This is why none of the men from Cogne, who have taken part in wars from those of the First Empire to the African campaign, has ever been killed in battle, so far as anyone can remember. Yet, since the institution of compulsory military service, the main task of the warrior saint has not been to protect his devotees against shot and shell but rather to exempt them from being soldiers altogether. Youths about to draw lots for the annual conscription contingent have only to attend the Saint-Besse festival: they will not then be chosen and will not have to join the regiment! But this tendency of St Besse to specialize in military affairs is, as we shall see, a secondary phenomenon, and one that is perhaps peculiar to Cogne.
The stream of favors, which the patron of the two valleys pours out over his worshippers, originates in a precise point in the landscape, which is the setting for the annual festival. The chapel of St Besse is attached to the side of a huge block of shale, an enormous natural standing-stone, which sticks up in isolation in the middle of the high pastures, its face forming a vertical or overhanging cliff thirty meters high. On top of this rock, called St Besse's Mount, is a cross and a tinyoratory. It is to this place that the faithful come each year to draw on the precious virtue which helps them to vanquish life's misfortunes.
Although the saint's protection of his own is effective throughout the year, it is only on the day of his festival that he communicates the benefit of his power to the faithful assembled around him. Doubtless one can anticipate the salutary effusion of his grace or favor by means of a vow; but the vow, far from dispensing one from visiting the shrine, by realizing its benefits in advance makes the visit absolutely obligatory. It is on 10 August that the debts contracted towards the saint during the past year are paid; and it is on 10 August that one goes to be provided with a fresh supply of grace for the year to come.
In every festival, each party must have his due. The saint has his, and the faithful have theirs. And first of all, St Besse receives from his visitors the homage of their presence. The greater the gathering of pilgrims, the "finer" the festival is judged to be and the more the saint is honored. Beyond this, the pilgrimage itself represents a real sacrifice. It is no light thing in the mountains where the summer season is so short to set aside one or two days, not to field work but to the cult of the saint. To reach Saint-Besse, moreover, from Cogne means a journey of eight to nine hours over a difficult route which crosses a col at an altitude of over 2,900 meters. From Campiglia, the nearest village, there are 700 meters to climb on a rough track, which takes two hours; the stages of this route are marked by small chapels and some people increase the merit of the ascent by making it in bare feet. The pilgrims who assemble for the festival, therefore, braving bad weather and fatigue, have brought the saint a precious offering of their time and their trouble by the mere fact of their coming.
The celebration of mass in the little chapel, sumptuously decorated and brilliantly lit, renews and augments the sanctity of the place. The sermon given by the priest exalts the greatness of St Besse, his glory and his power, as well as reminding his worshippers of their religious duties. But the central event of the festival is the procession. In good order, the whole community of the faithful leaves the chapel, grouped according to sex, age and religious dignity; they only return to it after having "done the round of the Mount," that is to say having made a complete circuit of the rock, proceeding, of course, from left to right and reciting the prayers of the rosary as they go. To add to the luster of the ceremony, the parish of Campiglia, on whose territory the shrine is situated, provides St Besse with an accompaniment of all kinds of banners and holy images; but these are only accessories. By contrast, two other elements are essential to the procession. These are, on the one hand, the two fouïaces, ornaments composed of ribbons and fabric in bright colors, mounted on wooden frames, and almost entirely covering the faces of the young girls who carry them on their heads; these fouïaces, regarded today as the "trophies" of St Besse, in the past contained consecrated bread which was distributed after the procession. On the other hand, and above all, there is the massive statue of St Besse, dressed as a Roman soldier and holding the palm of martyrdom in his hand. Four or eight young men carry it on their shoulders carefully and seriously, as befits those entrusted with a trying but honorific and praiseworthy task. Is it not right that the emphasis in this ritual promenade should be placed above all on the hero of the day, on the master of the "Mount," on glorious St Besse himself? Back in the chapel, alone, he receives the adoration of the faithful, who prostrate themselves before his statue and devoutly kiss his feet.
Beyond these personal or liturgical prestations, the faithful send or bring material offerings to the shrine. On the Sunday preceding 10 August, in all the parishes participating in the festival, a collection is taken after mass, known at Cogne as a "picking," and the proceeds of this are given to the treasury of the chapel. But many of the faithful prefer to bring the gift which they have promised the saint in their own hands and in kind. Each one of them offers at the shrine his or her most precious possession, for a man a calf or a lamb, for a woman her finest shawl or even her wedding dress. It is true that this sacrifice is not necessarily definitive. At the end of the service, the president of the festival auctions all the objects which have been offered to the saint. If the pilgrim is really attached to the "gift" which he has given, there is nothing to stop him from recovering possession of it, provided that he pays the price for it. An ingenious procedure this, which assigns to the saint the essence of the offering, that is its money value, while allowing the devotee to buy back the cherished object of which his devotion had temporarily deprived him. Giving up the spirit in order to keep the substance, is this not, in the last analysis, the very basis of religious sacrifice?
The gathering of people, the rituals and the procession, the pious offerings have all raised to its highest pitch and fully activated the sacred energy that emanates from the shrine. Before abandoning themselves entirely to the joy of being together and of happy feasting, the faithful have set their hearts on obtaining for themselves their share in the festival, by drawing on the abundant and lively source of grace that is offered to them. In the past, consumption of consecrated bread, which used to be carried in the fouïace and was distributed after the procession, incorporated the benefits of the ceremony in their flesh. Some people, men and women, still, it seems, rub their backs against the rock to cure themselves from pains or from sterility. But it is also necessary to take home visible tokens of the protection of the saint, which will extend over space and prolong through the whole year the efficacy of the festival. So, at the doors of the chapel, several stalls are set up, where a mixture of sweetmeats, musical toys and objects of devotion is displayed; one can buy there small images of the saint, crude little pictures or medals, which are like small change to the gold reserve of the great statue in the shrine. At one time, when the cross on top of the rock was of wood, people went to scrape it in order to collect a little dust, to be used as a remedy in case of illness. The faithful today do not have this resource; for the old cross was blown down in a storm and has been replaced by an iron one. But they still have a means of remaining in communion with the saint that is more direct and more certain.
We have seen that the chapel of St Besse is an integral part of the great rock which dominates it. A ladder set up behind the altar gives access to the heart of the Mount itself. The faithful go up the ladder and chip the rock with their knives, detaching small pieces which they piously carry home with them. These are the "stones of St Besse." They are regarded as if they were relics of the saint. At ordinary times, they are simply kept in the house like a talisman; but, at times of special danger, such as a war, for example, people wear them on their persons. If a member of the family is ill, the stone is put into the water that he is given to drink; he is even made to swallow a few particles of it. It is a sovereign remedy; but, in the words often on the lips of the faithful, "It mustn't be mocked, you've got to have faith and trust." When the festival is over and the gathering breaks up, when the pilgrims in small groups get back to their scattered hamlets, bearing with them a few fragments from the mighty rock and imbued with its special power, one could say that St Besse himself goes down with them to their settlements and that, dispersing himself while retaining his being, he takes up his place for the year to come in each of the houses where he is adored.
The festival thus profits both the faithful and their patron. It exalts the prestige of the saint; it maintains and increases the honor of his name and the renown of his shrine. Without the festival, it would be as if St Besse did not exist and he would quickly lose his place in this world. As for the faithful, they bring away from their visit to the Mount a little of that fortifying and tutelary sanctity which is necessary to them in order to live their hard lives. Just as the deep valleys breathe out towards the sky a soft warm vapor which, after being condensed on the mountain side, falls back on the valleys in life-giving drops, so the humble parishes of men send up towards the venerated shrine the living breath of their devotion, which, transfigured in that holy place, returns to them in a rain of blessings....
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Anthropology of Catholicism by Kristin Norget, Valentina Napolitano, Maya Mayblin. Copyright © 2017 The Regents of the University of California. Excerpted by permission of UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Anthropology of Catholicism
Maya Mayblin, Kristin Norget, and Valentina Napolitano
PART ONE. A GENEALOGY OF THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF CATHOLICISM
1. Excerpt from “St Besse: A Study of an Alpine Cult”
Robert Hertz
2. Excerpt from “Tarantism and Catholicism”
Ernesto de Martino
3. Excerpt from “The Place of Grace in Anthropology”
Julian A. Pitt-Rivers
4. Excerpt from “The Dinka and Catholicism”
Godfrey Lienhardt
5. Excerpt from “Iconophily and Iconoclasm in Marian Pilgrimage” Victor Turner and Edith Turner
6. Excerpt from Person and God in a Spanish Valley
William A. Christian
7. Excerpt from “The Priest as Agent of Secularization in Rural Spain”
Stanley H. Brandes
8. Excerpt from “Women Mystics and Eucharistic Devotion in the Thirteenth Century”
Caroline Walker Bynum
PART TWO. CONTEMPORARY WORKS IN THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF CATHOLICISM
9. “Complexio Oppositorum”? Religion, Society, and Power in the Making of Catholicism in Rural South India
David Mosse
10. Marking Memory: Heritage Work and Devotional Labor at Quebec’s Croix de Chemin
Hillary Kaell
11. Containment and Contagion: The Gender of Sin in Contemporary Catholicism
Maya Mayblin
12. Opulence and Simplicity: The Question of Tension in Syrian Catholicism
Andreas Bandak
13. The Paradox of Charismatic Catholicism: Rupture and Continuity in a Q’eqchi’-Maya Parish
Eric Hoenes del Pinal
14. The Virgin of Guadalupe and Spectacles of Catholic Evangelism in Mexico
Kristin Norget
15. The Rosary as a Meditation on Death at a Marian Apparition Shrine
Ellen Badone
16. A Catholic Body? Miracles, Secularity, and the Porous Self in Malta
Jon P. Mitchell
17. Experiments of Inculturation in a Catholic Charismatic Movement in Cameroon
Ludovic Lado
18. On a Political Economy of Political Theology: El Señor de los Milagros
Valentina Napolitano
19. Making a Home in an Unfortunate Place: Phenomenology and Religion
J. Michelle Molina
PART THREE. INTERVENTIONS IN THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF CATHOLICISM
20. “We’re All Catholics Now”
Simon Coleman
21. What Is Catholic about the Clergy Sex Abuse Crisis?
Robert A. Orsi
22. Possession and Psychopathology, Faith and Reason
Thomas J. Csordas
23. Catholicism and the Study of Religion
Birgit Meyer
24. The Media of Sensation
Niklaus Largier
Bibliography
List of Contributors
Index