English Monastic Litanies of the Saints after 1100, III, Addenda, Commentary, Catalogue of Saints, Indexes

摘要

A litany is essentially, 'a list of saints who are being asked to pray on behalf of a petitioner, and then a list of their petitions', wrote Dr Rosalind Love, the publication secretary to the Henry Bradshaw Society, in her preface to Volume I of this monumental work of scholarship. Love put there too, very clearly, the importance of these texts beyond their immediate specialist audience. Litanies represent one of the 'simplest and most direct forms of prayer - mortals enlisting the support of immortals in their approach to the Almighty for everyday needs' — and 'for those concerned with the cult of saints they offer the chance to trace the growth and spread of the veneration of one particular saint.'1 This volume, then, with Volumes I and II, should be worth consulting by any scholar working in English medieval religious history.