medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Phyllis wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> Today (1. November) is the feast of:
> Caesarius and Julian (?) Legend tells that Caesarius was a deacon
> from Africa who, while visiting Terracina (Italy) protested the
> quaint local custom of a sacrificing a youth to Apollo every year (I
> have to say that this sounds awfully unlikely). C. was imprisoned
> for two years, then shoved in a sack and thrown into the sea, along
> with a priest named Julian.
This Caesarius' _dies natalis_ is given as 1. November by the (pseudo-)
Hieronymian Martyrology, which also records him on 21. April. Julian
shows up for the first time in the legendary acta of Caesarius and
Julianus (BHL 1511-16) and is of dubious authenticity. Also highly
dubious is C.'s appearance (as Caesareus) in the acta of Nereus and
Achilleus (BHL 6058-67), where he is said to have buried at Terracina
the martyred virgins Eufrosina and Theodora (themselves similarly dubious).
The chief document in C.'s aforementioned legendary acta, his Passio
prima (or maior; BHL 1511) is followed in many witnesses by accounts
(BHL 1517, 1518) of his post-mortem healing of Galla, the much-beloved
daughter of emperor Valentinian and his wife, the empress Eudoxia (so
this would be Valentinian III), and of his and J.'s translation from
Terracina to Rome by pope Damasus I, where their relics were housed in a
chapel dedicated to them in the "Urbis palatium" at the behest of
Galla's parents, the Augusti. From at least the late sixth century
onward there appears to have been such a chapel in the Lateran palace;
from the eighth century to the twelfth a small Greek monastery in the
remains of the imperial palace on the Palatine seems to have charge of a
chapel there to C. (perh. moved thither from the Lateran by John VII,
whose father had been curator of the imperial palaces in the city and
who himself moved the papal residence to the Palatine). Eugenius III is
said to have been elected at this "monasterium S. Caesarii" in 1145.
From about the middle of the twelfth century onward its church was
known as S. Cesario in (or "de") Palatio. Neither the monastery nor the
church appears to have survived the Middle Ages. The present S.
Caesareo in Palatio, also known as S. Cesareo de Appia, on the via de
Porta San Sebastiano is a later replacement (1603; a rebuilt ruined
church that perhaps had also been dedicated to C.).
Among the medieval churches dedicated to C. pride of place goes to
Terracina's cathedral, consecrated in 1074 and the site of Urban II's
election in 1088. Like the cathedrals of Syracuse and of Pozzuoli, this
was built around the remains of an ancient Roman temple; the steps
leading up to it are from the latter. Its thirteenth-century belltower
is also noteworthy. Some photos of this building, now a co-cathedral of
the diocese of Latina-Terracina-Sezze-Priverno, are here:
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/Images/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Latina/Terracina/Terracina/1**.jpg
(watch the wrap!)
http://www.ips.it/turismo/duomo.html
http://www.iltettoimmobiliare.it/JPG/cattedrale01.jpg
http://digilander.libero.it/giocarsite/viaggi/terracina/immagini/torre.jpg
A cosmatesque ambo graces its neo-classical interior:
http://www.ips.it/turismo/ambone.html
And its medieval paschal candlestick (dated 1241) has lions at its base:
http://www.ips.it/turismo/leoni.html
(These are reminiscent of the lions on a Roman funerary monument on a
streetside in Terracina; can anyone provide a Web-based photograph of that?)
Another medieval dedication to C. is his church at San Cesario sul
Panaro (MO), formerly a possession of the imperial abbey of St.
Sylvester at Nonantola. This was restored in the 1970s to give it a
"romanesque" appearance approximating that of the basilica begun in the
eleventh century.
Some exterior photos are here:
http://www.sancesariosp.it/parrocchia/immagini/chiesa_san_cesario.jpg
http://utenti.lycos.it/viroli/nuova_9.jpg
http://www.sancesario.net/foto_basilica.htm
And some interior photos are here:
http://www.sancesario.net/interno_chiesa.htm
Best,
John Dillon
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