medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
The previous version of this response was an early version, sent in
error. Herewith the one I had intended to send.
On Mon, 23 Feb 2004 17:29:26 -0800 Phyllis wrote:
>Today (24. February) is the feast day of:
>John Theristus (d. 1129) John was born in Palermo, the son of a woman
>captured and enslaved by the Muslims. At the age of 14 J. escaped to
>Calabria and became a monk (later abbot) at Stilo. He got his nickname
>"the mower" (Theristus) by miraculously cutting a large hay field in a
>short time.
In Greek churches John's feast day is pretty uniformly 23 February. His
Greek nickname "Theristes" is better latinized/anglicized as "Theristes"
also (as in _Samson Agonistes_, etc.): "Theristus" suggests Greek
"Theristos" and that, depending on the initial vowel, would mean either
"Harvest" (as opposed to "Harvester, Mower") or else -- how appropriate for
a saint! -- "Very Beastly".
John's Life, which exists in two versions, is thought to have been written
in the 12th century and to have been rewritten in the early 13th, probably
to document some possessions of his monastery at Stilo when the latter was
re-chartered under Frederick II. Two early modern Latin translations, both
rather free (but the one in the _Acta Sanctorum_ is considerably more so),
underlie many modern accounts of this Italo-Greek saint. More trustworthy
is Silvano Borsari, ed. and tr., "Vita di San Giovanni Terista," _Archivio
storico per la Calabria e la Lucania_ 22 (1953), 13-21 ("Introduzione"; the
argument for dating based on the word "basileus" is, however, unconvincing)
and 135-51 ("Testi"). Borsari (op. cit., p. 17) also shows that John was
dead by August 1099, when his monastery was already named in his honor;
later references (1100/01; 1101/02; 1105) to the monastery so named make it
even more difficult to accept the notion that John will have somehow
survived until 1129.
See also Francesco Russo, "Giovanni Theristi, santo," in the _Bibliotheca
Sanctorum_, vol. 6 (1965), cols. 911-13. I have not seen Rossana
Barcellona's entries for John in a couple of recent Italian dictionaries of
saints.
Best,
John Dillon
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