medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (30. September) is also the feast day of:
Amatus of Nusco (d. 1093). Less is known about today's less well known
saint from the Regno than was true when the Bollandists first published
Augusti tomus VI. of the _Acta Sanctorum_ and proclaimed 31. August 1193
as the _dies natalis_ of this first bishop of Nusco (AV), the "balcony
of Irpinia". This is because the Bollandists' guide in this matter,
Felice Renda's sixteenth-century Vita, has since been shown to be a
piece of fiction falsely claiming A. for Montevergine (of which Renda
was at the time prior) and making him a disciple of the latter's
founder, William of Vercelli. A.'s will of September 1093, which has
survived in the cathedral archives of Nusco and which was also long a
subject of controversy, was in 1881 proven authentic by the
distinguished Neapolitan archivist Bartolomeo Capasso. Archdiocesan
records at Salerno also show that Nusco was one of the latter's
suffragan dioceses created during the time of archbishop Alfanus I and
the ordinary assumption is that A. was consecrated by this famous
Campanian churchman.
Both Renda's Vita and its fifteenth-century predecessor by Francesco de
Ponte (BHL 359) are both considered largely legendary, though how
legendary remains a matter of dispute. Errico Cuozzo's relatively
recent attempt to identify A. with the historian Amatus of Montecassino
has not generally been accepted but his article remains valuable as a
useful summary of the pertinent documentation and hagiographic
traditions: "Amato di Montecassino e Amato di Nusco: una stessa
persona?", _Benedictina_ 26 (1979), 323-48. Three Sapphic hymns from
A.'s Office at Nusco have survived and are certainly medieval but have
been little studied. Nusco's cathedral has been largely rebuilt in
early modern times, but medieval frescoes remain in its crypt. An
Italian-language account of this building, including one photograph of a
fresco in the crypt, is here:
http://www.diocesisantangelo.it/tour/cattedralenusco.htm
Another photograph of the cathedral is here; guess who the guy on the
pedestal wearing a mitre and holding a staff might be:
http://www.personalfoto.it/Fotocattedralenusco.htm
And here's a better shot of him during a commemoration of the Allied
bombing of Nusco in 1943:
http://web.tiscali.it/viaportella/sui_gradini_di_pietra.htm
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
|