medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (20. October) is the feast day of:
Barsabas and companions (d. c. 342) Barsabas was a Persian abbot. With
eleven of his monks he was martyred near the ruins of Persepolis during the
persecution of Shapur II.
Artemius (d. 363) Artemius is an extremely odd case: an Arian commemorated
in the Roman Martyrology. He was a high imperial official who became
prefect of Egypt and in that capacity persecuted Athanasius and other
Catholics. There is no record that he ever transferred his own allegiance
to Catholicism. In the reign of Julian the Apostate he was accused of
destroying temples and cult images and was executed.
Irene (d. c. 653) The tale of this young Portuguese woman may be more
pious legend than history, but it makes a good story with an interesting
variant on the "virgin martyr" motif. Irene was raised as a devout
Christian, educated at first in a convent school and then tutored privately
in her home by a monk. The young nobleman Britald fell passionately in
love with her when he saw her walking to church, and nearly died of longing
for her. But Irene visited him in his sickness and explained that she had
already vowed her virginity to God. Consoled, Britald got well again and
vowed to respect her virgin status. He kept his vow, but the same cannot
be said of the monkish tutor, who tried to seduce his charge. When he
failed to have his way with her, the monk started to slander Irene in the
town, proclaiming that she was pregnant. The outraged Britald hired a
soldier to murder her.
Acca (d. 740) Acca was an English monk, a companion of Wilfrid for
thirteen years. On his deathbed, Wilfrid named Acca his successor as abbot
of Hexham, and A. in time also became bishop of Hexham 709-32. Acca was a
good scholar whose works were praised by Bede. In 732 he either retired or
was expelled from his diocese. A's cult seems to have been active (or at
least portable) in the high Middle Ages: his relics were translated in the
late eleventh century, and again in 1154 and 1240.
Andrew of Crete (d. 766) One of two Andrews of Crete from the same period,
this Andrew is also known as the Calybite. He was a monk of Crete who was
so outraged at the emperor's iconoclast edict that he went to
Constantinople to complain. He was tortured, then abandoned to a mob,
which obligingly finished the process of killing him.
Dr. Phyllis G. Jestice
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