The second lecture of the "New Work from the Faculty" series will be presented by John Arnold (history). The talk will be given on Friday, March 3 at noon in the Diers Recital Hall in Mason. The lecture is titled "Tracking Michael the Archangel: Mont-St.-Michel in the Early Middle Ages." Mont-St.-Michel is the most visited tourist site in France and historically one of the most important European pilgrimage centers.
Visitors crowd this islet in Normandy to beg spiritual aid from its patron Saint Michael the Archangel, the Victor over Satan, Guardian of the Dead, and protector of policemen and ambulance drivers. Arnold will analyze a unique written account of Michael's apparitions in Normandy and the Archangel's orders to build on the island an imitation of his renowned Italian cave-shrine on Monte Gargano.