Die Ausschließlichkeit des Heiligen : Narrative Inklusions- und Exklusionsstrategien im mhd. ›Passional‹

Abstract

The article focuses on narrative strategies of inclusion and exclusion and theirrealisation in vernacular hagiographical texts. In the Life of St. Cecily in the Middle High German ›Passional‹, the exclusion from the secular culture canbe shown in the refusing of the aristocratic conception of life by the protagonist; her turning to Christianity is reflected in selective, even exclusive strategies of perception: only by participating in the ›communio sanctorum‹, in Christianity, certain transcendent phenomena can be noticed; unbaptised personskeep being excluded. In contrast, in the Life of St. Martin of Tours, the protagonist’s exclusion from the sphere of aristocratic culture is reflected in the con-frontation of disparate body-concepts; the different forms of perception pre-sented in this vita are excluding the saint from the other Christians. If thecriteria of distinction become more diverse, if - as it is the case in the Life ofSt. Martin - the distinction between Pagan and Christian is not solely decisiveany longer, strategies of inclusion and exclusion are operative on several levels: on the level of perception as well as on the level of body-concepts.