medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (4. May) is the feast day of:
Pelagia of Tarsus (c. 300) A rather steamy legend tells that Pelagia
caught the eye of Diocletian's son. He didn't want to marry her honorably,
so she went to a Christian bishop for advice and then ended up converting.
D's son (and Pelagia's own mother) then turned against P., both reporting
her to the emperor (who tried himself to reason with P., apparently as
struck by her beauty as his son had been). When P remained recalcitrant,
she was put in a hollow bronze bull and slowly parboiled. Another version
of the legend tells that Diocletian's son committed suicide when he was
rejected.
Florian (d. 304) Florian was a Roman officer who held a high
administrative post in Noricum (now Austria). He was a secret convert to
Christianity, but gave himself up when ordered to hunt down Christians. F.
was refused a soldier's death by the sword; instead, he was flogged twice,
his skin was then pealed off, and he was thrown into the river with a stone
tied to his neck.
Ethelred of Bardney (d. 716) King of Mercia, Ethelred abdicated to become
a monk (and later abbot) at Bardney.
Godehard of Hildesheim (d. 1038) Godehard was a Bavarian, educated at
Niederaltaich where he became monk and later abbot. Henry II was so
impressed with the monastic observance there that he put G. in charge of
reforming several other monasteries before making him bishop of HIldesheim
in 1022. There G. continued his reforming work. One of my favorite
miracle stories is the tale of the nearsighted Godehard accidentally
hanging his cloak on a sunbeam.
Michael Gedroye (blessed) (d. 1485) Michael was born near Vilna Lithuania.
Was was of noble family, but was handicapped and a dwarf. He became a
recluse attached to the Augustinian church in Cracow, where he remained his
entire life. M. was famous for his prophecies and miracles.
18 blessed Carthusian martyrs of England are commemorated today. They were
martyred (aka "executed as traitors") between 1535 and 1540 for refusing
the Act of Supremacy making Henry VIII head of the Church in England.
Today also includes four fully-canonized martyrs to Henry's fight with the
papacy. Augustine Webster, John Houghton, and Robert Lawrence (canonized
in 1970 among the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales) were Carthusians,
executed on this day in 1535. With them was the Benedictine Richard
Reynolds. All of them refused to accept the Act of Supremacy and were
rather brutally executed at Tyburn.
Dr. Phyllis G. Jestice
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