Jump to content

Saint Guinefort: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
make it a reference,
→‎Legend: forest
Line 31: Line 31:
:The local peasants hearing of the dog's noble deed and innocent death, began to visit the place and honor the dog as a martyr in quest of help for their sicknesses and other needs.
:The local peasants hearing of the dog's noble deed and innocent death, began to visit the place and honor the dog as a martyr in quest of help for their sicknesses and other needs.
::[[Stephen of Bourbon]] (d. 1262): ''De Supersticione: On St. Guinefort''.<ref name="Fordham"/><ref name="Dickey">{{cite journal |url=http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/faithful-hound |first1=Colin |last1=Dickey |title=A Faithful Hound |journal=[[Lapham's Quarterly]]|date=June 18, 2013 |quote=In the late 1960s, when the Vatican revolutionized itself to stay current and relevant, Jean-Claude Schmitt was still making inquiries about Guinefort in the regions around Lyon—asking around about a supposed healer in the nearby forest, one of the locals answered Schmitt, “My grandmother told me: it seems he was a dog!”|access-date=September 4, 2016}}</ref>
::[[Stephen of Bourbon]] (d. 1262): ''De Supersticione: On St. Guinefort''.<ref name="Fordham"/><ref name="Dickey">{{cite journal |url=http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/faithful-hound |first1=Colin |last1=Dickey |title=A Faithful Hound |journal=[[Lapham's Quarterly]]|date=June 18, 2013 |quote=In the late 1960s, when the Vatican revolutionized itself to stay current and relevant, Jean-Claude Schmitt was still making inquiries about Guinefort in the regions around Lyon—asking around about a supposed healer in the nearby forest, one of the locals answered Schmitt, “My grandmother told me: it seems he was a dog!”|access-date=September 4, 2016}}</ref>

This was centered upon a forest in the area.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.florilegium.org/files/ANIMALS/Guinefort-art.html |title=Guinefort: The Sainted Dog of France |first1=Mevanwy verch, a/k/a Mark S. Harris |last1=Tuder de Courtecadeno |publisher=Stefan's Florilegium |quote=The earliest text documenting this cult is recorded from the location of its actual shrine, a sacred grove in the woods near the small village of Sandrans, in Dombes, north of Lyon|journal=The Barge |date=May 2005 |access-date=October 5, 2013}}</ref>


In part because of the rigorous persecution and demonization of the belief, it persisted and was given wider circulation and support {{mdash}} an unintended consequence and a precursor manifestation of the [[Streisand effect]].<ref name="Fordham"/><ref name="Dickey"/> As [[Protestant church]]es emerged in the [[Sixteenth century]], they "criticized the [[cult]] of Guinefort seeing in it an example of the abuses and errors of the Catholic Church." [[Catholic Hierarchy|Catholic hierarchy]] adopted the critique, and sought to [[euthanize]] Guinefort belief and practices, and [[ostracize]] practitioners.<ref name="Lynn">{{cite web |url=https://ultimatehistoryproject.com/the-cult-of-guinefort-an-unusual-saint.html |title=The Cult of Guinefiord: An Unusual Saint |first1=Michael |last1=Lynn |publisher=The Ultimate History Project |accessdate=November 18, 2021}}</ref> A [[fine]] for the practice was implemented.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.medievalists.net/2020/06/dog-guinefort-christopher/ |first1=Minjie |last1=Su |title=Oh My Dog! St Guinefort and St Christopher |publisher=Medievalists.net |accessdate=November 18, 2021}}</ref> "Despite this early attempt to ridicule and dismiss the cult of Saint Guinefort, the local tradition continued."{{efn-ua|"In 1879 a folklorist named Vayssière passed through “Saint Guinefort’s wood” and found it still intact. Similarly, the modern historian Jean-Claude Schmitt found evidence of the cult still in practice after World War I."<ref name="Lynn"/>}} The cult of this dog saint persisted for several centuries, until the 1930s, despite the repeated prohibitions of the Catholic Church.<ref name="Dickey"/> And community memory of the practices was evidence in the 1970s.<ref name="Association">{{cite web |url=https://www.association-saint-guignefort.fr/la-l%C3%A9gende-de-saint-guignefort/ |title=The legend of Saint Guignefort |publisher=Association Saint Guignefort |quote=Some old people of Châtillon still remembered in the years 1970 that formerly (before the second world war), one went in this wood to invoke there certain Saint Guignefort and to obtain the cure of the sick or weak children. |language=French|accessdate=November 18, 2021}}</ref>
In part because of the rigorous persecution and demonization of the belief, it persisted and was given wider circulation and support {{mdash}} an unintended consequence and a precursor manifestation of the [[Streisand effect]].<ref name="Fordham"/><ref name="Dickey"/> As [[Protestant church]]es emerged in the [[Sixteenth century]], they "criticized the [[cult]] of Guinefort seeing in it an example of the abuses and errors of the Catholic Church." [[Catholic Hierarchy|Catholic hierarchy]] adopted the critique, and sought to [[euthanize]] Guinefort belief and practices, and [[ostracize]] practitioners.<ref name="Lynn">{{cite web |url=https://ultimatehistoryproject.com/the-cult-of-guinefort-an-unusual-saint.html |title=The Cult of Guinefiord: An Unusual Saint |first1=Michael |last1=Lynn |publisher=The Ultimate History Project |accessdate=November 18, 2021}}</ref> A [[fine]] for the practice was implemented.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.medievalists.net/2020/06/dog-guinefort-christopher/ |first1=Minjie |last1=Su |title=Oh My Dog! St Guinefort and St Christopher |publisher=Medievalists.net |accessdate=November 18, 2021}}</ref> "Despite this early attempt to ridicule and dismiss the cult of Saint Guinefort, the local tradition continued."{{efn-ua|"In 1879 a folklorist named Vayssière passed through “Saint Guinefort’s wood” and found it still intact. Similarly, the modern historian Jean-Claude Schmitt found evidence of the cult still in practice after World War I."<ref name="Lynn"/>}} The cult of this dog saint persisted for several centuries, until the 1930s, despite the repeated prohibitions of the Catholic Church.<ref name="Dickey"/> And community memory of the practices was evidence in the 1970s.<ref name="Association">{{cite web |url=https://www.association-saint-guignefort.fr/la-l%C3%A9gende-de-saint-guignefort/ |title=The legend of Saint Guignefort |publisher=Association Saint Guignefort |quote=Some old people of Châtillon still remembered in the years 1970 that formerly (before the second world war), one went in this wood to invoke there certain Saint Guignefort and to obtain the cure of the sick or weak children. |language=French|accessdate=November 18, 2021}}</ref>

Revision as of 23:46, 18 November 2021

Saint Guinefort
Saint Guinefort
Modern illustration of St. Guinefort
Dog Saint
Died13th-century
near Lyon, France
Venerated inFolk Catholicism
FeastVenerated locally on August 22
PatronageInfants
Catholic cult suppressed
Never recognized officially by the Catholic Church; Cult persisted until the 1930s by the Catholic Church

Saint Guinefort (French pronunciation: [ɡin.fɔʁ]) was a 13th-century French dog that received local veneration as a folk saint after miracles were reported at his grave.[1][2][3][4][5]

Legend

His story is a variation on the well-travelled "faithful hound" motif, similar to the Welsh story of the dog Gelert. Guinefort the greyhound belonged to a knight who lived in a castle near Lyon. One day, the knight went hunting, leaving his infant son in the care of Guinefort. When he returned, he found the nursery in chaos – the cot overturned, the child nowhere to be seen and Guinefort greeted his master with bloody jaws. Believing Guinefort to have devoured his son, the knight slew the dog. He then heard a child crying; he turned over the cot and found his son lying there, safe and sound, along with the body of a viper. Guinefort had killed the snake and saved the child. On realizing the mistake the family dropped the dog down a well, covered it with stones and planted trees around it, setting up a shrine for Guinefort. Guinefort became recognised by locals as a saint for the protection of infants. It was alleged by contemporary commentators that locals left their babies at the site to be healed by the dog:

The local peasants hearing of the dog's noble deed and innocent death, began to visit the place and honor the dog as a martyr in quest of help for their sicknesses and other needs.
Stephen of Bourbon (d. 1262): De Supersticione: On St. Guinefort.[2][3]

This was centered upon a forest in the area.[6]

In part because of the rigorous persecution and demonization of the belief, it persisted and was given wider circulation and support — an unintended consequence and a precursor manifestation of the Streisand effect.[2][3] As Protestant churches emerged in the Sixteenth century, they "criticized the cult of Guinefort seeing in it an example of the abuses and errors of the Catholic Church." Catholic hierarchy adopted the critique, and sought to euthanize Guinefort belief and practices, and ostracize practitioners.[7] A fine for the practice was implemented.[8] "Despite this early attempt to ridicule and dismiss the cult of Saint Guinefort, the local tradition continued."[A] The cult of this dog saint persisted for several centuries, until the 1930s, despite the repeated prohibitions of the Catholic Church.[3] And community memory of the practices was evidence in the 1970s.[9]

Guinefort's feast day is traditionally on August 22. [B]

Saint Guinefort, the holy greyhound, has been fancifully admixed with the story of Saint Roch, the official patron saint of dogs, apocryphally saving him from starvation while he was lost in a forest. The story is an anachronism, since Roch and the dog were born decades apart.[10]

The 1987 French film Le Moine et la sorcière (in the US known as The Sorceress) depicts the controversy over St. Guinefort as seen through the eyes of Fr. Etienne de Bourbon, a Dominican inquisitor and the author of the above passage.[1]

Thomas of Hookton, the main character in Bernard Cornwell's The Grail Quest trilogy (2000–2003), was a mock believer in Saint Guinefort, praying to the saint and wearing a paw on a piece of leather around his neck.

In Adam Gidwitz's 2017 young adult novel The Inquisitor's Tale, the main characters' pet greyhound Gwenforte bears a strong resemblance to Saint Guinefort, especially in the manner of his death and resurrection early in the novel.

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ "In 1879 a folklorist named Vayssière passed through “Saint Guinefort’s wood” and found it still intact. Similarly, the modern historian Jean-Claude Schmitt found evidence of the cult still in practice after World War I."[7]
  2. ^ "No known painting or statue of St. Guinefort exists from the Middle Ages. Icon paintings sometimes identified as St. Guinefort are actually portraying St. Christopher. Due to a Byzantine mistranslation of the word "Canaanite" centuries ago, St. Christopher is sometimes erroneously portrayed as having the head of a dog. This is not related to the story of St. Guinefort."[10]

Citations

  1. ^ a b Rist, R. (2019). "The papacy, inquisition and Saint Guinefort the Holy Greyhound" (PDF). Reinardus: The Yearbook of the International Reynard Society. 30 (1). University of Reading: 190–211. doi:10.1075/rein.00020. ISSN 0925-4757.
  2. ^ a b c Halsall, Paul (September 8, 2000). "Stephen de Bourbon (d. 1262): De Supersticione: On St. Guinefort Etienne de Bourbon". Medieval Sourcebook. Fordham University. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d Dickey, Colin (June 18, 2013). "A Faithful Hound". Lapham's Quarterly. Retrieved September 4, 2016. In the late 1960s, when the Vatican revolutionized itself to stay current and relevant, Jean-Claude Schmitt was still making inquiries about Guinefort in the regions around Lyon—asking around about a supposed healer in the nearby forest, one of the locals answered Schmitt, "My grandmother told me: it seems he was a dog!"
  4. ^ St Guinefort - the dog who became a saint! Video via YouTube
  5. ^ Saint Guinefort: The Dog Folk Saint Video via YouTube
  6. ^ Tuder de Courtecadeno, Mevanwy verch, a/k/a Mark S. Harris (May 2005). "Guinefort: The Sainted Dog of France". The Barge. Stefan's Florilegium. Retrieved October 5, 2013. The earliest text documenting this cult is recorded from the location of its actual shrine, a sacred grove in the woods near the small village of Sandrans, in Dombes, north of Lyon{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ a b Lynn, Michael. "The Cult of Guinefiord: An Unusual Saint". The Ultimate History Project. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  8. ^ Su, Minjie. "Oh My Dog! St Guinefort and St Christopher". Medievalists.net. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  9. ^ "The legend of Saint Guignefort" (in French). Association Saint Guignefort. Retrieved November 18, 2021. Some old people of Châtillon still remembered in the years 1970 that formerly (before the second world war), one went in this wood to invoke there certain Saint Guignefort and to obtain the cure of the sick or weak children.
  10. ^ a b "Saint Guinefort: The Holy Greyhound".

Further reading

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Saint_Guinefort&oldid=1055975489"