medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (12. January) is the feast day of:
Arcadius of Mauretania (d. c. 302) Arcadius fled to the countryside to
avoid being put in the position of making a sacrifice to the state gods or
being martyred. But the Roman governor threaten to kill a relative of A's,
so he turned himself in. He was executed by being slowly chopped apart
joint by joint.
Tigirius and Eutropius (d. 404) T & E were a priest and lector of
Constantinople, supporters of John Chrysostom. When John was banished,
these two were falsely accused of setting fire to the cathedral and the
senate house (an interesting sign of how much the government authorities
disliked Chrysostom). They were tortured to the point that Eutropius died.
Tigirius survived and was exiled.
Caesaria of Arles (d. c. 530) The sister of Caesarius, Caesaria became
abbess of the convent he founded in Arles.
Benedict Biscop (d. 689) At first named Biscop, a member of the Baducing
family of Northumbria, this saint was in royal service until 653. Then he
went on pilgrimage to Rome---twice---becoming a monk at Lerins on the way
home and taking the name Benedict. BB founded Wearmouth in 674 and Jarrow
in 682, but seems to have spent the majority of his own time in a startling
total of six pilgrimages to Rome.
42 Martyrs of Ephesus (d. c. 762) A group of monks of Ephesus, killed for
their defense of icons by an emperor my source names as Constantine
"Copronymus," which I seem to recall is a vulgar epithet used by his
enemies, but my Byzantine history books are at school, and so is my Greek
lexicon.
Aelred (aka Ailred, or even Ethelred) of Rievaulx (d. 1167) Aelred was the
son of a priest, educated at Durham, and for some years seneschal of King
David I of Scotland. In 1134 he becamea monk at Rievaulx; in 1147 he
became abbot (with a spell as abbot of Revesby in between). Under A.,
Riveaulx became the largest Cistercian monastery in England. Aelred was
also a key Cistercian author. He was never formally canonized, but enjoyed
a local cult.
Dr. Phyllis G. Jestice
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