The model of Christian ascesis developed by the hermitic elites of the 11th century was more successful. Isolated or in small groups, they continued to repurpose that ascetic model even outside defined institutional contexts, and they obtained the consensus of their faithful – who admired the rigour of their practices of piety to such an extent that, as André Vauchez has observed, extreme ascesis came to be considered the essential characteristic of Christian sanctity throughout the early Middle Ages.
D'Acunto, N., The Hermits of Medieval Italy: An Otherworldly Elite (XI-XIII centuries), in Mixson, J., Melville, G. (ed.), Virtuosos of Faith Monks, Nuns, Canons, and Friars as Elites of Medieval Culture, Lit, Wien 2020: 63- 73 [http://hdl.handle.net/10807/165241]
The Hermits of Medieval Italy: An Otherworldly Elite (XI-XIII centuries)
D'Acunto, Nicolangelo
2020
Abstract
The model of Christian ascesis developed by the hermitic elites of the 11th century was more successful. Isolated or in small groups, they continued to repurpose that ascetic model even outside defined institutional contexts, and they obtained the consensus of their faithful – who admired the rigour of their practices of piety to such an extent that, as André Vauchez has observed, extreme ascesis came to be considered the essential characteristic of Christian sanctity throughout the early Middle Ages.
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