Abstract
The collections of Cistercian miracles and exempla of the late 12th and early 13th century are strongly influenced by Eucharistic themes. Some of the miracles are deliberately aimed at priests judged unworthy of their office, and thus echo the ‘Gregorian’ discourse that was already well developed. This article seeks to determine how these miracle stories are mobilised in support of such a discourse, despite the fact that the discourse itself has two foci which are in principal antithetical - criticism of the unworthy priest and exaltation of the priesthood via the sacrament. Analysing and comparing miracle stories - and their variants - in five major collections has made it possible to identify the choices made by their compilers as they attempted to fit those miracle stories into orthodox discourse in the best way available and to resolve the paradox that they encountered.
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