Our final research seminar of this academic year will be given by Professor Sarah Jane Boss, who co-founded the Centre for Marian Studies in 1995.
Theme
Written evidence, archaeological evidence and folklore all point to there having been a number of medieval shrines of the Virgin Mary in the region of the Bristol Channel and adjacent areas (South West England and South Wales), and this paper will present the foundation legends of four of the shrines, together with an account of topographical features of their respective locations.
Specifically, the most important feature is a river and, in two cases, there is also a holy well. The four shrines are situated, respectively, in Kidwelly (Carmarthenshire), Hempsted (Gloucestershire), Cardigan (Ceredigion), and Tintern (Monmouthshire).
Professor Boss will raise the possibility that there may be particular significance to the estuarial or tidal locations of these former shrines, and thus indicate an area for further research. She will suggest that their common topographical features might have been connected to ritual and economic activity — a suggestion which provides a possible line of future enquiry.
Guest speaker
Professor Sarah Jane Boss has a Ph.D in Sociology and an STL from St Patrick's College, Maynooth (Ireland). Since co-founding the Centre for Marian Studies in 1995, she has served as its Director, Secretary and Librarian, and she is the author of numerous publications in Marian studies, including Empress and Handmaid (Cassell, 2000), Mary (Continuum, 2004) and, as editor and contributor, Mary: The Complete Resource (Continuum and OUP, 2007).
She was a Lecturer in Theology at the University of Wales, Lampeter, and Senior Lecturer at the University of Roehampton, and she is currently a Lecturer in Dogmatic Theology at St Mary’s College, Oscott (Birmingham).
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