medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Yesterday (30. September) was the feast day of St. Gregory the
Illuminator, of St. Jerome, and of St. Amatus of Nusco, among others.
Last year's notices of these may be found readily in the archives of
this list.
Yesterday was also the feast of St. Antoninus of Piacenza (d. ca. 303,
supposedly). In medieval Piacenza he was celebrated principally on 4.
July (still the date of his patronal feast there). The
(pseudo-)Hieronyman Martyrology lists him on 30. September; Baronio
followed suit when he edited the Roman Martyrology.
A.'s cult is attested to as early as the late fourth century, when
Ambrose of Milan sent relics of him to Victricius of Rouen. Reliable
information about A. is lacking. In about 570 a group of pilgrims
traveling under his protection made a tour from Constantinople to the
holy places (and other tourist destinations as well) in Palestine and
Egypt; the surviving account, known as the _Itinerarium Antonini_
(though its author is better referred to as the Pilgrim of Piacenza), is
an engaging piece of lowbrow travel literature not dissimilar in some
respects from what a blogger of today might write and post.
According to his legend, which is late, A. was a member of the Theban
Legion (a well traveled bunch!) who suffered martyrdom near today's
Travo (PC). Though it would be hard to guess the date of its founding
from the view presented on this page, Travo has a church dedicated to
him that goes back to the eleventh century:
http://www.piacenza-pc.it/comuni/travo/travo.htm
An Italian-language discussion of the building history of this church
will be found at the end of this notice of Travo:
http://www.comune.travo.pc.it/
A.'s major medieval monument lies some 27 kilometers away in the city of
Piacenza (in Roman times, Placentia). This is said to go back to the
early fifth century and in an earlier form was Piacenza's cathedral
until the later ninth century. In its present appearance it is an
eleventh-century church with later modifications. The latter include
the twelfth-century main portal, the octagonal upper portion of the
belltower (thirteenth-century, on an eleventh-century base), and the
feature that (in view of another thread currently in progress on this
list) suggested the mention of A. here: the enormous enclosed porch or
atrium erected on one of the transepts in 1450. A brief,
Italian-language account of this church occurs towards the bottom of
this page:
http://www.adpadum.com/A_Piacenza.htm
And another is here:
http://www.circuitocittadarte.it/find_article.asp?376
A similarly brief, English-language account (with different content)
appears here:
http://www.comune.piacenza.it/english/history/medioevo.htm
Some exterior views are here:
http://fujiso3.hp.infoseek.co.jp/hbo1hp/pmi673.html
http://fujiso3.hp.infoseek.co.jp/hbo1hp/pmi202.html
http://www.up1piacenza.it/images/S.Antonino%20Facciata.JPG
http://fujiso3.hp.infoseek.co.jp/hbo1hp/pmi203.html
http://www.santantonino.ch/avvenimenti/html/piacenza_2003_11.html
http://www.sintranet.it/cartoline/postcard_025.html
http://www.pbase.com/klaudio/image/28993142
http://www.pbase.com/klaudio/image/28993141
http://www.sede-piacenza.polimi.it/file_galleria//15//p.za_s._antonino500.jpg
TinyURL for this: http://tinyurl.com/8bbpn
A. appears thus in an early fifteenth-century _Golden Legend_ now in the
Hunterian in Glasgow (its MS Gen.1111):
http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/images/exhibitions/treasures/G1111_368rl.jpg
TinyURL for this: http://tinyurl.com/bfvwl
Executed in Flanders, this book is thought (from the fact that A.'s
illumination is larger than any of the 101 others) likely to have been
commissioned by a religious house in Piacenza.
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
|