medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (3. December) is the feast day of:
Galganus (d. 1181). G. was a native of today's Chiusdino (SI) in southern Tuscany who turned to religion from a life of soldiering and dissipation and who shortly before his death founded a hermitage on the nearby hill of Montesiepi. These places were then in the diocese of Volterra, whose bishop promoted G.'s cult by consecrating, in 1185 and with papal approval, a small commemorative church at the site of the hermitage. G.'s canonization trial of the same year is the oldest whose acta are known. He has several thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Lives, whose earliest, the _Vita sancti Galgani_, was written probably before 1227 by a Pisan monk of the Cistercian abbey at Montesiepi (founded in 1218). According to this account, G., wishing to plant a cross at the site chosen for his hermitage, thrust into the earth a sword whose cruciform upper portion served the purpose. Later, more entertaining versions have G. miraculously driving his sword into solid rock.
The _Vita sancti Galgani_ was edited by Eugenio Susi on pp. 177-213 of his _L'eremita cortese: San Galgano fra mito e storia nell'agiografia toscana del XII secolo_ (Spoleto: Centro italiano di studi sull'Alto Medioevo, 1993). G.'s canonization trial (whose documentation survives in a sixteenth-century transcription) was edited by Fedor Schneider as "Analecta Toscana, IV. Der Einsiedler Galgan von Chiusdino und die Anfänge von S. Galgano," _Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken_ 17 (1914-24), 61-77. For more on G. and his Lives, see Sharon Dale, "To the Victors Goes the Hagiography: the Cistercian Frescoes at San Galgano and the Vitae Galgani," _Citeaux_, fasc. 3-4 (1997), 231-259, and R(oberta) Mucciarelli, "Galgano, santo," _Dizionario biografico degli Italiani_, vol. 51 (1998), pp. 450-51.
The _Vita sancti Galgani_ dates G.'s death to 30. November 1181, but a slightly later Life used for G.'s Office changes this to today in accordance with the needs of the local calendar for Siena. That in turn was followed by the RM. G. is celebrated on 5. December in the diocese of Volterra and the archdiocese of Siena, Colle di Val d'Elsa, and Montalcino.
The hermitage on top of the hill (restored in 1924 and containing both G.'s gravestone and -- who could doubt it? -- G.'s sword sticking out of a rock in the church's center) and the ruined Cistercian abbey below are major tourist attractions. Views, etc. will be found at these websites (among many others):
http://www.italiantourism.com/news03.html
http://go.supereva.it/toscanamedievale/sangalgano.htm?p
http://tinyurl.com/vjnzt
http://www.sangalgano.info/eremo_en.html
Best,
John Dillon
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