medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (19. January) is also the feast day of:
Catellus (late 8th cent.). Today's less well known saint of the Regno
is the patron saint of Castellammare di Stabia (NA), on the Gulf of
Naples south of Vesuvius, southwest of Pompeii, and north of the Monti
Lattari, an extension of the southern Appennines whose western end
forms the Sorrentine Peninsula. A map of the area is here:
http://www.chilhavisto.rai.it/Clv/img/C/Celentano/grandi/faitomap.jpg
Everything that we know about C. comes from the Vita of St. Antoninus
of Sorrento (BHL 582), an appealing late ninth- or tenth-century text
that is one of the few surviving monuments of the early medieval duchy
of Sorrento, a short-lived offshoot of the duchy of Naples. According
to this account, Antoninus was a monk who was forced to abandon his
monastery during a period of Lombard raids and who attached himself to
the holy Catellus, bishop of Stabiae (today's Castellammare di
Stabia). In time C. turned over his diocese to A. and took up a
hermit's existence on a mountain that when the Vita was written was
named after Michael the Archangel but today is Monte Faito on the
Sorrentine Peninsula, overlooking Castellammare di Stabia to the
northeast and Sorrento to the west southwest. A. joined him not long
thereafter and together the two of them, inspired by the appearance of
St. Michael in a vision vouchsafed to both hermits, established here an
oratory dedicated to the Archangel which, according to the Vita (whose
local boosterism is one of its charms) in time became a successful
pilgrimage destination.
Charged with having abandoned his diocese, with celebrating Mass in the
wilds _contra ritum_, and with spreading heresy, C. was arrested, taken
to Rome, and thrown in jail while the pope considered the matter more
closely. C. prophesied to a papal cleric to whom he proclaimed his
innocence that he (the cleric) would soon succeed to the papacy and
asked to be released when that happened. In short order this prophecy
was realized and the new pope not only freed C. but also promised to
give him whatever he should ask for. C.'s request was for sufficient
lead for the roofing of the oratory (which latter Antoninus had
meanwhile left); this was given to him and on his return C. rebuilt the
structure with stone foundations, a wooden superstructure, and a lead
roof.
Thus far our information about C. His cult was confirmed in 1729.
Castellammare di Stabia's present cathedral (main part built from 1587
to 1643) is now named after both the Blessed Virgin of the Assumption
and Catellus. In the eighteenth century, attempts were made to discover
remains of C. on Monte Faito. When these failed, his cult statue in the
cathedral at Castellammare was placed on top of an ancient Christian
sarcophagus that had been dug up from underneath the building. A
suboptimal photograph of this arrangement is here:
http://www.juvestabia.it/images/San_Catello.jpg
Still, someone must have been successful in such an endeavor at some
point, for Castellammare di Stabia has two relics of C. said to be
fragments of his cranium. One of these is in the cathedral and the
other, according to the illustrated account here, was rediscovered in
1999 in the parish church at Scanzano:
http://www.sancatello.it/immagini/sancatello/reliquia%20scanzano.jpg
Not surprisingly, C. is also venerated in Sorrento, which also has a
relic of him and where a confraternity in his honor is said to have been
founded in 1380. A brief sketch of the latter's history is here:
http://www.processioni.com/main_confraternity.htm
One part of multi-peaked Monte Faito is called Monte Sant'Angelo; there
has been a sequence here of little churches dedicated to St. Michael.
Excavations in 1726 produced a few fragments of lead sheeting that were
proclaimed to have come from the roof of C.'s building. A couple of
views of the present church (early 20th-century; easily reached by
funicular from Castellammare di Stabia) are here:
http://www.abbazie.com/sanmichelearcangelo/foto/SanMichele_Faito_b.jpg
http://www.fotoeweb.it/sorrentina/images/faito010806.JPG
Those are C., Michael, and A. to the left of the entrance. A close-up
of the group's representation of C. is here:
http://tinyurl.com/axsar
This view of Castellammare di Stabia (with Vesuvius in the background)
from Monte Faito might give some indication of the difference in
elevation between C.'s oratory and the town below:
http://www.fotoeweb.it/sorrentina/Foto/Faito/Vesuvio%20dal%20Faito.JPG
One can also visit a cave on Monte Faito said to have been C.'s abode:
http://www.alfonsomartone.itb.it/bskooc.html
'Faito' is a dialect form of 'faggeto' ('beech wood', i.e. the forest
type, not the material). In C.'s day much of the Sorrentine peninsula
between the coastal communities and the highest peaks will have been
been covered in beeches. If there's any old growth left it's in
ravines and is well hidden. But the slopes of Monte Faito and the
peninsula's spine to the west of that have more recent beech woods
somewhat suggestive of what C. might have experienced, e.g.:
http://www.fotoeweb.it/sorrentina/Foto/Faito/Faggeta%20Faito.JPG
http://www.pbase.com/anidel/image/2714108
Best,
John Dillon
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