A Note on Sainthood in the Hagiographical Prologue

TL;DR: In the early thirteenth century, an attempt was made to place the saint within the broader context of sacred history, within a continuing tradition of divine revelations stretching back to the Prophets as discussed by the authors.

Abstract: Changing trends in medieval hagiography are most clearly expressed in the prologue or preface to the saint's life, which affords the author an opportunity to explain the circumstances surrounding the work's composition, outline the main themes or chapters, cite his chief sources, or state his philosophical stance. An attempt was made to place the saint within the broader context of sacred history, within a continuing tradition of divine revelations stretching back to the Prophets. Particularly in the thirteenth century, such apologetic remarks were often the result of the conflict of religious orders, each of which sought to legitimize the novelties it had introduced into the monastic life, or between Christian sects which threatened to tear asunder the seamless robe of Christ. Robert of Sulmona's biographer, for example, describes his subject as a divine instrument of the Church Militant, whose mission is a logical continuation of the Old Testament and the Gospel. Robert's virtuous life and signs of sainthood "restore the sick to health, provide rest for the weary, food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, cleanliness for the leprous, life for the dead, freedom for those obsessed by demons, and, through his prayers, lighten the load of the dead."1 Many an author, overtaken with modesty, begins in classical style by bemoaning his lack of skill and eloquence, his inability to do his subject justice, and admits his reliance upon such patristic predecessors as Gregory the Great, Jerome, Cassiodorus, and the Liber vitaspatrum.2 Others, in the style of their humanist descendants who called upon the muse for inspiration, invoke the aid of the Holy Spirit and propose to compose a "rude and simple work, albeit short and truthful," free of subtle rhetoric or flourish.3 In his inimitable way, the Cistercian hagiographer Caesarius of Heisterbach, like his predecessor Sulpicius Severus, both belittles his own writing skills and takes a swipe at the rhetorical acrobatics of the philosophers. He suggests that if some day the diocese of Cologne should possess more learned men, they may compose a more eloquent life of Engelbert of Cologne; for as a monk, and not as a philosopher, Caesarius's powers are insufficient to the task. The philosophers and dialecticians, on the other hand, often write more to display