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Parental Grief and Prayer in the Middle Ages : Religious Coping in Swedish Miracle Stories

Aldrin, Viktor LU (2015) In Collegium: Studies Across Disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences 18. p.82-105
Abstract
This article focuses on expressions of bereavement and religious coping in medieval miracle stories from Sweden. The stories come from the collections of St. Birgitta (Bridget) of Sweden, the Blessed Bishop Nicolaus Hermanni (Sw. Nils Hermansson) of Linköping and the Blessed Katarina of Vadstena, and were recorded in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

Catherine M. Sanders’s modern five stages of bereavement have been used as the theory of analysis through Kay Talbot’s adaptation of the theory for parents in grief. This theoretical foundation has provided new insights into how parental grief was expressed in medieval Sweden – and in stark contrast to Continental research on the same topic. Parents of both sexes expressed their... (More)
This article focuses on expressions of bereavement and religious coping in medieval miracle stories from Sweden. The stories come from the collections of St. Birgitta (Bridget) of Sweden, the Blessed Bishop Nicolaus Hermanni (Sw. Nils Hermansson) of Linköping and the Blessed Katarina of Vadstena, and were recorded in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

Catherine M. Sanders’s modern five stages of bereavement have been used as the theory of analysis through Kay Talbot’s adaptation of the theory for parents in grief. This theoretical foundation has provided new insights into how parental grief was expressed in medieval Sweden – and in stark contrast to Continental research on the same topic. Parents of both sexes expressed their grief outwardly through tears and crying, and a reluctance to accept that their children were dead. Throughout the miracle stories, lay people constructed their own prayers for miraculous intervention without the aid of any priests. This makes fathers and mothers in medieval Sweden agents of their own in terms of praying to God and being able to construct their own forms of religious coping. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
practical theology, pastoral theology, religious coping, grief, middle ages, scandinavia
in
Collegium: Studies Across Disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences
volume
18
pages
82 - 105
publisher
Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies
ISSN
1796-2986
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1577-6234
id
87061b91-73d2-4776-93c0-e9752196ac78 (old id 5426454)
alternative location
https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10138/154765/04_aldrin_final_2.pdf?sequence=1
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 12:55:14
date last changed
2018-11-21 20:10:14
@article{87061b91-73d2-4776-93c0-e9752196ac78,
  abstract     = {{This article focuses on expressions of bereavement and religious coping in medieval miracle stories from Sweden. The stories come from the collections of St. Birgitta (Bridget) of Sweden, the Blessed Bishop Nicolaus Hermanni (Sw. Nils Hermansson) of Linköping and the Blessed Katarina of Vadstena, and were recorded in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.<br/><br>
Catherine M. Sanders’s modern five stages of bereavement have been used as the theory of analysis through Kay Talbot’s adaptation of the theory for parents in grief. This theoretical foundation has provided new insights into how parental grief was expressed in medieval Sweden – and in stark contrast to Continental research on the same topic. Parents of both sexes expressed their grief outwardly through tears and crying, and a reluctance to accept that their children were dead. Throughout the miracle stories, lay people constructed their own prayers for miraculous intervention without the aid of any priests. This makes fathers and mothers in medieval Sweden agents of their own in terms of praying to God and being able to construct their own forms of religious coping.}},
  author       = {{Aldrin, Viktor}},
  issn         = {{1796-2986}},
  keywords     = {{practical theology; pastoral theology; religious coping; grief; middle ages; scandinavia}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{82--105}},
  publisher    = {{Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies}},
  series       = {{Collegium: Studies Across Disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences}},
  title        = {{Parental Grief and Prayer in the Middle Ages : Religious Coping in Swedish Miracle Stories}},
  url          = {{https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10138/154765/04_aldrin_final_2.pdf?sequence=1}},
  volume       = {{18}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}