A Miracle Tale from Fasciculus Morum

Power & Humor at a Deathbed

Dear bookish friend,

Let’s kick off the New Year with a bit more from the at times fascinating, at times incredibly dull, often very weird fourteenth-century preacher’s handbook, Fasciculus Morum.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about FM on the free monthly Medievalish. I’ll recap for you here because the name certainly doesn’t lend itself to easy remembering. Fasciculus Morum was created in the early fourteenth century by a Franciscan priest in England. It belongs to the hugely popular genre of penitential and pastoral writing of the Middle Ages. Versions of FM survive in twenty-eight manuscripts today, indication of its popularity (a new study estimates that 90% of medieval manuscripts were lost to time). For context, the delightful poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight only survives in one, so 28 is a big deal!

FM is organized by the Seven Capital Vices and their remedies, including hundreds of anecdotes and even short poems illustrating the vices and virtues. The collection includes subtle theological passages and more sensational miracle tales. It was written in Latin. I rely on Siegfried Wenzel’s excellent edition with a facing English translation.

Today, I share with you a miracle tale, from the same section on love that I shared last time. It is very different in tone from the rather magnificent excerpt on the paradox of the Incarnation. But it too has stuck with me long after reading.

In the house of the Franciscans at Shrewsbury it happened that a friar by the name of Warren South lay dying and was cared for by another friar called Thomas of Whitchurch. As the sick man was near his end and a cross was placed before him, as is the custom of friars, he looked about him with trembling and called loudly for the lector of the house.