medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (23. September) is the feast day of:
Thecla of Iconium (1st cent.) According to the pseudepigraphic Acts
of Paul and Thecla, Thecla was a young woman of wealthy family who
gave up everything to become a disciple of Paul, including her fiance
(who was angry and denounced her to the governor). Wild beasts
failed to martyr her (although to be safe she baptized herself in the
arena by jumping into a ditch full of water and declaring herself
baptized), and she ended up following Paul around dressed like a man.
After that she became a hermit, and the acta suggest that she played
a preaching and teaching role. She was already a well-known saint by
c. 200 (Tertullian wrote about her), and was soon acclaimed as an
"archmartyr" (she hid in a cleft in the rock that obligingly opened
for her and then closed again). From the fourth century on, various
sites connected with T. were major pilgrimage attractions.
Adamnan (d. 704) The Irish Adamnan became ninth abbot of Iona in
679. He spent much of his time in office trying to convince Irish
monks to date Easter the Roman way, with some success. But A. is
best known today as an author, of a description of the Holy Land and
of a vita of his predecessor Colum Cille (the latter of which is
available in inexpensive English translation and works well in
undergraduate classes on the early MA or medieval Christianity, in my
experience).
Guy of Durnes (d. c. 1157) Guy became a Cistercian at Clairvaux,
where he was one of B. of Clarvaux' favorite disciples. He went on
to be the founding abbot of Cherlieu.
A modern (rather controversial) saint: Padre Pio (Francesco Forgione)
(d. 1968) Padre Pio, as he is usually known, was the son of Italian
peasants. He became a Capuchin , but with a twist---in September of
1918 he received the stigmata (the first case of a priest doing so).
He became an extremely sought after, marvelled at, pilgrimaged-to (I
know that's bad English) priest, reputed to have had the ability to
read the consciences of his confees, bilocate, levitate, and heal by
touch. He also founded a major hospital. PP was canonized in June
2002.
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