Mothers and Children. Jewish Family Life in Medieval Europe - Elisheva Baumgarten

64. Gail McMurray Gibson, “Blessing from Sun and Moon: Churching As Women’s Theater,”
    in Bodies and Disciplines: Intersections of Literature and History in Fifteenth-Century England,
    eds. Barbara A. Hanawalt and David Wallace (Minneapolis and London, 1996), 139–57. Recently,
    Rieder, Churching of Women, 45, has questioned the link between the biblical command and the
    medieval practices. She has argued for a more complex evolvement of the churching ritual and
    its relationship to the Feast of Purification and for greater involvement of women in the creation
    of the ritual. Nevertheless, the biblical practice is at the basis of the medieval practice and is a cen-
    tral shared component of the Jewish and Christian rites.


65. Franz, Kirchlichen Benediktionen, 1:442–60; Jacobus de Voragine, Legenda Aurea, recen-
    suit par Theodor Graesse (Dresden and Leipzig, 1845), 158–67: “consuevit autem illud festum
    tribus nominibus appellari, scilicet purificatio, hypopanti et candelaria.”
    66.Sefer Niz·ahon Vetusdiscusses the purification of Mary as part of its polemic against Chris-
    tianity. It asks why Mary had to be purified if, indeed, she was indeed a virgin giving birth to a holy
    son. See Berger, Jewish-Christian Debate, 44, section 6.


66. Gibson, “Sun and Moon,” 141–44.
    68.Legenda Aurea, 163: “Et quoniam difficile est consueta relinquere, christiani de gentibus
    ad fidem conversi difficile poterant relinquere huiusmodi consuetudines paganorum, ideoque
    Sergius papa hanc consuetudinem in melius commutavit et scilicet christiani ad honorem sancte
    matris domini omni anno in hac die totum mundum cum accensis candelis et benedictis cereis
    illustraren, ut solemnitas quidem staret sed alia intentione fieret.” The Candlemass also had so-
    cial significance, since it marked the period when new servants were hired and old ones let go.
    See Roger E. Reynolds, “Churching of Women,” Dictionary of the Middle Ages, ed. Joseph Strayer,
    3:382; Frederick G. Holweck, “Candlemass,” The New Catholic Encyclopedia, 3:245–46.


67. Rieder, Churching of Women, 18–25, 42; Wilson, “Ceremony of Childbirth,” 75–76, men-
    tions a period that varied depending on the financial abilities of the family, usually between four
    and six weeks. Karant-Nunn, Reformation of Ritual, talks of a period of six weeks, 74–78.


68. See above, pp. 97–99.


69. My description is based on Wilson’s and Rieder’s descriptions, supra, n. 59.


70. Gibson, “Sun and Moon,” 141–51.


71. This problem was addressed by Jews as well, as we remarked above, n. 66.


72. See for example: Hildegardis Bigensis, Scivias, ed. Adelgundis Führkötter O.S.B. collabo-
    rante Angela Carlevaris O.S.B. (CCCM43) (Turnholt, 1978), 28, Visio secunda, pars prima, 21
    (525–47): “Quare mulier post partum vel a viro corrupta I occulto maneat et ab ingressu templi
    abstineat. Sed et mulier cum prolem peperit fractis occultis membris suis templum meum non-
    nisi secundum legem per me sibi datam ingrediatur... quia Filium meum purissima Virgo ge-
    nuit, quae integra absque ullo uulnere peccati fuit. Locus enim, qui in honorem eiusdem Vini-
    geniti mei consecratus est, integri ab omni corruptione liuoris ac uulneris esse debet; quoniam
    idem Vinigenitus meus integritatem uirginei partus in se nouit. Vnde et mulier quae integritatem
    uirginitatis suae cum uiro corrumpit, in liuore plagae suae qua corrupta est ab ingressu templi mei
    se contineat usque dum plaga uulneris ipsius sanetur secundum quod ecclesiastica disciplina ipsi
    de eadem causa certissime demonstrat.” See: Browe, Beiträge zur Sexualethik, 27; Shah·ar, Child-
    hood, 51, n. 106.


73. Rieder summarizes this point: Churching of Women, 268–69.


74. Browe, Beiträge zur Sexualethik, 18; Rieder, Churching of Women, 18; Gregorius, MGH,
    epist II, 3, 338: “Nam si hora eadem qua genuerit actura gratias intrat ecclesiam, nullo peccati
    pondere gravatur; voluptas enim carnis, non dolor in culpa est.”


75. Browe, Beiträge zur Sexualethik, 25–33. Browe also discusses some of the same issues con-
    cerning menstruation, 5–14. Franz, Kirchlichen Benediktionen, 2:215–20, also discusses this issue.
    See Rieder, Churching of Women, 155–202.


76. Franz, Kirchlichen Benediktionen, 2:224–25. For example: versio 1, no. 3: “ut, sicut uni-
    gentus filius tuus cum nostre carnis substantia in templo est presentatus, ita facias hanc famulam

NOTES TO CHAPTER 3 219