Literal and Symbolic: the Language of Asceticism in Two Lives of St Radegund

St. Radegund - Radegonde_se_retire_dans_le_monastère_dédié_à_la_Vierge

Since Radegund was never martyred, it is through her ascetic practice, a vicarious martyrdom, that her sanctity must be constructed. Both Fortunatus and Baudonivia treat Radegund’s ascetic practices as a means of creating the powerful body of a saint, a living relic, but the differences in the two writers’ approaches are notable.

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