medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (3. November) is also the feast day of:
Amicus of Avellana (d. ca. 1045). Amicus, we are told, came from a noble family in the territory of Camerino (Marche) and was oblated as a child to a monastery where he was educated. At a little over the age of twenty he became, for family reasons, a secular priest. Taking advantage of his new freedom of movement, he convinced his father, his brother, and later his nephews to enter monastic life and his mother to distribute the bulk of her property to the poor and to devote the remainder of her life to good works.
Having thus freed himself of immediate family obligations, A. returned to being a monk but found his abbey's discipline insufficiently austere. He then spent twenty-three years as a hermit, either by himself or with a few disciples. When he was past the age of ninety he entered the monastery of St. Peter at Avellana (Molise) and remained here, enclosed in a cell, until his death at the biblical limit (Gen. 6:3) of one hundred and twenty. Miracles at his tomb in the monastery ensured his local recognition as a saint.
St. Peter at Avellana (founded by Dominic of Sora ca. 1025) was united in 1069 with Montecassino, whose monks treat Amicus as one of their own, celebrating him today. Our sole source for A.'s biography is the _De ortu et obitu iustorum Casinensium_ of the gifted twelfth-century Cassinensian scholar, hagiographer, and forger, Peter the Deacon.
San Pietro Avellana, the monastery's town, was ecclesiastical property until 1785; its patron is of course Amico (to give him his Italian name). In the late 19th and early 20th centuries many of the town's inhabitants migrated to North America, bringing with them the cult of their santo patrono. Their descendants are welcomed back annually in the Festa dell'Emigrante on 16 August, when, in conjunction with a local truffle festival, A.'s patrocinio is celebrated as well (here too his liturgical feastday is 3 November). A.'s miraculous apparition in Donaldsonville, Louisiana has been celebrated there every year since 1912. For a photo of a modern cult statue of him, looking neither eremitical nor aged, see "Current Research" at:
http://www.artsci.lsu.edu/phil/faculty/payne/PayneHome.html
or go directly to:
http://www.artsci.lsu.edu/phil/faculty/payne/Amico.JPG
Best,
John Dillon
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|