Catechism and Miracles as Arguments in Religious Debate: Hanns Wagner’s Play of St Ursus

• Cora Dietl ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Giessen

     University of Giessen

     Distrito de Gießen, Alemania

     
• Localización: European Medieval Drama, ISSN 1378-2274, ISSN-e 2031-0064, Nº. 27, 2023, págs. 161-187
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The paper suggests a confessional reading of Hanns Wagner’s play about St Maurice and St Ursus, staged for the 100th anniversary of Solothurn’s admission to the Swiss Confederation in 1581. Wagner uses diverse verbal and theatrical methods of religious persuasion, addressing an audience of mixed confession, who are given the role of ‘the people’. By contrast with the ruler, who is the most negatively portrayed, the ‘people’ are shown to be convinced by words that visibly come true and by miracles, accepting the major Catholic prayers, and the Catholic understanding of baptism and of sainthood.