medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Yesterday (3. September) was also the feast day of:
Remaclus (d. ca. 673). The "Apostle of the Ardennes", R. was an
Aquitanian who entered religion at Luxeuil and was subsequently abbot
of Solignac. In about 650 he founded, at the behest of king saint
Sigebert III (1. February), the double monastery of Stavelot (Stablo)
and Malmédy in what was then Austrasia and today is in southeastern
Belgium. Laid to rest at Stavelot, he was canonized (locally, of
course) some ten or fifteen years after his death. By the middle of
the ninth century he had obtained a reputation for miraculous cures
that achieved imperial recognition from both Louis the Pious and Lothar
II and that led, shortly before the latter's visit to Stavelot in 862,
to a compilation of _Miracula_ that continued to grow over the
centuries. From this time through to the dissolution of 1794 Stavelot
was a major pilgrimage site as well as the capital of an independent
ecclesiastical domain within the empire.
How much evangelizing R. actually accomplished in the Ardennes is
unknown. But his cult does bring together several themes that recur
with some frequency on this list. One of these is of course
pilgrimage. Here he is on a twelfth-century pilgrim's badge now in the
Musée communal de Huy:
http://www.musee-huy.be/photos-html/B07.html
And here's his shrine now in the Eglise St.-Sébastien at Stavelot
(1268; photo from its appearance at the Belgian pavilion at Expo 67
[the 1967 World's Fair at Montréal]):
http://naid.sppsr.ucla.edu/expo67/map-docs/images/belgium2.jpg
Also at Stavelot (Musée de la Principauté de Stavelot-Malmédy) is
this "gothic" statue of R.:
http://simone.lagoutte.free.fr/marcourt/statue_st_remacle.jpg
Related to this, through his cures, is the topic of holy wells, etc.
The _Miracula_ record a blind woman's recovery of sight after drinking
water from St. Remaclus' well. This, plus the fact that Stavelot and
Malmédy are in an area of mineral springs (Malmédy is not far from Spa),
has led to the attribution of some of the latter to activity on R.'s
part. Two such are discussed touristically on these pages:
http://www.aywaille.be/fr/tourisme/sitetouriste/fdQuarreux.htm
http://www.spawater.com/fagne/in/en/fagne_b60.html
Finally, according to legend, R. is one of those saints who put to
work for him a wild beast that had previously caused harm. In this
case, the animal was a wolf that had killed the ass R. has been using
to transport materials for the building of his monastery at Stavelot;
R. made it replace the ass as his beast of burden. The wolf became
R.'s attribute in art and also formed part of the arms of the prince-
abbots of Stavelot. Here are R. and his wolf as depicted on a Belgian
postage stamp:
http://tinyurl.com/83762
and here is the wolf as depicted on the modern arms of Stavelot:
http://www.ngw.nl/int/bel/s/stavelot.htm
Two of R.'s more notable namesakes are the Latin poet Remaclus Arduenna
(1450-1524) and the graphic artist Remacle Le Loup (1708 - 1746). For
the latter's views of various ecclesiastical buildings in Liège and
elsewhere, see:
http://www.ulg.ac.be/wittert/fr/flori/opera/leloup/leloup_r_notice.html
E.g., this one (Liège's Église Saint-Jacques-le-Mineur):
http://www.fabrice-muller.be/sj/leloup.html
Best,
John Dillon
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