Christ’s blood

In her recent book on blood in medieval theology and piety, Caroline Bynum summarizes the debates concerning blood in the middle ages. The TLS reviewer summarizes: “Bynum begins by describing the debates and practices of the famous controversial pilgrimage to ‘the blood’ at Wilsnack, Brandenburg, to three abused Eucharistic hosts on which drops of blood allegedly appeared. Bynum then links the Wilsnack cult with several other Northern German pilgrimages to various kinds of Christ’s blood, and contextualizes these cults further in the surprisingly numerous, and partly forgotten, theological debates about it . . . .

“Briefly sketching the discussions of Christ’s blood in the Eucharist . . . she gives welcome accounts of the lesser-known controversies on whether the blood, as it appeared in host miracles or in relics of the Crucifixion, could indeed have been left behind on earth after the Resurrection; whether it decomposed or remained fresh after Jesus’s death; and what happened to it during the three days between his dying and rising.”

These debates were important because for medievals blood in relics and in the Eucharist “encapsulated their hopes for eternal life and access to the supernatural realm.” At the core of medieval devotion to the “wonderful blood” was the belief that Jesus’ blood “remained on earth, independent of his body, even beyond his death and resurrection.” Jesus’ blood was the one part of his humanity believed to remain on earth, and so was uniquely capable of giving earthly access to grace. Medieval believers “emphasized the positive aspects of sacrifice – the bonds it created between Christ and Christendom – rather than the less acceptable cruelty and one-sidedness of this killing.”