medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (31. December) is the feast day of:
Colmuba of Sens (?) Legend tells that Columba was a Spanish girl who
came to Gaul at the age of sixteen and settled at Sens. When Emperor
Aurelian came to the city, he ordered her execution with that of
other Christians. C's cult spread through France, Spain, and Italy.
Silvester I (d. 335) The Roman-born Silvester became pope in 314;
thus his pontificate coincided almost perfectly with the reign of
Constantine. He was not, in fact, particularly close to the
Christian emperor, perhaps because Constantine was rarely in Rome.
S. did not put in an appearance at either of the major doctrinal
councils of the time, Arles and Nicaea, either. This absence from
the key events of the age seemed so strange to people from a later
era of papal centrality that they invented a very exciting role for
S, crediting him with curing Constantine of leprosy, baptizing him,
and winning massive concessions for the papacy in the process.
Melania the Younger (d. 439) Melania was the daughter of a
senatorial family of Rome. She was married off against her will to
the scion of another noble family, Pinian, who adamantly refused to
live with Melania "as a brother." M. had two children who died in
infancy; M was extremely ill and Pinian promised her that they could
live in celibacy if she recovered. When M's father died, she
inherited one of the largest estates in the empire. The couple took
to works of charity on a magnificent scale. They left Rome shortly
before the Goths attacked, and finally settled at Tagaste in Nimidia
for some years, eventually moving on to Jerusalem.
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