A Spanish Bishop Remembers the Future: Oral Traditions and Purgatory in Julian of Toledo

Abstract

Stork considers Bishop Julian of Toledo and his seventh-century creation of one of the most influential works on Purgatory, the Prognosticon Futuri Saeculi. Enormously popular in Western Europe, it provided a convenient compendium of source material used by preachers and theologians for centuries. Though the work itself consists of citations from Patristic authors, Julian’s preface and the titles to each section reveal how, in a sort of spiritual “convivium” with his friend Idalius, he initially composed the book from memory. Surviving manuscripts show how the text was studied and transmitted in early monastic school settings.

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