"lc augt ƥolye more": Models of Sanctity in two legends of Saints Chrysanthus and Daria

Abstract

Among the didactic and devotional genres of the Middle Ages, vitæ and passiones of the saints offer particular advantages to the study of medieval holy pedagogy. Collections such as the Old English Ælfric's Lives of Saints and the Middle English South English Legendary reflect contemporary didactic concerns in a focused, even intimate, pedagogical genre. Throughout the Middle Ages proliferating redactions of the legends of saints attest to the evolving role of the saints in Christian pedagogy and devotion. If we compare the redactions of a particular vita or passio, we find one group of pedagogical concerns stands out in relief against another version's specific, historically-contingent concerns. This is precisely the case when the late tenth-century Old English Passio Chrisanti et Darie sponse eius, found in Ælfric's Lives of Saints, is compared to its fifteenth-century counterpart Seint Crissaunt and Darige, found in only one of the late manuscripts of the South English Legendary. From the earlier to the later English version, the shape of sanctity foregrounded for readers undergoes a considerable shift. While suffering, quite predictably, plays a crucial role in each passio's representation of sanctity, the versions reflect very different attitudes towards suffering, consequently offering different pedagogical models for the saints' sufferings. The Middle English version concentrates upon a desire for suffering that wholly differs from the fundamental feature of the Old English saints' faith and sanctity, their married chastity.