Vasari: Catholic Curiosities

[uzbradistan]

In describing the subjects of various artworks, Vasari mentions offhandedly many legends of saints and Biblical figures that he evidently takes for granted, but which struck me as new and exotic. I may have gone to Catholic school K through 12, but they didn't teach us any of these

Comments

[uzbradistan]

Re: St. Casilda: I hadn't heard of her before, but she is included in the Wikipedia entry on the miracle of the roses that I linked to. And, all right, I'll grudgingly admit that, in her case, bread turning into roses might have been useful. :) (Then again, I wonder if she got in trouble anyway -- "Hey, you were bringing those roses to the prisoners, weren't you? How dare you!")

As for why Christians would think that Jews would steal Mary's corpse -- I guess it's the same "logic" that was behind the blood libel.

(I'm sure you've already heard of that, but here's a Wiki link for anyone who hasn't:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_libel_against_Jews )