medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (29. March) is the feast day of:
Jonah and Berikjesu (d. 327) These brothers from Beth-Asa were "voluntary"
victims of Shapur II of Persia's persecution of Christians. After Shapur
had arrested many Christians, J and B decided to visit and comfort their
fellows in prison. they were arrested. An eyewitness account of their
martyrdom, along with 9 other Christians, is extant. It sounds *very*
nasty. They were tortured in some of the more disgusting ways I've ever
run across, and Jonah was finally killed by being crushed in a wine press,
while B. was finished off by pouring boiling pitch down his throat.
Mark of Arethusa (d. c. 362) Bishop Mark had destroyed a highly-esteemed
temple and built a church on the site. And then Julian the Apostate came
to power, and the pagans Mark had offended went after him. Mark went into
hiding, but surrendered himself because his flock was suffering in his
stead. M. was then dragged through the streets by his hair, flogged, and
turned over to the town's schoolboys, who stabbed him (perhaps to death)
with their iron styluses. An alternative version of the legend is that M.
won over his tormentors with his noble demeanor, was released, and died
peacefully much later.
Armogastes, Archinimus, and Saturus (d. after 460) Victims of the Vandal
persecution in North Africa. Armogastes and Saturus were both officials in
the service of King Genseric. When Genseric returned from his invasion of
Italy in 457, he became more stringent against catholic Christians. In all
three of these cases, the men involved were tortured and condemned to
death, but the king was advised not to kill them, lest they be regarded as
martyrs. So Armogastes was sentenced to the mines and later forced to work
as a cowherd until death, Saturus was stripped of all his possessions and
perhaps also ended up as a cowherd, and Archinimus was reprieved only
seconds before his execution.
Berthold of Mt. Carmel (d. c. 1195) Berthold studied in Paris, then went
crusading. He was shocked by the conduct of his fellow crusaders, and
after a vision set out to reform them, convincing some to join him as
hermits on Mt. Carmel. B's brother Aymeric, when he became Latin patriarch
of Antioch, made B the superior of the community, and also wrote a rule for
the new order.
Jeanne-Marie de Maille (blessed) (d. 1414) Jeanne-Marie married a baron,
with whom she lived in virginity for 16 years. When her husband died, she
became a Franciscan tertiary, doing good deeds, living in poverty, and
harshly persecuted by her husband's relatives.
Dr. Phyllis G. Jestice
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