An idea that stuck out to me in McGuire’s essay “Purgatory, the Communion of Saints, and Medieval Change” was this concept of reciprocality between the living and the dead, which presented itself as a stronger community and bond than one of an earthly congregation. McGuire insists that “[j]ust as the souls of the dead need us, we need them” to counsel us living rightly and to make us aware of our sins, making their presence known in visions (79). I guess my problem with this idea is my skepticism on visions and their credibility of truthfulness. It seems as if this is the work of one’s conscious and perhaps a hyper-sensitivity to their inner voice. Maybe the idea of an angel and devil on either shoulder is pushing it here, but that image kept popping into my mind as I read this section of McGuire’s essay. Regardless of my modern view of spiritual visions, I do agree with the idea that “[t]he presence of the dead in our lives reminds us of who we are and where we are going” and it is one that is still with us today. The Mexican celebration Día de los Muertos occurs on November 2nd, All Souls Day, carrying with it similar notions of the medieval bond between this world and the next. On this day, alters are constructed in the home or around the grave of a loved one with sugar skulls, significant flowers, photographs, and even the departed’s favorite food or drink. This is done to encourage the soul to return to earth and hear the prayers of the living, which works similarly as a medieval Catholic’s charitable donations and commemorative prayers work to purify both living and dead souls. In medieval society, this tradition blurred the boundary between this world and the next, exciting a “desire for evidence about the other world” (80). This want of proof also interested me. What evidence, other than visions, was there of the existence of an afterlife presented itself to medieval society? Is the only true evidence that of faith?
The only real “proof” of an afterlife in any society is faith; but, faith can lead to other things that are often construed as proof. For example, I mentioned in one of my earliest blog posts, in discussing the medieval justice system, that divine signs were often used to condemn and save a man from punishment. Following the “proof” in these divine signs, one could assume that if a man is guilty of a crime he will feel pain when burned with fire whereas if he is innocent, he will not feel any pain….ya….
“The desire for evidence about the other world” (80) will, in my opinion, always go unmet. Faith is absolutely essential.
Another example of proof of faith in the Middle Ages that is similar to my above aexample is in tonight’s reading of “The Second Nun’s Tale”. Cecilia, who represents “pure chasteness of Virginitee”, is sentenced to boil to death in lines, but isn’t affected by the boiling water at all in lines 515-520.