medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (1. August) is the feast day of:
The Maccabees (c. 168 BCE) There was a widespread Christian cult of these
Jewish heroes and martyrs, which perhaps originated in Antioch. The
Maccabees were held to be the model for Christian martyrs in similar
circumstances. The rebellion inspired by the Maccabee brothers was caused
by the efforts of Antiochus IV Epiphanes to impose Greek culture and
religion on his province of Palestine. Both parents and all seven brothers
were executed for refusing to eat pork. Their cult was active in Rome
until the 1930's, when it was discovered that their purported relics were
actually dog bones. Their feast was suppressed in 1969.
Faith, Hope, and Charity (?) The daughters of St. Wisdom (Sophia), and all
martyred in Rome under Hadrian, at least according to later pious legend.
Aled (6th cent.) Aled was a Welsh virgin. The main source of information
about her is the much later Gerald of Wales, who describes a very active
pilgrimage to her healing shrine in the twelfth century.
Kyned (6th cent.?) Kyned, according to Welsh tradition, was a son of
Gildas. After a spell of married life he became a monk and founded
Llangenydd in Gower. Later, like so many Welsh saints, he went to
Brittany.
Aethelwold (d. 984) Aethelwold was a leading figure in England's
tenth-century monastic reform movement. He was born at Winchester, served
at the court of King Aethelstan, but then became a priest and follower of
Dunstan. King Edred later gave Aethelwold the monastery of Abingdon to
reform, sending a disciple to Fleury to study the monastic life for
incorportation there. In 963 Aethelwold became bishop of Winchester, in
which position he restored several monasteries and probably compiled the
Regularis Concordia of c. 970.
Dr. Phyllis G. Jestice
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