medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (10. December) is the feast day of:
Eulalia of Merida (d. c. 304) A virgin martyr of Spain. Earliest accounts
make E. a noble virgin; the seventh-century acta report that she was a
twelve-year-old who reproached the judge at Merida with attempting to
destroy souls when Diocletian's anti-Christian edicts were published.
Flattery, bribery, and terror failed to get the brat to shut up, so she was
finally tortured and executed by being burned alive in an oven.
Miltiades (d. 314) Perhaps born in North Africa, Miltiades (aka
Melchiades) was bishop of Rome at the time of the Edict of Milan. Thus he
was the last of the ancient popes to suffer persecution. He is
commemorated as a martyr because of his suffering in Maximian's
persecution.
Angelina of Kruschedol (d. 1510) Angelina was the daughter of an Albanian
noble, who married the Serbian prince Stephen the Blind (who had fled to
Albania). After her husband died, she and her sons were impoverished. The
king of Hungary gave her a castle, and she and her sons founded a double
monastery at Fruska Gora; she served as abbess of the female part.
Heinrich Zutphen (d. 1524) A Protestant martyr. Heinrich was an
Augustinian prior at Dordrecht and then Antwerp (Netherlands). In contact
with both Luther and Melanchthon, he publicly protested the indulgence
trade. He was arrested in 1522, but reform-minded citizens released him.
Heinrich then fled to Bremen, where he preached reform. In 1524 he went to
Meldorf to preach, but the local Dominicans and Franciscans roused a mob
against him. They grabbed him and threw him on a pyre, but then couldn't
light it (hardly surprising at this time of year). After repeated attempts
to burn him, a smith hacked off his hands, feet, and head---which were
burned when they finally got the fire lit.
Dr. Phyllis G. Jestice
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