Papers by Sharon Murphy Mogen
The transition of the Roman funeral (with its focus on family) to a Christian liturgy for death (... more The transition of the Roman funeral (with its focus on family) to a Christian liturgy for death (focusing on clergy and text) has never been explored. Nor has mourning the dead, as part of the funeral-in-transition. This study is, therefore, a new inquiry. Its aim is to ascertain how change and continuity constructed a Christian response to death that began to manifest in the Latin West around the time of Charlemagne ca. 800 CE. The study asks: To what extent did late antique Christian families influence the christianization of the Roman funeral? What role did women play in that transformation? Literary and non-literary sources (church councils, letters, homilies, hagiographies, graffiti, inscriptions, etc.) from late antiquity were scrutinized using insights and methods from ritual studies with theories from place and performance studies. Material evidence (archaeology, art, artifacts, monuments, grave goods, etc.) were analyzed with the help of mortuary studies together with memory and social identity studies. Heuristic devices such as the "rhetoric of condemnation" and the "hermeneutics of suspicion" mitigated androcentric bias in the data. In order to assess the transition from the Roman funeral to the Christian liturgy for death, "an ideal type"-the funeral process outlined by Valerie M. Hope in Roman Death-was used for comparison. Finally, the data was read from the perspective of "ordinary" Christians; women were considered in terms of their kinship relationships, domestic practices, roles as memory-keepers, as household managers and healers, as patrons, and especially as caretakers and ritual specialists in terms of death. Key results of this study showed that the transition of the Roman funeral to a Christian liturgy was largely due to a gradual shift in control of the funeral process away from the family and into the hands of the church clergy. By the eighth century negotiation between the iii two groups had resulted in the codification-directed by the Carolingian reformers-of liturgical books known as ordines and sacramentaries that formalized rituals for dying, death, and burial. Most remarkable was that women's performance of mourning and ritual lament, however, retained a certain degree of independence that persisted throughout late antiquity and beyond. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study is an outgrowth of my Master of Arts degree in 2011. My interest in women's contributions to the development of Christianity in the early centuries was first inspired by Dan Brown's novel, The Da Vinci Code (2003). Subsequent research leading to the MA confirmed that women's main area of influence was with the family, especially at times of dying and death. Thus, was born a desire to explore in a doctoral program how the Christian funeral, the accompanying mourning rituals, and the liturgy came to be in the Latin West. The research for this project turned out to be quite an exercise. The evidence appeared, not in the regular places where one usually finds data, in the texts of Church Fathers, but rather-because I was dealing with "ordinary" Christians-in "crumbs" lurking in art, architecture, artifacts, sculpture, inscriptions, graffiti, and obscure drawings in very old books and manuscripts. The work has spanned eight years interspersed between my roles as wife, mother, grandmother, full-time student, teaching assistant for a number of my professors, a member of the organizing committee for the Pacific North West (PNW) regional meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) held at the University of Calgary in 2014, the webmaster for my parish website, member of a book club of ladies from my church, and member of WINCalagry (Women's Interfaith Network). It has truly been a feat of fancy footwork. At the same time, however, I was blessed with some amazing help. I owe thanks to so many on this lengthy journey. First, to my husband of 53 years, dearest Patrick, for support and incredible patience taking on housework, grocery shopping, and driving, all on my behalf. To our beloved fur-children-Murphy, Dutchess, Bailee, Misty, and HoneyBee-who took turns sleeping next to my computer while I worked those late v nights. Special mention goes to my children and grandchildren; no one could ask for more loyal supporters and cheerleaders, "You can do this, Nana!" And to my sister Pat and brotherin-law Dave in Texas for regular phone calls checking on my progress and for sending a coffee cup labelled "Keep Calm and Finish Your Dissertation!" In addition, the family has promised to help me return the roughly 150 library books that have taken up space on the bookshelves of my study over the past many years. On the "big day" there will be a parade of wagons and luggage carry-ons to transport the load of books from my house to the University Library. I extend special thanks to my mentor, Warren Harbeck, PhD (weekly columnist for the Cochrane Eagle) who encouraged me from the very beginning to "go to the source" and checked nearly every week during the doctoral program, "How's your progress?" Warm thanks go to my
Widely scattered primary data from late antiquity confirm that Roman-Christian families managed t... more Widely scattered primary data from late antiquity confirm that Roman-Christian families managed the rituals for death, burial, and commemoration of the dead at the domestic level. Household worship was regulated by Roman law, which explains in large part the lack of any serious interest by the emergent church in funerary matters until the mid-eighth century. During the interim therefore, Christian women as the primary caregivers and ritual specialists of the 'familia' assisted the dying, prepared the corpse for burial, lamented the dead—in song, poetry, music, drama, and dance—hosted funerary banquets, and remembered deceased family at the tomb. Furthermore, women were patrons and administrators of cemeteries, catacombs, martyr-shrines, and voluntary associations that buried deceased members. It was not until ca.750 that the Frankish bishops requested the nuns at the abbey in Chelles to compile the rituals for Christian dying, death, and burial. The result was a sacramentary...
The transition of the Roman funeral (with its focus on family) to a Christian liturgy for death (... more The transition of the Roman funeral (with its focus on family) to a Christian liturgy for death (focusing on clergy and text) has never been explored. Nor has mourning the dead, as part of the funeral-in-transition. This study is, therefore, a new inquiry. Its aim is to ascertain how change and continuity constructed a Christian response to death that began to manifest in the Latin West around the time of Charlemagne ca. 800 CE. The study asks: To what extent did late antique Christian families influence the christianization of the Roman funeral? What role did women play in that transformation? Literary and non-literary sources (church councils, letters, homilies, hagiographies, graffiti, inscriptions, etc.) from late antiquity were scrutinized using insights and methods from ritual studies with theories from place and performance studies. Material evidence (archaeology, art, artifacts, monuments, grave goods, etc.) were analyzed with the help of mortuary studies together with memory and social identity studies. Heuristic devices such as the "rhetoric of condemnation" and the "hermeneutics of suspicion" mitigated androcentric bias in the data. In order to assess the transition from the Roman funeral to the Christian liturgy for death, "an ideal type"-the funeral process outlined by Valerie M. Hope in Roman Death-was used for comparison. Finally, the data was read from the perspective of "ordinary" Christians; women were considered in terms of their kinship relationships, domestic practices, roles as memory-keepers, as household managers and healers, as patrons, and especially as caretakers and ritual specialists in terms of death. Key results of this study showed that the transition of the Roman funeral to a Christian liturgy was largely due to a gradual shift in control of the funeral process away from the family and into the hands of the church clergy. By the eighth century negotiation between the iii two groups had resulted in the codification-directed by the Carolingian reformers-of liturgical books known as ordines and sacramentaries that formalized rituals for dying, death, and burial. Most remarkable was that women's performance of mourning and ritual lament, however, retained a certain degree of independence that persisted throughout late antiquity and beyond.
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Papers by Sharon Murphy Mogen