Gripla - 20.12.2016, Page 235

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ASTRID MARNER
FORGOTTEN PREACHING
A Latin Sermon on Saint Þorlákr in Uppsala UB C 301
Þorlákr Þorhallsson , born at Hlíðarendi í Fljótshlíð, entered the
clergy at a young age and was subsequently educated at oddi, Skálholt,
Paris and Lincoln before being elected Bishop of Skálholt in 1178. He
was decisively engaged in the staðamál fyrri, a conflict between clergy and
laity ca. 1179, and immediately after his death in 1193, local veneration
was quickly kindled, leading to the translation of his remains to Skálholt
cathedral in 1198.1
Þorlákr was commemorated with two feasts, the dies natale on
23rd December (Þorláksmessa að vetri) and the translatio on 20th July
(Þorláksmessa að sumri). Both came into effect by episcopal proclamation
at the althing in 1199 and 1237 respectively. no canonisation efforts had
ever been made, apparently because the procedure had not yet been fully
established, and the local, episcopal approval of Þorlákr’s sanctity sufficed.2
1 Ásdís Egilsdóttir, “St Þorlákr of Iceland: the Emergence of a Cult,” Haskins Society Journal
12 (2002): 121–32. a detailed account of the process leading to the translation can be found
in Gottskálk Jensson, “*revelaciones thorlaci episcopi – enn eitt glatað latínurit eftir
Gunnlaug Leifsson munk á Þingeyrum,” Gripla XXIII (2012): 133–75.
2 although the first juridical canonisation is documented as early as the tenth century,
it was not before the early thirteenth century that it was perfected. according to the
sources, only 49 canonisation processes were conducted prior to the turn of the fourteenth
century, 24 of which were successful. See arnold angenendt, Heilige und Reliquien: Die
Geschichte ihres Kultes vom frühen Christentum bis zur Gegenwart (München: C.H. Beck’sche
Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1994), 180–82. the vernacular saga, however, quotes a letter by
Eirik, archbishop of nidaros, from the turn of the thirteenth century, in which the
archbishop admits Þorlákr’s sanctity. See Ásdís Egilsdóttir, ed., Biskupa sögur 2: Hungrvaka,
Þorláks byskups in elzta, Jarteinabók Þorláks byskups in forna, Þorláks saga byskups yngri,
Jarteinabók Þorláks byskups önnur, Þorláks saga byskups C, Þorláks saga byskups E, Páls saga
byskups, Ísleifs þáttr byskups, Latínubrot um Þorlák byskup, Íslenzk fornrit 16 (reykjavík: Hið
íslenzka fornritafélag, 2002), 85 and 193. for an interpretation of the two slightly diverging
versions, see Gottskálk Jensson, “*revelaciones thorlaci episcopi,” 143–44.
Gripla XXVII (2016): 235–261