medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
At 05:13 PM 9/22/2003 -0700, Phyllis wrote:
>Today (23. September) is the feast day of:
>
>Andrew, John, Peter, & Antony (d. 900) The Muslim Aghlabids (from Tunisia)
>conquered the city of Syracuse. They deported these four men (for reasons
>I can't discover) from the city, then tortured and executed them.
Syracuse was taken by the Aghlabids in 878. According to the eyewitness
account of Theodosius the Monk surviving citizens were sent as prisoners to
Palermo. But perhaps other survivors were deported directly to Africa as
slaves. That, in any event, is what our source for these saints, an
extract from a
Greek-language menaion published in Latin translation by the early
17th-century Sicilian hagiographer Ottavio Gaetani (or Caetani), says
happened to Andrew, his son John, and John's two very young sons Peter and
Anthony. The young sons are said to have been educated in Muslim letters
and have risen to high positions under the local "king". But as they
refused to convert to Islam they were ultimately martyred, as were after
them John and the aged Andrew. For specifics see (in English):
http://www.oca.org/pages/orth_chri/Feasts-and-Saints/September/Sep-23.html#4
There's a summary in Italian in the _Bibliotheca Sanctorum_, I, 1169-70,
with source references; Caietani's Latin text and some related material are
in _AS_, ed. novissima curante Ioanne Carnandet, Septembris tomus sextus,
pp. 650-51. That any of this actually happened seems doubtful.
Best,
John Dillon
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