medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (27. June) is also the feast day of:
Adeodatus of Naples (ca. 671). Today's less well known saint of the
Regno was celebrated medievally on 1. October; this, according to the
Marble Calendar of Naples (1st half of the 9th century), was the day of
his deposition. Number thirty-three in the catalogue of Naples' early
bishops, he served in that office for eighteen years in the time of the
emperor Constantine II (641-68) and of pope St. Vitalian (657-72).
Constans spent much of 663 in Naples, directing a military campaign
against the Lombards of southern Italy; during this time he made major
donations to the local church. A. is conjectured to have used some of
this wealth to build the basilica since known as that of Santa Restituta
and to have overseen the translation of that saint's remains from Ischia
to this church, now part of Naples' later medieval cathedral. According
to a tenth-century sermon embodying some of the highly dubious Acta of
St. Patricia of Constantinople, venerated at Naples (25. August), A.
officiated at the latter's funeral at the city's monastery of Saints
Nicander and Marcian. The late-ninth/early tenth-century chronicler of
Naples' bishops, John the Deacon, gives us no particulars about A.'s
life or character.
and of:
Arialdus, deacon of Milan (1066). The well-educated A. taught at the
cathedral school of Milan and in 1057 emerged into public view as the
leader of the Pataria, the anti-nicolaism and anti-simony movement
within the Ambrosian church. Supported by reforming Popes and opposed
by his archbishop (Guido da Velate, 1045-71), he provoked violence
against his ecclesiastical opponents and received the same from them.
After the Patarenes got Alexander II to excommunicate the simoniac
archbishop, the latter took his revenge on A. (who had gone into hiding
outside the city) by hunting him down and having him arrested. A. was
taken to a castle belonging to a niece of the archbishop and thence to a
little island in Lago Maggiore, where he underwent a grisly execution.
A year later, peace was made between the parties and A.'s body was
brought back to Milan, where it was displayed with honor at
Sant'Ambrogio for ten days before being buried in a local monastery.
Alexander II is said to have declared A. a martyr. His cult was
confirmed in 1904.
In an age of impressive biographies of recent saints (e.g., the
anonymous Life of Nilus of Rossano, Bruno of Querfurt's _Vita quinque
fratrum eremitarum_, Peter Damian's _Vita beati Romualdi_), A. has one
of the best: the _Passio beati Arialdi_ by the Vallombrosan monk Andrew
of Strumi, who had been one of A.'s disciples (BHL 673). This
masterpiece survives in a single copy rediscovered in the early
twentieth century thanks to the persistence of the postulant of A.'s
cause. It was edited by Friedrich Baethgen in MGH Scriptores, vol. 30
pt. 2, and has a relatively recent editio minor: Andrea da Strumi,
_Passione del santo martire milanese Arialdo_, a cura di Marco Navoni
(Milano: Jaca Book, 1994; also contains the text of the anonymous Passio
of A. [BHL 677]).
A few views of Milan's Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio:
http://www.tropicalisland.de/travel_italy.html
http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/Italy/photo72649.htm
http://www.storiadellarte.com/periodi/romanico/archromanica/milano.htm
and a page on the Rocca di Angera, the castle to which A. was taken just
before his murder (shown in a later medieval rebuilding):
http://www.proloco.net/angera/rocca.php
Best,
John Dillon
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|