The medical background of Anglo-Saxon England : a study in history, psychology, and folklore / [Wilfrid Bonser].

  • Wilfrid Bonser
Date:
1963
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Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: The medical background of Anglo-Saxon England : a study in history, psychology, and folklore / [Wilfrid Bonser]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    465/492 (page 425)
    VETERINARY MEDICINE AND CHARMS FOR LIVESTOCK 425 An excellent and tried charm against the disease in cattle which is termed ‘lorichot’. First the litany is to be chanted : then water is to be hallowed, then a rogation mass is to be celebrated and the ritual of the Holy Cross and of St. Hippolytus. Then let the priest, bearing holy water and wearing a stole, go to the fold, and walking round it repeat such psalms as the ‘Benedicite omnia’ and ‘Benedictus dominus deus’, [&c]. At the same same time, he sprinkles the animals with holy water. Next he shall recite the gospel ‘In principio’, turning first to the west in the first corner, with the animals standing opposite to him. In the second corner, let him recite ‘cum esset desponsata’. In the third corner, ‘Recumbentibus’. In the fourth comer, ‘Respiciens ihesus’ which is said on the vigil of All Saints. Next let the priest turn again to the first corner, and send forth the animals from the fold, sprinkling them the while with holy water. And afterwards let him say this prayer, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, who didst set free the Three Children from the furnace of burning fire, even Sidrac, Misac [and] Abenago, we pray thee . . . that thou save and liberate these beasts from all evil and pestilence.’ Amen. 1 This begins as a charm against ‘lorichot’, and ends as a prayer to protect the cattle from all evil and pestilence. It is reminiscent of some Roman festivals, and especially of the Parilia, a shepherd’s festival in honour of Pales, which is described by Ovid and Tibul lus. The sheepfolds were purified and the sheep fumigated, and the shepherd, facing the east, four times repeated a prayer for the aversion of evil and for the fertility of the flock. 1 2 Such ceremonies have continued until the present day. One, for instance, was celebrated on 25 June, on top of the Col Chécruit, on the opposite side of the Val Veni to Mont Blanc, and discontinued only in 1916 when a new priest of Courmayeur entered into office. The cattle were sprinkled with holy water in the same way as is enjoined in the above charm. The blessing of the cattle still takes place annually at Carnac on the day of S. Cornély, the patron saint of horned animals. This is without doubt the persistence of an ancient pagan rite. There are various Irish instances of purification of cattle both by fire and by water, especially on 1 May. At Clonmany in Donegal the ceremony took place on 9 June, the day of St. Columkille, since the people ‘formerly drove down their cattle to the beach on that day and swam them in that part of the sea into which runs the 1 MS. Bodley 57 (2004), fo. 10 b. Unpublished. 2 W. R. Halliday, Lectures on the History of Roman Religion, 1922, p. 49.