medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (12. November) is the feast day of:
Nilus the Elder (d. c. 430) Apparently there were two saints named
Nilus at about this time, and the two got mixed together in the
tradition. The composite figure was a monk of Ancyra (Ankara), wrote
some letters and treatises that are still extant, was originally a
Constantinopolitan official who became a disciple of John Chrysostom,
and had an interesting time tracing his son Theodulus (who also
became a monk) when the latter was abducted by Arab raiders.
Emilian Cucullatus (d. 574) Millan de la Cogolla (Cucullatus/Cogolla
means "with the hood") was an early saint of Spain. There is a vita
of him, written a mere 50 years after his death by Bishop Braulio of
Zaragoza. He was a shepherd who became a hermit when about 20 years
old. He spent about 40 years in the eremetical life, but then his
bishop forced him to become a parish priest. This worked out badly
and he went back to solitude---but this time with some disciples,
forming a monastic community.
Machar (Mochumma) (6th cent.) Machar was an Irish missionary who
came to Scotland with Columcille. Tradition tells that he was first
bishop of Aberdeen.
Lebuin (d. c. 773) The Anglo-Saxon Lebuin was one of the many monks
drawn to the missionary field in Frisia. He went on from there to
evangelize Saxons.
The Five Brothers (Benedict and companions) (d. 1003) Bruno of
Querfurt's *Vita quinque fratrum* is, in my humble opinion, one of
the most moving and compelling vitae of the central MA. It tells of
a small group of Romuald of Ravenna's monks who decided to go off and
evangelize Slavs. They had barely settled down at Kazimierz (near
Gniezno) when robbers killed them. What makes the vita such
interesting reading is that the author was supposed to be a member of
the group, but had gone to Rome to get license to preach and
consecration as a bishop, and was then delayed in his journey to
Poland until too late---his guilt, longing, and jealousy at the
others attaining "glorious martyrdom" come across clearly in the text.
Didacus (d. 1463) Diego was the son of poor people who lived near
Seville. At a young age, D. became apprentice to a hermit; he went
on to become a lay brother with the Observant Franciscans. D. was
sent to join the Franciscan mission on the Canary Islands. During
the course of his life, he served as guardian of several convents,
proved to be an outstanding nurse of sick brethren, and was credited
with several miracles. Perhaps his most important posthumous miracle
was healing the son of King Philip II, for which the king urged that
D. be canonized, as he was in 1588.
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