Robert and the Sweaty Monks?

Eeew!

Okay. This is too good. I’m transcribing along in Shrines of British Saints …la la la…and I come across this passage:

“There was also a prevailing idea that a healing oil exuded from the tombs of certain saints as those of St. Andrew, St. Katherine, and St. Robert, the founder of the Robertines at Knaresborough, which are said to have sweated a medicinal oil.”

First, I have to share my giggle that on first reading I read it was the monks that sweated the oil. Yuk. I had to re-read the passage, and….der…oh yeah, that would be the tomb that was sweaty. (Still gross, however.)

We won’t go into how ridiculous a sweaty tomb seems. Didn’t they do something like that for a comic moment in the film The Mummy? When the sarcophagus pops open and two of the characters declare the mummy inside as “juicy.”

But all the silliness and sweatiness aside, here is this amazing nugget tucked into my book. Robertine monks?? I already know that holy tombs can sweat holy oils (again, eew), but I have never heard of Robertine monks! And I don’t really care how sweaty they are, this bears further investigation. I will be sure to post more info as I dig.