medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Saturday, November 12, 2005, at 5:38 pm, Phyllis wrote:
> Today (12. November) is the feast day of:
> 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.
Benedict of course is that less well known** saint of the Regno,
Benedict of Benevento. Go the the diocese of Benevento's chief website
http://tinyurl.com/7p8xh
, click on "I santi", and you get a menu one of whose choices is
identified simply as "San Benedetto". Click on that and you get an
account of B. under the heading "San Benedetto da Benevento sacerdote e
con i compagni protomartire della Polonia":
http://tinyurl.com/aj86e
Bruno's so-called _Vita_ (really a Passio) is at MGH SS 15.2, pp. 709-38
(text starts on p. 716 with the Prologus; the Passio proper begins on p.
717). This can be read online at:
http://www.dmgh.de/
Following p. 738 is a color reproduction of the opening of the Passio in
the source ms. for the MGH edition.
Best,
John Dillon
** Less well known, that is, if one is neither Polish, nor Camaldolese,
nor Beneventan. An account by Romeo Tiddia at
http://www.donatocalabrese.it/Beneventonews/religione/home.htm
of John Paul II's visit to Benevento on 2. July 1990 (which featured a
homily on B.) says,
"Adesso tutti sappiamo che san Benedetto, giovane religioso Beneventano,
ha fatto parte del primo gruppo di missionari che evangelizzarono la
Polonia mille anni fa." ("Now we all know that saint Benedict, a young
religious of Benevento, was a member of the first group of missionaries
who evangelized Poland a thousand years ago.")
_tutti_ indeed!
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