The Source of Aelfric's Catholic Homilies II 12, lines 531-539

2012 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 476-479
Author(s):  
M. Clayton
Keyword(s):  
1988 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 35-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joyce Hill

Augustine, Jerome, Bede, Gregory, Smaragdus and Haymo, the exegetical authorities acknowledged by Ælfric in the Latin preface to the Catholic Homilies, frequently used etymologies as one of their techniques for penetrating the words of the biblical text in order to arrive at their spiritual essence. To the modern student of language their interpretations often seem arbitrary, even bizarre, but the idea that there was an intimate connection between the signifying name and the person, place or thing signified was well established within the scriptural canon and was extended and confirmed by the cumulative authority of the exegetes themselves. It was Isidore of Seville, in his Etymologies, who provided the most systematic definition of this tradition of etymologizing. As he explained it, it was a method for determining the true essence of the thing designated by the process of penetrating its appellation, since all things and all activities which were named ‘secundum naturam’ (as opposed to those arbitrarily named ‘secundum placitum’) were designated by those words which had etymologies enshrining the very quality or idea so designated. Given this definition, with its underlying philosophical and linguistic assumptions, it is easy to understand why etymologies were exploited in Christian exegesis and teaching. It was accepted that biblical names were in the category ‘secundum naturam’ since they were God-given or at least divinely sanctioned, and the rationale and method of their penetration had the advantage of harmonizing closely with the general interpretative process that was employed.


1968 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 160
Author(s):  
R. M. Wilson ◽  
AElfric ◽  
N. Eliason ◽  
P. Clemoes
Keyword(s):  

Traditio ◽  
1961 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 457-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cyril L. Smetana
Keyword(s):  

Besides the version of Paul the Deacon's Homiliary which Aelfric probably used for most of the patristic material in the Catholic Homilies, he also made use of a compilation of brief excerpts from the works of the Fathers by Smaragdus, and the homiliary of Haymo of Halberstadt. A re-examination of the sources of the Catholic Homilies has led to the conviction that Aelfric's debt to Haymo is considerably greater than has been recognized. Besides the two homilies where Aelfric specifically mentions Haymo as his source, we can point out some twenty-five more homilies where Aelfric's text is beholden to Haymo's work.


Stylistyka ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 265-287
Author(s):  
Marzena Makuchowska

The paper discusses the problem of transferring the memory of Jews through Polish contemporary Catholic homilies. In the biblical pericopies read throughout the liturgical year during Catholic mass, generally Jews play a negative role – as persecutors and killers of Jesus. According to the provisions of the Second Vatican Council, anti-Jewish content cannot be proclaimed in the Catholic Church, and the Bible, which according to the doctrine must remain unchanged, should be adequately commented on in homilies. The paper – on the example of about 40 homilies – shows, however, that priests who preach homilies do not use modern exegetic knowledge, but replicate stereotypes deeply rooted in culture, thus reproducing the centuries-oldmyth of the Jews as killers of God.


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