Landscape with two saints
Subtitle: how Genovefa of Paris and Brigit of Kildare built Christianity in barbarian Europe
By: by Lisa M. Bitel.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 299
ISBN-13: 9780195336528
Subjects: Geneviève, -- Saint, -- ca. 420-ca. 500; Brigid, -- of Ireland, Saint, -- ca. 453-ca. 524; Paris (France) -- Church history; Kildare (Ireland) -- Church history
Description: At a time when Europeans still longed to be Roman and were just learning to be Christian, two holy women--Genovefa of Paris (ca. 420-502) and Brigit of Kildare (ca. 450-524)--began to roam their homelands. One of these saints raised an apostolic church in the imperial city that would become Paris. The other scavenged fragments of that dwindling empire for the foundations of a grand Roman basilica built deep in barbarian territory. Both brought Christianity and romanitas (Roman-ness) to their people. By examining the ruins of their cities and churches, the workings of their cults, and the many generations of their devotees, Lisa Bitel shows how Brigit and Genovefa helped northern Europeans map new religion onto familiar landscapes. Landscape with Two Saints tells the twin stories of these women but also explains how ordinary people lived through religious change at the very beginning of the Middle Ages. --From publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction : the journey to Brigit's well; title: Paris before Genovefa : the landscape enters history; title: Genovefa's territory; title: Sacral Paris; title: Paris after Genovefa; title: Crossings and conversions; title: Ekphrasis at Kildare; title: Brigit goes to ground; title: Relics.