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The Life of Christina the Astonishing: Latin Text with Facing
This is a sparkling new translation of the Life of St. Christina the Astonishing by the Dominican preacher and theologian Thomas of Cantimpré. Written in 1232, just eight years after her death, it recounts the sometimes spectacular exploits of Christina in her native village of St. Trond, Belgium and its environs. Regarded in her youth as demon-possessed and cruelly persecuted because of her strange behavior, in the course of time Christina came to be revered by her fellow townsmen as a holy woman and prophetess. It is a powerful and provocative story told by Thomas of Cantimpré in a crisp and vivid style. The original Latin text is included.
Paperback
First published December 17, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 2, 2013
This book is the 'be all, end all' book on Christina the Astonishing. All (or virtually all) other information based on Christina is based off this book. It is astonishing, fo sho. One of my absolute favorites, of all time, and a valuable addition to anyone's library who is interested in studying the saints.
April 17, 2022
Written in around 1232, by Thomas of Cantimpre (d.1272), this book narrates the life and miracles of St Christina the Astonishing (1150-1224).
Christina seems to have been a truly astonishing character. Reviving at her funeral, onlookers related that she flew to the rafters of the Church to escape the smell of sin. And from that remarkable start, she spent another 50 years variously amazing or perturbing her neighbours.
The stories narrate that she would climb into fires and sit there screaming in pain for significant lengths of time, before climbing out with no signs of burns. It isn’t clear in the book why she does this, but a comment towards the end of the story explains how she took on burns to try and reduce Count Louis’ sufferings in purgatory (paragraph 45). Perhaps there was a similar rationale for the earlier actions too?
is hard to escape the conclusion that Christina had mental health issues, and it is not without irony that she is now recognised as a patron saint of mental illnesses. As an example of her odd views, we hear that she took by force an alms that someone would not give her (24). Isn’t it called stealing when you forcibly take someone else’s property?
There are some episodes where Christiana’s humanity shines through. For example a nun ran away from a convent and created a scandal. When the nun wanted to return to her convent they would not have her back. But Christina insisted that they show mercy and forgiveness by receiving the nun back (30).
Books like this raise inevitable questions about the reality of the miracles which they portray. Undoubtedly some stories have gained in the telling, as that is normal in many cases of handing on stories. The medieval writing style does not prioritise careful documentation of its sources, so it is hard to tell whether a story is supposed to be a witness report or a repetition of hearsay. The author notes that Christina lived with a Yvette for nine years, and he obtained his information from her (38), but even in her case it is unclear what she herself witnessed and what she heard from others.
There are places in the story where the author indicates reasons for believing in Christina’s miracles. For example he notes that she prophesised Saladin’s capture of Jerusalem months before the news filtered through in normal ways, and the date of her prophesy coincided with the date of the actual conquest (33). Is this a genuine miraculous prophecy? Whether modern readers think it is, or not, incidents like this illustrate the readiness of Christina’s contemporaries to overlook her oddities and to think that she is genuinely interacting with supernatural sources.
This edition offers a fresh English translation which reads well. But there is no introduction or footnotes to explain the text, or to contextualise some of the oddities in the story. I was even surprised to find that the story only takes up half the space in the book, as the other half contains the medieval Latin text. It is good to have access to the original Latin, but it would have been better to have known that it was in the book, from the beginning, so that a reader can refer to it as interesting details crop up in the English.
Missing from the book is a comment on the text chosen for the translation. Medieval manuscripts inevitably accrued copying mistakes, so translating a manuscript usually requires a comparison of manuscripts, in order to identify variant readings and to identify the most likely genuine version of the text. There are a few words on the text at the back of the book, but they are written in Latin. Not ideal.
Christina seems to have been a truly astonishing character. Reviving at her funeral, onlookers related that she flew to the rafters of the Church to escape the smell of sin. And from that remarkable start, she spent another 50 years variously amazing or perturbing her neighbours.
The stories narrate that she would climb into fires and sit there screaming in pain for significant lengths of time, before climbing out with no signs of burns. It isn’t clear in the book why she does this, but a comment towards the end of the story explains how she took on burns to try and reduce Count Louis’ sufferings in purgatory (paragraph 45). Perhaps there was a similar rationale for the earlier actions too?
is hard to escape the conclusion that Christina had mental health issues, and it is not without irony that she is now recognised as a patron saint of mental illnesses. As an example of her odd views, we hear that she took by force an alms that someone would not give her (24). Isn’t it called stealing when you forcibly take someone else’s property?
There are some episodes where Christiana’s humanity shines through. For example a nun ran away from a convent and created a scandal. When the nun wanted to return to her convent they would not have her back. But Christina insisted that they show mercy and forgiveness by receiving the nun back (30).
Books like this raise inevitable questions about the reality of the miracles which they portray. Undoubtedly some stories have gained in the telling, as that is normal in many cases of handing on stories. The medieval writing style does not prioritise careful documentation of its sources, so it is hard to tell whether a story is supposed to be a witness report or a repetition of hearsay. The author notes that Christina lived with a Yvette for nine years, and he obtained his information from her (38), but even in her case it is unclear what she herself witnessed and what she heard from others.
There are places in the story where the author indicates reasons for believing in Christina’s miracles. For example he notes that she prophesised Saladin’s capture of Jerusalem months before the news filtered through in normal ways, and the date of her prophesy coincided with the date of the actual conquest (33). Is this a genuine miraculous prophecy? Whether modern readers think it is, or not, incidents like this illustrate the readiness of Christina’s contemporaries to overlook her oddities and to think that she is genuinely interacting with supernatural sources.
This edition offers a fresh English translation which reads well. But there is no introduction or footnotes to explain the text, or to contextualise some of the oddities in the story. I was even surprised to find that the story only takes up half the space in the book, as the other half contains the medieval Latin text. It is good to have access to the original Latin, but it would have been better to have known that it was in the book, from the beginning, so that a reader can refer to it as interesting details crop up in the English.
Missing from the book is a comment on the text chosen for the translation. Medieval manuscripts inevitably accrued copying mistakes, so translating a manuscript usually requires a comparison of manuscripts, in order to identify variant readings and to identify the most likely genuine version of the text. There are a few words on the text at the back of the book, but they are written in Latin. Not ideal.
December 18, 2025
At the start of c13, there is a massive increase in commentary on and practices of somatic piety, which is coupled by increasing in female spirituality. And this book operates through a series of theological and political maneuvers, perhaps none more conspicuous than its figuration of female suffering as vicarious, efficacious, and redemptive. The question, then, is if this representation of female spirituality is part of a male ideological fantasy, wherein suffering female bodies signify the communal salvation so lauded by male authors. Or, is this type of female spirituality a type of joy uniquely experienced by cloistered and secluded women? Thomas represents Christina's pain as redemptive; however, perhaps her pain was her own type of joy.
November 21, 2020
Well, this was wild from start to finish.
December 23, 2024
What a wild ride with this little known patron saint of mental illness. Her story was definitely astonishing and provided insight into purgatory, penance, and striving to live our lives for Christ.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews