medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Monday, July 3, 2006, at 6:21 pm, John Briggs wrote:
> John Dillon wrote:
> >
> > Okay, so no one else is going to observe that in the Roman Calendar
> > today (3. July) is the feast of Thomas the Apostle ([Jude] Thomas
> > Didymus).
>
> Strictly speaking, his translation feast.
What's your source for this? There's no hint in the Italian-language
version of the new RM that, within the context of the Roman Calendar,
this is a translation feast. Here's what it says:
"Festa di S. Tommaso Apostolo, non credette agli altri discepoli che
gli annunciavano la resurrezione di Cristo, ma come lo stesso Gesu' gli
mostro' il costato perforato esclamo' : 'Signore mio e Dio
mio'. Con quella fede si dice che Egli abbia evangelizzato l'India."
Neither do these two offerings from unofficial but usually very
punctilious Roman Catholic publishers characterize this as anything
other than a Feast _tout court_:
http://www.universalis.com/20060703/liturgy-1985.htm
http://www.canticanova.com/articles/liturgy/art9ag2.htm
It is true that in the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, 3. July is the
feast of the translation of St. Thomas the Apostle (to Edessa), with 21.
December being the day of his memorial:
http://www.indianchristianity.org/orthodox/calendar.html
And it is said here:
http://www.smart.net/~tak/Patrons/thomas1.html
that T.'s translation was also celebrated on this day in Edessa,:
"(July 3, St. Thomas's feast in the Roman Calendar, is the date on which
the Edessans celebrated the translation of the relics with 'a great
festival.')"
I haven't found a source for that and wonder if it was not inferred from
this in the _Catholic Encyclopedia_ article "St. Thomas Christians",
where however the feast is neither explicitly characterized as having been
that of T.'s translation nor said to jave been celebrated in Edessa
(indeed, if the the translation is accurate, "brought there" implies
that the point of view is from somewhere other than Edessa):
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14678a.htm
"A Syrian ecclesiastical calender [sic] of an early date confirms the
above. In the quotation given below two points are to be noted which
support its antiquity -- the fact of the name given to Edessa and the
fact the memory of the translation of the Apostle's relics was so fresh
to the writer that the name of the individual who had brought them was
yet remembered. The entry reads: '3 July, St. Thomas who was pierced
with a lance in India. His body is at Urhai [the ancient name of Edessa]
having been brought there by the merchant Khabin. A great festival.'"
But even if this feast were celebrated in Edessa as that of T.'s
translation, a feast of T. celebrated on that day in some other church
would not necessarily be his translation feast. For example, the Marble
Calendar of Naples lists three celebrations of the Apostle Thomas: one
on 3. July, on on 18. September, and one on 21. December. Of these,
both that on 3. July and the one on 18. September commemorate the
apostle's passion, whereas the third is given simply as his feast. See:
http://www.ucc.ie/milmart/naples.html
That's a ninth-century feast of T. on 3. July that is explicitly _not_ a
translation feast.
Is there any evidence that the Roman church has ever celebrated the
translation of St. Thomas?
> > Prior to the Great Re-ordering of 1969 today's well known
> > saint of the Regno was celebrated on 21. December, as he may yet
> > be in other churches.
>
> As in the Sarum Calendar, and the Hereford Calendar.
Also Lutheran churches. See:
http://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienT/Thomas.html
Best again,
John Dillon
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