medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (17. April) is the feast day of:
Anicetus (d. c. 160-166) The Syrian Anicetus was elected bishop of Rome in
c. 152. His pontificate was spent fighting Gnostics and Marcionists. It
was also in his episcopate that the first controversy over Easter began;
Polycarp of Smyrna even visited Anicetus in Rome to discuss the issue.
Unfortunately, the matter was not resolved.
Donan and Companions (d. 618) Among the very few Irish martyrs before the
sixteenth century, Donan was trained at Iona and then founded a monastery
at Eigg (Inner Hebrides). During mass on Easter night robbers attacked;
they put all the monks in the refectory and then set it on fire, killing
those who tried to escape. According to the Martyrology of Tallacht, the
number of monks was 52.
Robert of Chaise-Dieu (d. 1087 (or perhaps 107)). Robert, who was
canonized in 1095, was a descendant of St. Gerald of Aurillac. He was a
canon, then monk at Cluny, then became a hermit near Brioude. He attracted
followers, and ended up founding the monastery of Chaise-Dieu.
Stephen Harding (d. 1134) the English Stephen was one of the founders of
Citeaux. He became the third abbot. It was during his administration that
the Cistercians began their meteoric rise.
Clare Gambacorta (blessed) (d. 1419) Clare (originally named Victoria) was
a daughter of a leading family of Pisa---in exile at the time of her birth,
but soon recalled with her father as chief magistrate of the city. She
married, but her husband died of the plague, leaving her a ripe old widow
at the age of 15. Her family arranged a second marriage, but she fled to
the Poor Clares instead---that's when she adopted the name Clare. Family
dragged her back home and locked her up for five months, but then finally
gave in to Clare's insistence that she wanted to live a professed religious
life. She became a Dominican nun (influenced by Catherine of Siena), and
soon built a convent of strict observance, which she ruled.
Dr. Phyllis G. Jestice
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