Church-sect dynamics and the Feast of Corpus Christi

Sociology of Religion, Fall, 2004 by Barbara R. Walters

In the two vignettes that depict Juliana relating visions to close friends, the partner reaches out to allow her to maintain credibility and self-respect in the role in which she, Juliana, presents herself. The mutual acceptance may be temporary, a working definition of the situation, but for sociologist Goffman, this represents a "basic structural feature" of "face-to-face" talk. Especially the interaction with Isabella offers a classic example of disruption to the equilibrium of the interaction posed by her challenge to Juliana's apparition. A correction ritual, reparation, through which Juliana and her vision regain esteem, followed immediately.

The remarkable and striking feature of Juliana's network of women friends was their breadth. The networks spanned all types of religious organizations, from cloistered Cistercian nuns, to Dominican nurses and teachers, and finally the beguines, religious women living outside of orders. The networks also reflect the full spectrum of socio-economic status in thirteenth-century Belgium, ranging from the extremely wealthy and landed aristocracy to impoverished and often homeless widows, and encompassing in between the established urban and commercial patriciate, as well as the newer merchant strata. The geographic span is equally expansive, extending throughout the Archdiocese, and including bordering territories in Flanders. Their breadth and depth enable a deeper understanding of women's issues and the issue of women during the thirteenth century.

Men Allies

Even the closest personal relationships with men were more formal and task oriented than those with women, and proceeded along hierarchical lines. Prior Godfrey is mentioned only as a prior with a venerable life, who provided Juliana with much comfort during her trials and tribulations. Brother John, who became the prior at Mont-Cornillon in 1242, must have been the first male to whom Juliana spoke regarding her vision for the new feast. She mentioned him to Eve in a prophecy prior to the death of Prior Godfrey as "young and innocent" (Delville 1999:120), but nonetheless as one who would support her during difficult times. John's life unfolded in tandem with that of Juliana; he was made prior at the same time she was restored as prioress and was deposed when she left, after the contested bishopric election and eventual appointment of Henry of Gueldre, cousin to William of Holland. John visited Juliana during her exile at Salzinnes, and predeceased her by three years. The relationship to John is one of two described in the vita between Juliana and a male that had moments of full collegiality. In her other relationships to men the language of the vita suggests deference, humility, and requests for approbation on the part of Juliana in an ordered sequence that follows the hierarchical organization, or it depicts situations in which the male is a remote benefactor of her gifts of prophecy or healing.

The description of Juliana and John's work together on the Office and Mass for the new Feast of Corpus Christi lends itself to interpretation as a scene in which Juliana sings or prays, while John functions as the scribe. This interpretation is supported by the death scene in Juliana's vita, in which she asks for a scribe to whom she can make known the secrets of her heart. Interestingly in this context, a dove with a crown in his beak hovers right outside the opening and well-known historiated initial of Book I of Juliana's vita. Musicologist Treitler has described the tradition of illuminations with a dove perched near the ear of Pope Gregory the Great. These illuminations have been interpreted as representing Gregory dictating under the influence of the Holy Spirit, symbolized by the dove which in the tenth century "took on musical content" (Treitler 1974:337).