medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (3. October) is the feast day of:
Hesychius (4th cent.) Hesychius seems to be the model of a loyal
disciple. He was a follower of St. Hilarion in Palestine and
accompanied Hilarion to Egypt. When HIlarion managed to give him
(and the other monks) the slip, Hesychius looked for him for three
years, eventually running him to earth in Sicily. The two went on to
Dalmatia and Cyprus together---Hilarion then cleverly convinced
Hesychius to go report to his followers in Palestine. Hilarion then
died in peace, but even then hadn't gotten rid of
Hesychius---Hesychius heard the news and rushed back to Cyprus, soon
acquiring HIlarion's body and smuggling it back to Palestine.
The Two Ewalds (d. c. 695) Ewald and Ewald were the sons of very
unimaginative Northumbrian parents. After getting an education in
Ireland, E & E went off to Westphalia as missionaries. They were
both murdered, apparently because of local fears that they were
convincing the local chief to adopt Christianity. The chief in turn
had the murderers executed.
Froilan and Attilanus (d. c. 905) Froilan was a Galician who became
a hermit and attracted a following (including Attilanus). The two
organized the disciples into a Benedictine community at Moreruela,
and founded several other monasteries. In 900 F. became bishop of
Leon and A. became bishop of Zamora.
Gerard of Brogne (d. 959) Gerard deserves more fame as one of the
great monastic reformers of the tenth century, but unfortunately his
vita is quite late and unhelpful, and G. himself left no writings.
He was the son of high-ranking nobles, but gave up a military career
for the religious life. After a time at S-Denis (from which he may
have stolen the relics of St. Eugenius), he founded a monastery on
his estate at Brogne (Belgium) in 919. He won such a reputation as a
reformer that he was put in charge of reforming a lot of monasteries
in Flanders and Lotharingia.
Thomas of Hereford (aka Thomas Cantelupe) (d. 1282) Thomas came from
a high-ranking family with members in the service of Henry III of
England. T. became a lecturer in canon law at Oxford and was named
chancellor in 1262. He supported the barons against H III, and when
H was defeated T. became chancellor of England for a brief time until
the fortunes of war favored the king again. T. then saw fit to move
to Paris for a time. In 1275 he became bishop of Hereford.
Interestingly, he is a canonized saint (canonized in 1320) despite
the fact that he was excommunicated at the time of his death. He got
into a fight with Archbishop John Peckham, was excommunicated, and
went to appeal to the pope but died before he got there. 100s of
miracles were reported at T's tomb in Hereford cathedral.
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