medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Saturday, August 12, 2006, at 5:14 am, Rosemary Hayes wrote:
> Do we have a(n approximate) year for his martyrdom? We attended
> Mass in San
> Rufino followed by torchlight procession to the basilica last
> Corpus
> Christi - magical.
Dear Rosemary,
We know nothing about the date or circumstances of the death of the
martyr Rufinus venerated at Assisi. The earliest evidence for this cult
is a sermon by Peter Damian dealing with R.'s translation in the
eleventh century from an extramural martyr's church into the town
proper. According to Peter, there were no acta concerning him (but
there were plenty of miracles and an already existing cult, so his
sanctity was not at issue). Peter also has a hymn of praise for R. in
which the saint triumphs over numerous forms of attempted
torture/execution and finally is drowned. Since there were no acta,
these details are clearly illustrative in nature -- as, under the
circumstances, would also be a martyrdom under a particular emperor such
as one finds in the prose Passiones of many saints whose initial
documentation is already legendary.
The tradition at Trasacco is that the R. venerated there suffered under
an emperor Maximinus. As we're dealing with a western saint, that
probably indicates Maximinus Thrax (235-38), under whom tomorrow's
saints Hippolytus and Pontianus are more credibly said to have been
martyred.
Whether the R. venerated at Assisi (who used to be celebrated on 30.
July) and the R. venerated at Trasacco are one and the same was once a
matter of considerable controversy. The prevailing belief now is that
they are identical and that most of what was said about them medievally
is fiction arising from different developments of the cult in separate
locales.
Best again,
John Dillon
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