medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (25. October) is also the feast day of:
Minias (ca. 250, supposedly). Saint Minias or, as he is better known,
San Miniato is first recorded in a charter of Charlemagne's from 786
making mention of a "basilica of Minias, martyr of Christ, situated at
Florence, where his venerable body reposes." Usuard's Martyrology gives
us our first mention of his feast day (today). According to his not
entirely confidence-inspiring Passio (BHL 5965-5970; multiple versions,
none earlier than the ninth century), M. was a soldier -- in some later
accounts, also the son of an Armenian king -- whose martyrdom at
Florence during the Decian persecution culminated in death by
decapitation. In one development of the legend, M.'s execution took
place by the Arno, whereupon the saint picked up his severed head, swam
across the river with it, and (doughty cephalophore that he was) carried
it uphill to a spot that became his final resting place.
That spot, of course, is the site of Florence's church of San Miniato al
Monte, an early eleventh-century structure with notable decor from the
twelfth century onward. A brief, English-language account of it is here:
http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/
and its accompanying photo gallery (expandable views) is here:
http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/san_miniato_photo_gallery.htm
The west facade has a thirteenth-century mosaic showing (left to right)
the BVM, Christ, and M. Five expandable views are here:
http://tinyurl.com/9y93b
Interior views:
San Miniato himself (attrib. to Jacopo del Casentino, 14th cent.):
a -- on display in the church:
http://www.oneloveandrina.com/images/My%20Journey/Florence/inside%
20S.Miniato02.jpg
TinyURL for this: http://tinyurl.com/8qbmu
b -- reproduction with English-language discussion:
http://www.vivahotels.com/uk/sanminiato_casentino_uk.htm
Tabernacle, ambo, etc.:
http://tinyurl.com/bouam
Apse mosaic (again with M.):
http://tinyurl.com/ap32p
Frescoes:
http://tinyurl.com/9yzgl
Various:
http://tinyurl.com/cwzw3
An altar in the crypt
http://www.mega.it/min/duo/eb.jpg
contains M.'s putative remains, relics which from at least the eighth
century onward have been thought to be those of a local martyr. That is
certainly possible, but the oddness of M.'s name and its Greek-seeming
termination have provoked the reasonable counter-hypothesis that these
are really relics of the famous St. Mennas of Egypt deposited here in a
late antique oratory; over time, and in the absence of any early Life of
Mennas, the cult here will, on this view, have been transformed into
that of a local saint.
M.'s cult has been widespread in Tuscany since at least the central
Middle Ages, a well known instance being the town of San Miniato (PI),
which, however, no longer has a medieval church dedicated to M. One
surviving example of such a dedication is San Miniato a Rubbiana at San
Polo in Chianti (FI):
http://www.san-polo.com/
Another is the probably twelfth-century church of San Miniato at
Calamecca (PT); renovated in the eighteenth century, it is shown here:
http://www.lamontagnapistoiese.it/images/piteglio-im/pi-calam_chiesa.jpg
and described (in Italian) here:
http://www.fondazionecrpt.it/interventi/calamecca.html
Best,
John Dillon
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