Liturgy and Ecstasy Among the Beguines of Roubaud: Douceline of Digne's Vida as Liturgical Commentary and Customary

This dissertation argues that the female-authored, Old Occitan hagiography for Douceline of Digne presented this holy woman in ecstasy as a liturgical gloss and model for the community, las donnas de robaut. When Douceline’s ecstasies are read alongside contemporary liturgical and devotional texts, practices, and art, her hagiography provides rare evidence of beguine liturgical formation. While not a customary in the strict sense of genre, the hagiography of Douceline promoted communal liturgical customs and encouraged particular understandings of the liturgical and sacramental life of the church like a liturgical commentary. Moreover, this dissertation argues that the hagiographic narratives of ecstasy are some of the richest and most essential portions of the text to discovering the promoted liturgical customs. The community’s hagiography about their founder wove Douceline’s raptures into the community’s liturgical and sacramental life by interpreting her ecstatic body as performing liturgical commentary and as promoting liturgical ideals.

The dissertation builds the above argument in five chapters. Chapter one seeks to introduce and situate the Vida. Chapters two, three, and four support the general argument by detailed analyses of different case studies for liturgical feasts and sacramental and devotional practices. Chapter two examines the narrative of ecstasy on the Ascension and argues that the Ascension ecstasy’s primary function was the dedication of the newly constructed dormitory in Marseille. Chapter three shows the centrality of the passion of Christ to the liturgical vision of the hagiography by analyzing the various accounts of raptures including those inspired by the Eucharist, Good Friday, and the stigmata of St. Francis. Chapter four examines the importance of the Marian feast of the Assumption in the liturgical imaginary of the Vida, including through the narration of Douceline’s death. Chapter five concludes the dissertation with its summary findings and the import and relevance of this work to the fields of liturgical studies and medieval and church history.