medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (2. October) is the feast day of Eleutherius of Nicomedia (d.
303), of Ursicinus, bishop of Chur (d. 670), of Leodegar of Autun and of
his brother Gerin (d. 678 and 677, respectively), of Theophilus of
Seleution (d. ca. 750), as well as of the Guardian Angels, on whom see
this from a well known saint of the Regno:
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/111304.htm.
It is/was also the feast day of Modestus, long venerated at Benevento
and still venerated elsewhere in the Beneventan cultural area (d. 303,
supposedly). This less well known saint from the Regno has a brief but
fulsome Passio (BHL 5983d) by the eleventh-century rhetorician Alberic
of Montecassino that makes him a deacon of Sardinian birth and of noble
parentage and ancestry, possessed of many virtues, and martyred
(somewhere) under Diocletian. It is apparent that Alberic knew either
nothing or next to nothing about M. Assuming for the nonce that
tradition rather than Alberic made our saint a deacon, a Sardinian, and
a martyr, we have no means of verifying that tradition's age or accuracy.
M.'s Passio was written for the Beneventan monastery of San Modesto,
founded under Arichis II between 758 and 774. Early modern
ecclesiastical historians purveyed a legendary translation account
whereby the future pope St. Gregory I persuaded Pelagius II to send M.'s
remains to a Beneventan monastery of Santa Maria ad Olivolam where
subsequently an altar was erected to him; for the sources of this one,
see Franco Bartoloni, ed., _Le piu' antiche carte dell'abbazia di S.
Modesto in Benevento (secoli VIII - XIII)_ (Roma: Istituto storico
italiano per il Medio Evo, 1950; Regesta Chartarum Italiae, v. 33), pp.
vii-xii. The monastery of San Modesto lasted in practice until 1820 (in
1926 the title of abbot was granted to the pastor of the successor
parish of the same name). Its church was destroyed in the aerial
bombardment of Benevento in 1943. After the war, a new church of San
Modesto was erected south of the old city. At some point, it was
decided that the M. of this parish was the saint of this name from the
legends of St. Vitus (15. June). When that M.'s cult was suppressed in
1969, the church retained its historic name. But it no longer
celebrates any St. M. The diocese of Benevento does not include M.
among its numerous saints profiled on its website:
http://tinyurl.com/mpavn
But the monastery had many holdings and was otherwise influential over a
broad area. Consequently M.'s cult was disseminated more widely and for
a longer period than that of the similarly questionable Severus of
Orvieto of recent mention in these listings. In some of these places
(e.g., Morrone del Sannio [CB] in Molise), M. is still commemorated
today. The church of Santa Maria Maggiore at Mirabella Eclano (AV) in
Campania is said to hold a relic of him. In 1480, remains said to be
those of M. were discovered at the abbey of Montevergine (near
Mercogliano [AV]) along with those of Januarius and other Beneventan
saints. Whereas Januarius was subsequently translated back to Naples
(where his presumed remains had lain prior to his early ninth-century
"repatriation" by prince Sico of Benevento), Montevergine managed to
hold onto M., who has an altar and a display reliquary in the crypt of
that abbey's "new" basilica (opened to the public in 1961).
Alberic's _Passio sancti Modesti levitae et martyris_ is at _Analecta
Bollandiana_ 51 (1933), 369-74.
Best,
John Dillon
(last year's post, revised)
**********************************************************************
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
|