medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (13. February) is also the feast day of:
Peter I of Vercelli (d. 997). The first of two sainted bishops of the
Piedmontese city of Vercelli to be named Petrus, our P. commenced his
episcopate in 978. Although nothing of his earlier life is known, his
apparently faithful adherence to the Ottonian cause in Italy has led
many to suppose that he may have been German. He is said to have joined
Otto II's campaign of 982 against the Sicilian Muslims who had been
extending their influence over much of Calabria and Basilicata; when
that punitive expedition received its comeuppance at the battle of Stilo,
P., we are told, found himself a prisoner. Sent to Alexandria in Egypt,
where he is said to have been imprisoned (perhaps because there was some
thought of getting a ransom for him), he was liberated some years later
through the intercession of saint Bononius of Locedio, then ministering
to Christians in that city (so the First Life of B., which unlike the
Second is not suspected of being an eighteenth-century forgery but whose
accuracy in this matter remains unproven). After a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem and a stay at Constantinople, P. returned to his diocese
(where is is again recorded starting in 990) and later, once Bononius
had also returned to Italy, made the latter abbot of Locedio (later,
Lucedio).
In 997 P. was put to death at the order of Arduin of Ivrea, not yet
proclaimed king of Italy but already a thorn in the imperial side. His
body, laid to rest in his cathedral, became the focal point of a cult
unfavorable to Arduin, who retaliated by having the building set on
fire. A purely local saint, P. is celebrated liturgically only in the
Archdiocese of Vercelli. Unlike Adelpretus II (Albert) of Trent,
another bishop seemingly slain for political reasons, he is not listed
in the new version of the Roman Martyrology.
Vercelli's present cathedral is largely neoclassical. But its belltower
is not:
http://www.valsesiascuole.it/crosior/1medioevo/comune65.jpg
Some of the Archdiocese's early medieval treasures are shown here
(incl., for students of Old English, a page from the Vercelli Book):
http://www.archeovercelli.it/duomo.html
More medieval in appearance than the cathedral is Vercelli's formerly
abbatial church of Sant'Andrea:
http://tinyurl.com/9xw95
http://www.valsesiascuole.it/crosior/1medioevo/comune66.jpg
http://viaggidialex.altervista.org/imm2/wer.jpg
http://doors.stanford.edu/~sr/england-italy/italy/Pages/1.html
http://docenti.lett.unisi.it/files/3/1/4/29/Vercelli_interno.jpg
The sculptures in the lunette over the main portal are attributed to
Benedetto Antelami:
http://tinyurl.com/dotlw
Best,
John Dillon
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