medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (9. August) is the feast day of:
Falco of Palena (d. early 11th cent., supposedly). To judge from his
entry in the online, Italian-language version of the new (2001) RM,
today's less well known saint from the Regno is a Blessed:
"A Palena in Calabria il B. Falco , eremita."
This would be more convincing were Palena's location given correctly.
In fact, it is in Abruzzo's Chieti province. F. belongs to a cult of
Sette Santi Fratelli ('Seven Holy Little Brothers') whose individual
members, brief Italian-language accounts of whom are here:
http://www.casoli.info/casoli/prata/prata02.htm
, are venerated in various towns in Abruzzo. They are local holy men
-- traditionally viewed as hermits -- whose cult was promoted by the
Franciscans of Abruzzo who viewed them as their predecessors in this
region. When their cult was confirmed by the Congregation of the Rites
in 1893, they were perhaps declared 'Blessed'. But in 2001 the bishop
of Sulmona-Valva seems to have been calling them 'Santi'. See:
http://digilander.libero.it/palena/bpnumerospecialesett01.htm
According to the _Croniche ed antichita' di Calabria_ of Fra Girolamo
Marafioti (Padova, 1601), who drew on accounts furnished by
correspondents in Benevento, F. and his colleagues in the cult were
Greek-rite monks from Calabria who moved to today's Abruzzo as a
community under the leadership of a hegumen called Hilarion (one of the
'Seven', who in some accounts are as many as nine) and who after the
latter's death in the pontificate of Eugenius IV (1431-47) split up and
became hermits in separate locations along the great chain of central
Appennine peaks now known as the Maiella. But at least some of these
holy men were venerated earlier than this. Twentieth-century scholars
resolved the difficulty by positing that Marafioti had confused Eugenius
IV with the earlier Sergius IV (1009-1012) and by then hypothesizing
that F. and his colleagues had come from Greek-rite monasteries in
Calabria that had been abandoned in later tenth century in consequence
of Islamic raids. Were there any early documentation for the belief
that F. et al. were Greeks from the south, this view would be more
plausible.
The chances are excellent that these are local saints whom subsequent
community memory first adapted to the paradigm of hermits of the Maiella
(of whom there were in fact a great many) and later further adapted to a
version of the well-known paradigm of 'the saint who has come to us from
afar'. F.'s orginal cult locus appears to have been a now vanished
settlement in the vicinity called Sant'Egidio. A church dedicated to
Sant'Egidio and to San Falco is said to have existed there at least as
early as 1358. In 1383 F.'s remains were translated to Palena's church
of Sant'Antonino, which later came to be known as that of Sant'Antonino
e San Falco. Its successors have been known as as San Falco and, most
recently, as San Falco e Sant'Antonino. Some of F.'s relics are now
preserved in the bust shown here:
http://digilander.iol.it/palena/proc02.jpg
http://digilander.iol.it/palena/proc05.jpg
More relics, including clothing he is said to have worn (the apparel of
an earluier cult statue?) are here:
http://www.casoli.info/casoli/prata/reliquie_s_falco.jpg
http://www.casoli.info/casoli/prata/tunica_s_falco.jpg
F. was until relatively recently also celebrated liturgically on 13.
January, his traditional _dies natalis_. Did today's feast originally
commemorate his translation in 1383?
In addition to a partly subterranean rural dwelling known as St. Falco's
House, the township of Palena (which extends well beyond its inhabited
nucleus) is also the home of the Romitorio ('Hermitage') della Madonna
dell'Altare. This commemorates a better known saint of the Regno, Peter
of the Morrone (pope St. Celestine V), whose very first hermitage is
said to have been located at this spot. Views of the locale and of the
modern structures are here:
http://web.tiscalinet.it/palena/M_altarefull.jpg
A brief, Italian-language account of this place is here:
http://tinyurl.com/nlue5
A view of Palena in winter, with the church of San Falco e Sant'Antonino
at left center:
http://web.tiscalinet.it/palenasito/i.jpg
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
|