Theirs was a friendship based on self-sacrifice. It is the highest form of friendship for Jonathan was sacrificing his right to kingship for the sake of justice. No wonder St Aelred had so much regard for this friendship. For Aelred, friendship is a love that is austere and demanding. He draws on images of courtship and marriage to describe friendship for this was a time when his great fellow Cistercian St Bernard had written a commentary on The Song of Songs.
For St Anselm, the love of friendship can never be sensual. Indeed he condemned homosexual activities in the royal court.
Remarkably enough, some believe the love of St Basil and St Gregory Nazianzus to be sensual. Basil said of monks who molest men " Let them be whipped in public..." and Gregory ordered the works of Sappho to be burned, calling her a "lewd nymphomaniac."
Why did Joan of Arc wear men's clothes? Why did Mother Julian use a male name ? Whatever the answer it is not rooted in sensuality.
Thursday 19 January 2012
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