medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (4. May) is the feast day of:
Cyriacus (d. c. 133) Cyriacus was a bishop of Ancona, and is the
patron saint of that city. Various legends tell that he was 1) a
bishop of Ancona who was killed on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem or 2)
(the more interesting story) a Jew named Judas Quiriacus who revealed
the hiding place of the True Cross to Helena, was baptized, became
bishop of Jerusalem, and was martyred in the time of Julian the
Apostate.
Pelagia of Tarsus (d. c. 304) A cute legend tells that Pelagia was
betrothed against her will to Diocletian's son. She went off and got
baptized; when her fiance found out she was a Christian he killed
himself (!) and P. was denounced as a Christian by her own mother.
Diocletian, when he saw her, wanted to marry the girl himself. But
she refused and wouldn't renounce her faith, so was roasted to death.
Florian (d. 304) Florian was a Roman officer who surrender himself
to the local governor as a Christian at the time of Diocletian's
persecution. He was flogged and then thrown into the Enns River with
a rock tied around his neck. F. is a patron of Poland and upper
Austria.
Venerius (d. 409) Venerius became bishop of Milan in 400. He was a
noted supporter of John Chrysostom and an eloquent speaker himself.
Godehard (d. 1038) Godehard was a Bavarian who became a monk at
Niederaltaich in 990. He became a very successful abbot, and Henry
II used G. to reform several other monasteries before making him
bishop of Hildesheim in 1022. He proved to be a very good bishop,
building churches and a hospice, ministering to the sick and needy,
etc. He was canonized in 1131. St. Gothard Pass in the Alps got its
name from a chapel on the summit dedicated to G.
John Houghton and companions (d. 1535) Among the very few people who
actively resisted Henry VIII's takeover of the English church was
this group of Carthusians. They were treated very badly, and finally
hanged, drawn, and quartered as traitors.
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