Sortes Sanctorum
Encyclopedia
Drawing the Sortes Sanctorum (Lots of the saints) or Sortes Sacrae (Holy Lots) was a type of divination
or cleromancy
practiced in early Christianity
, derived and adapted from the ancient Roman sortes
, as seen in the pagan Sortes Homerica
and Sortes Virgilianae
.
Some early Christians went to church and listened for the words of scripture that were being sung when they entered the church as a random means of predicting the future and God's will (along the lines of the Jewish Bath Kol
form of divination), but the Sortes was done more formally, by casually opening the Holy Scripture and reading the first words to come to hand, with these words being taken to foretell the inquirer's fate. Doing so was often a public event, and sometimes accompanied by ceremonies (such as the 7th century emperor Heraclius
ordering 3 days' public fast before a consultation as to whether or not he should advance or retreat against the Persians - he took the text that arose as divine instruction to winter in Albania
). Since full copies of the Christian Bible were rare before printing was invented, the lots usually used the Psalms
, the Prophets
, or the four Gospels.
relates that Merovech used the Sortes to check the predictions of a female fortune-teller that he would (as he hoped) gain the kingdom of his father Chilperic
. He had the Psalter, the Books of Kings
, and the four Gospels placed on the shrine of St. Martin
and held a time of fasting and prayer, but the texts he then drew stated that he would not and were later interpreted as predicting his later ruin.
A French writer, in 506, says, "this abuse was introduced by the superstition of the people, and afterwards gained ground by the ignorance of the bishop
s.", as is shown by Pithon
's Collection of Canon
s, which contains some forms under the title of The Lot of the Apostles. These were found at the end of the Canons of the Apostles in the Abbey of Marmousier, and various canons were made at later councils and synod
s (such as the councils of London
under Archbishop Lanfranc
in 1075, and Corboyl in 1126) against the Sortes as superstition. However, they were still occurring in the time of St Francis of Assisi who, in denying himself any possessions except coats and a cord, wanted to check if he was still allowed to own books. He prayed and then drew Mark
, chapter IV, "Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables", which he took to mean that he was neither allowed books nor needed them.
While seeking divine
guidance, St. Francis
is also said to have thrice opened to a random page of the book of Gospels in the church of St. Nicholas. In each time he opened to a passage in which Christ
told His disciples to leave their earthly belongings and follow Him.
A Peter of Toulouse, who had sworn on the Bible that accusations of heresy against him were false, was immediately afterwards convicted by the Sortes when a bystander grabbed the Bible and opened it randomly at the words of the Devil
Legion to Jesus, "What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth?", which he adjudged to mean that Peter had nothing to do with Jesus.
At the acclamation of Martin as bishop of Tours
(371) a few cast aspersions, largely for his lack of personal glamor. According to the Vita by Sulpicius Severus
,
St. Augustine
related, in his autobiographical Confessions
, how his conversion to the Catholic
faith was assisted by a voice chanting tolle lege or 'take up and read':
, used to be a very common practice amongst the people called Methodists, but chiefly those of the Calvinistic persuasion; this, it is probable, has declined in proportion with the earnestness of these people in other respects. They had also another opinion, viz., that if the recollection of any particular text of scripture happened to arise in their minds, this was likewise looked upon as a kind of immediate revelation from heaven. This they call being presented or brought home to them.
Divination
Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...
or cleromancy
Cleromancy
Cleromancy is a form of divination using sortition, casting of lots, or casting bones or stones, in which an outcome is determined by means that normally would be considered random, such as the rolling of dice, but are sometimes believed to reveal the will of God, or other supernatural entities.-In...
practiced in early Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, derived and adapted from the ancient Roman sortes
Sortes (ancient Rome)
Sortes were a frequent method of divination among the ancient Romans. The method involved the drawing of lots to obtain knowledge of future events: in many of the ancient Italian temples the will of the gods was consulted in this way, as at Praeneste and Caere.These sortes or lots were usually...
, as seen in the pagan Sortes Homerica
Sortes Homerica
The Sortes Homericae was the practice of drawing a random sentence or line from the works of Homer to answer a question or predict the future. Socrates is recorded as doing so in prison to determine the day of his execution, and the practice even occurred in the Renaissance era...
and Sortes Virgilianae
Sortes virgilianae
The Sortes Virgilianae or Sortes Vergilianae is a form of divination by bibliomancy in which advice or predictions of the future are sought by randomly selecting a passage from Virgil's Aeneid. It was most widely practiced in the later Roman Empire and in medieval times...
.
Some early Christians went to church and listened for the words of scripture that were being sung when they entered the church as a random means of predicting the future and God's will (along the lines of the Jewish Bath Kol
Bath Kol
Bat Kol is a "heavenly or divine voice which proclaims God's will or judgment." It was "identified with the Holy Spirit, even with God; but it differed essentially from the Prophets, though these spoke as the medium of the Holy Spirit."- Revelation :The characteristic attributes of the Bat Ḳol...
form of divination), but the Sortes was done more formally, by casually opening the Holy Scripture and reading the first words to come to hand, with these words being taken to foretell the inquirer's fate. Doing so was often a public event, and sometimes accompanied by ceremonies (such as the 7th century emperor Heraclius
Heraclius
Heraclius was Byzantine Emperor from 610 to 641.He was responsible for introducing Greek as the empire's official language. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, successfully led a revolt against the unpopular usurper Phocas.Heraclius'...
ordering 3 days' public fast before a consultation as to whether or not he should advance or retreat against the Persians - he took the text that arose as divine instruction to winter in Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
). Since full copies of the Christian Bible were rare before printing was invented, the lots usually used the Psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
, the Prophets
Nevi'im
Nevi'im is the second of the three major sections in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh. It falls between the Torah and Ketuvim .Nevi'im is traditionally divided into two parts:...
, or the four Gospels.
History
Gregory of ToursGregory of Tours
Saint Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of Gaul. He was born Georgius Florentius, later adding the name Gregorius in honour of his maternal great-grandfather...
relates that Merovech used the Sortes to check the predictions of a female fortune-teller that he would (as he hoped) gain the kingdom of his father Chilperic
Chilperic I
Chilperic I was the king of Neustria from 561 to his death. He was one of the sons of the Frankish king Clotaire I and Queen Aregund....
. He had the Psalter, the Books of Kings
Books of Kings
The Book of Kings presents a narrative history of ancient Israel and Judah from the death of David to the release of his successor Jehoiachin from imprisonment in Babylon, a period of some 400 years...
, and the four Gospels placed on the shrine of St. Martin
Martin of Tours
Martin of Tours was a Bishop of Tours whose shrine became a famous stopping-point for pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela. Around his name much legendary material accrued, and he has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints...
and held a time of fasting and prayer, but the texts he then drew stated that he would not and were later interpreted as predicting his later ruin.
A French writer, in 506, says, "this abuse was introduced by the superstition of the people, and afterwards gained ground by the ignorance of the bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
s.", as is shown by Pithon
Pithon
Pithon is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France....
's Collection of Canon
Canon law
Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...
s, which contains some forms under the title of The Lot of the Apostles. These were found at the end of the Canons of the Apostles in the Abbey of Marmousier, and various canons were made at later councils and synod
Synod
A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...
s (such as the councils of London
Council of London (1075)
The Council of London in 1075 AD was a council of the Roman Catholic church in England held by the new Norman archbishop of Canterbury Lanfranc five years after his installation. Other attendees included Gisa and William the Norman...
under Archbishop Lanfranc
Lanfranc
Lanfranc was Archbishop of Canterbury, and a Lombard by birth.-Early life:Lanfranc was born in the early years of the 11th century at Pavia, where later tradition held that his father, Hanbald, held a rank broadly equivalent to magistrate...
in 1075, and Corboyl in 1126) against the Sortes as superstition. However, they were still occurring in the time of St Francis of Assisi who, in denying himself any possessions except coats and a cord, wanted to check if he was still allowed to own books. He prayed and then drew Mark
Gospel of Mark
The Gospel According to Mark , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Mark or simply Mark, is the second book of the New Testament. This canonical account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the three synoptic gospels. It was thought to be an epitome, which accounts for its place as the second...
, chapter IV, "Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables", which he took to mean that he was neither allowed books nor needed them.
While seeking divine
Divinity
Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power or deity, or its attributes or manifestations in...
guidance, St. Francis
Francis of Assisi
Saint Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis. St...
is also said to have thrice opened to a random page of the book of Gospels in the church of St. Nicholas. In each time he opened to a passage in which Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
told His disciples to leave their earthly belongings and follow Him.
A Peter of Toulouse, who had sworn on the Bible that accusations of heresy against him were false, was immediately afterwards convicted by the Sortes when a bystander grabbed the Bible and opened it randomly at the words of the Devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
Legion to Jesus, "What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth?", which he adjudged to mean that Peter had nothing to do with Jesus.
At the acclamation of Martin as bishop of Tours
Martin of Tours
Martin of Tours was a Bishop of Tours whose shrine became a famous stopping-point for pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela. Around his name much legendary material accrued, and he has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints...
(371) a few cast aspersions, largely for his lack of personal glamor. According to the Vita by Sulpicius Severus
Sulpicius Severus
Sulpicius Severus was a Christian writer and native of Aquitania. He is known for his chronicle of sacred history, as well as his biography of Saint Martin of Tours.-Life:...
,
- it so happened that the reader, whose duty it was to read in public that day, being blocked out by the people, failed to appear, the officials falling into confusion, while they waited for him who never came, one of those standing by, laying hold of the PsalterPsalterA psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the later medieval emergence of the book of hours, psalters were the books most widely owned by wealthy lay persons and were...
, seized upon the first verse which presented itself to him. Now, the Psalm ran thus: "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise because of thine enemies, that thou mightest destroy the enemy and the avenger." On these words being read, a shout was raised by the people, and the opposite party were confounded. It was believed that this Psalm had been chosen by Divine ordination.
St. Augustine
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
related, in his autobiographical Confessions
Confessions (St. Augustine)
Confessions is the name of an autobiographical work, consisting of 13 books, by St. Augustine of Hippo, written between AD 397 and AD 398. Modern English translations of it are sometimes published under the title The Confessions of St...
, how his conversion to the Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
faith was assisted by a voice chanting tolle lege or 'take up and read':
So was I speaking and weeping in the most bitter contrition of
my heart, when, lo! I heard from a neighbouring house a voice, as
of boy or girl, I know not, chanting, and oft repeating, "Take up
and read; Take up and read." Instantly, my countenance altered, I
began to think most intently whether children were wont in any kind
of play to sing such words: nor could I remember ever to have heard
the like. So checking the torrent of my tears, I arose; interpreting
it to be no other than a command from God to open the book, and read
the first chapter I should find. For I had heard of Antony, that coming
in during the reading of the Gospel, he received the admonition, as
if what was being read was spoken to him: Go, sell all that thou hast,
and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and
come and follow me: and by such oracle he was forthwith converted
unto Thee. Eagerly then I returned to the place where Alypius was
sitting; for there had I laid the volume of the Apostle when I arose
thence. I seized, opened, and in silence read that section on which
my eyes first fell: Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering
and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, in concupiscence.
No further would I read; nor needed I: for instantly at the end of
this sentence, by a light as it were of serenity infused into my heart,
all the darkness of doubt vanished away.
Protestant examples
To pay a very great deference in opening upon a place of scripture, as to its affording an assurance of salvationSalvation
Within religion salvation is the phenomenon of being saved from the undesirable condition of bondage or suffering experienced by the psyche or soul that has arisen as a result of unskillful or immoral actions generically referred to as sins. Salvation may also be called "deliverance" or...
, used to be a very common practice amongst the people called Methodists, but chiefly those of the Calvinistic persuasion; this, it is probable, has declined in proportion with the earnestness of these people in other respects. They had also another opinion, viz., that if the recollection of any particular text of scripture happened to arise in their minds, this was likewise looked upon as a kind of immediate revelation from heaven. This they call being presented or brought home to them.
In fiction
- In Running with Scissors (2002) by Augusten BurroughsAugusten BurroughsAugusten Xon Burroughs is an American writer known for his New York Times bestselling memoir Running with Scissors .- Life :...
, the eccentric psychiatrist Dr. Finch performs bibliomancy using the Bible. - In The Ash-Tree (1904) by M. R. JamesM. R. JamesMontague Rhodes James, OM, MA, , who used the publication name M. R. James, was an English mediaeval scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge and of Eton College . He is best remembered for his ghost stories, which are regarded as among the best in the genre...
, a country vicar uses a Bible for "that old and by many accounted Superstitious Practice of drawing the Sortes" after the mysterious death of his friend. - In Far from the Madding CrowdFar from the Madding CrowdFar from the Madding Crowd is Thomas Hardy's fourth novel and his first major literary success. It originally appeared anonymously as a monthly serial in Cornhill Magazine, where it gained a wide readership. Critical notices were plentiful and mostly positive...
(1874) by Thomas HardyThomas HardyThomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
, Bathsheba is persuaded to perform bibliomancy. She sends an ill-fated valentine to Boldwood on the strength of this reading.
Sources
- This page draws text from 'The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction', Vol. 10, Issue 273, September 15, 1827, a text now in the public domainPublic domainWorks are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
.