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Metaphoric expression of Saint Mary Magdalene in the liturgy of Saint George's Monastery in Prague

Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2020

Abstract

The figure of Mary Magdalene is an important point in the female spirituality in the middle ages. The binary person, who incorporates the humanity and the divinity, creates a bridge between the real and the ideal by its virtue and empiric experience of which she is a mystic mediator for the medieval consecrated female person.

In the female Benedictine monastery of Saint-George in Prague, Mary Magdalene serves the model, but also the mean of self-identification for the nuns in order to come closer to Christ. In this role, she is particularly appearing during the Holy Week-triduum and Easter liturgy: not only in the chant repertory (that even disposes a new composition to her honour), but also in a tactile way by the symbolic use of the architectural elements during the Maundy ritual and gestic imitation of her biblically described action that is at the limit of the theatrical performance.

The narrative of Easter drama presentation also contributes to the "spiritual" material of the saint's veneration and gives to Mary Magdalene a particular place in the nuns' lives. The analyse is based on Processionals manuscripts from the monastery completed by the Liber ordinarius and poetic codex of illuminated passional.