medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (25. November) is the feast day of:
Mercurius of Caesarea (d. c. 250) There are two legends about Mercurius.
The first is that he was a Scythian officer in the Roman army, who led the
army to victory against barbarians attacking Rome---using a sword given him
by an angel. He caught the emperor's eye, but also the emperor's wrath
when he refused to join in the thanksgiving sacrifice. So he was tortured
and beheaded. The other legend tells that Mercurius was sent by God to
kill Emperor Julian the Apostate in 363. Mercurius appeared with Sts.
George and Demetrius to the crusaders at Antioch during the first crusade.
Moses of Rome (d. c. 250) Moses was a Roman priest, one of the first
victims of Decius' persecution. He was imprisoned 11 months and 11 days,
during which he exchanged letters of encouragement with Cyprian of
Carthage, before being executed.
Catherine of Alexandria ("supposedly 4th cent." as Farmer says in the
Oxford Dict. of Sts) The cult of Catherine began at Mt. Sinai in the ninth
century, where her body had been transported by angels. Clearly the
legend/myth of Catherine was off to a good start. Her legend reports that
she was a noble girl, persecuted as a Christian, who refused to marry the
emperor and defeated 50 philosophers in a debate about the veracity of
Christianity. She was then sentenced to be broken on a wheel---which
exploded, injuring several bystanders---so C. was beheaded. The cult of
Catherine became extremely popular in the later Middle Ages, when she
became the patron of young girls, of students, of nurses (milk instead of
blood flowed from her neck when her head was cut off), and of craftsmen
whose work includes wheels. Her feast was suppressed in 1969.
Elisabeth the Good (blessed) (d. 1420) Elisabeth, born in 1386, spent her
whole life in the small community of Franciscan tertiaries in her home town
of Waldsee (Germany). She had a rich mystical life, including receiving
the stigmata, and living for long periods without "natural" food (so my
source says; I'm assuming she's one of those mystics who lived on nothing
but the eucharist). Her cult won formal approval in 1766.
Dr. Phyllis G. Jestice
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