Saintly Voices: Sounding the Supernatural in Medieval Hagiography

Dear Colleagues,

The sensory dimension of saints’ legends has stimulated longstanding interdisciplinary inquiry, with particular attention to vision and scent (Albert, Odeurs de sainteté, 1990; Classen, The Color of Angels, 1998; Hahn, Portrayed on the Heart, 2001; and others, cited under references). Yet, compared to the ubiquitous sweet smell of sanctity, its sonic counterpart was notably more diverse. From the melodious harmony of angelic singing to the terror of thunderous noise to the mystery of unintelligible speech, sanctity was signaled in the Middle Ages through a broad spectrum of sounds that merit interpretation.

--What kinds of sounds were associated with sanctity and the supernatural, and how were they represented?
--How did real and/or idealized performance contexts shape the perception of these sounds?
--How can the explicit absence of these sounds be understood?
--How did racial, ethnic, and/or gendered identities influence the representation and reception of saintly voices?
--How did supernatural sounds interact with the sonic environment of the natural world?
--How did the sounds of sanctity stimulate belief in the miraculous and the otherworldly?
--How were the intangible, ephemeral qualities of sound conducive to liminal experiences between the embodied and disembodied?
--How did medieval meanings of “voice” (vox) merging human and non-human sounds promote imagined intersections between human and non-human realms?

Contributors are encouraged to consider these and similar avenues of inquiry in narratives of sanctity represented in a variety of medieval media. Inspired by collaborative studies of medieval sound spearheaded by musicologist Susan Boynton (Resounding Images, 2015; “Sound Matters,” 2016), this Special Issue aims to foreground the agency of sound in medieval perceptions of sanctity and the supernatural through interdisciplinary discourse.

Hagiographic analysis might engage with any number of other methodologies drawing from, but not limited to, the following:

-The study of religious texts, images, and music;
-Liturgy/ritual;
-Sound and performance studies;
-Environmental studies;
-Disability studies;
-Theories of race and/or gender;
-History of emotions;
-Sensory perception.

Examples and case studies from all parts of the medieval world are welcome.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200-300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editor, or to Religions editorial office. Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editor for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

References:

Albert, Jean-Pierre. Odeurs de sainteté: La mythologie chrétienne des aromates. Editions de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, 1990.

Bloomenfeld-Kosinski, Renate and Timea Szell, eds. Images of Sainthood in Medieval Europe. Cornell University Press, 1991.

Boynton, Susan and Diane Reilly, eds. Resounding Images: Medieval Intersections of Art, Music, and Sound. Brepols, 2015.

Boynton, Susan, Sarah Kay, Alison Cornish, and Andrew Albin. “Sound Matters.” Speculum 94 (2016): 998-1039.

Classen, Constance. The Color of Angels: Cosmology, Gender, and the Aesthetic Imagination. Routledge, 1998.

Hahn, Cynthia. Portrayed on the Heart: Narrative Effect in Pictorial Lives of the Saints from the Tenth through the Thirteenth Century. University of California Press, 2001.

Robinson, Katelynn. The Sense of Smell in the Middle Ages: A Source of Certainty. Routledge, 2019.

Selected collaborative studies on related topics:

Bassett, Holly and Vincent Lloyd, eds. Sainthood and Race: Marked Flesh, Holy Flesh. Routledge, 2014.

Coello de la Rosa, Alexandre and Linda Jones, eds. Saints and Sanctity in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: Striving for Remembrance. Routledge, 2020.

Godden, Richard and Asa Mittman, eds. Embodied Difference: Monstrosity, Disability, and the Posthuman in the Medieval and Early Modern World. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

Kahn Herrick, Samantha, ed. Hagiography and the History of Latin Christendom, 500-1500. Brill, 2020.

Kleiman, Irit, ed. Voice and Voicelessness in Medieval Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

Mooney, Catherine, ed. Gendered Voices: Medieval Saints and their Interpreters. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999.

Newhauser, Richard, ed. A Cultural History of the Senses in the Middle Ages. Bloomsbury, 2014.

Powell, Hilary and Corinne Saunders, eds. Visions and Voice-Hearings in Medieval and Early Modern Contexts. Palgrave Macmillan, 2021.

Spencer-Hall, Alicia and Blake Gutt, eds. Trans and Genderqueer Subjects in Medieval Hagiography. Amsterdam University Press, 2021.

Dr. Catherine Saucier
Guest Editor

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• hagiography
• cult of saints
• devotion
• supernatural and natural environments
• identity
• liminality
• sensory perception
• voice
• sound
• performance
• religious arts