Saint Winifred In Ellis Peter's A Morbid Taste For Bones

Ellis Peter’s A Morbid Taste for Bones, is set in 12th century England and follows the Shrewsbury Abbey’s journey to acquire the bones of Saint Winifred. The main theme of A Morbid Taste for Bones is the clash between the heavenly and the secular worlds. The bones of Saint Winifred represent a link to the spiritual world and are fought over in a very greedy way among the monks of the Shrewsbury Abbey and the town’s people of North Wales. Brother Columbanus' spiritual dreams are made up to further his worldly desire "to become youngest head under a bishop's mitre (Peters’ 168).”

In A Morbid Taste for Bones, the natural and the supernatural seem to interact with each other in indirect ways. The supernatural, including Saint Winifred, never interact, or talk, to the humans directly, regardless of the claims of Brother Columbanus and Brother Jerome who made up his encounter with the saint. The characters in the novel sought a patron of great sanctity and power. Furthermore, they desired to be divinely guided and

wanted to believe in the power of miracles, which is why they believed Brother Columbanus’ lies regarding his divine encounters. But even so, some characters seem to challenge the belief in these miracles and the communication of divine will to human beings.

It’s evident that the divine do interact with the humans in Peters’ novel.

However, the interaction is not straightforward. Saint Winifred never appeared to Columbanus nor did she have vengeance towards Rhisiart, the community's most powerful landowner who opposes her removal from North Wales. According to the Prior Robert, the saint caused Rhisiart to die which is clear in his following statement: “behold the saint’s vengeance! Did I not say her wrath would be wreaked upon all those who stood in the way of her desire? Tell them what I am saying! Tell them to look well at the fulfilment of my prophecy and let all other obdurate hearts take warning. Saint Winifred has shown her power and displeasure (Peters’ 71).” His claims were proven untrue when the reader finds out that Columbanus was the one who actually killed Rhisiart. This revelation isn’t surprising because saints don’t tend to be vengeful nor do they show their power and displeasure towards

humans.

But even so, the divine seem to interact with the humans through them. For instance, towards the end of the novel when Sioned tricks Columbanus into telling the truth, she spoke words to him that she didn’t even intend to speak. It appears to Engelard and the reader that Saint Winifred was talking through Sioned during this encounter and “was taking her chance when it offered” (Peters’176). This event shows that God, including the saints, need a little help from men. Most divine acts in the world happen through humans, whether the miracle is noticed or not. Even though we would like to experience a wall of a room being opened and a saint appearing, it just doesn’t happen like that. Saints know our needs and hear our prayers and tears. Miracles can be delivered which is apparent when cures began happening in Winifred’s former resting place.