medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

I really enjoyed this rich account of the feast, vita and cult of  
Pelinus. I hope I can suggest some very minor changes:

John wrote:
***
To others (including the great historian of the early dioceses of  
Italy, Francesco Lanzoni), the story of Pelinus et al. is a fiction  
from beginning to end, created in the diocese of Valva in the  
eleventh century in connection with P.'s cult at Corfinium, today's  
_frazione_ of San Pelino in Avezzano (AQ) in Abruzzo.
***

Just to be perfectly clear: the classical and late-antique Corfinium  
is identified with today's Corfinio. Probably the best web-based  
resource for the comune is:
http://www.profesnet.it/dabruzzo/cultura/corfinio.htm
Here, one can click on various links that provide a total of six  
pages. (Clicking on the 'home' link takes you to the home page of the  
provider of the pages, the richly illustrated magazine 'D'Abruzzo'.)

See also:
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corfinio

For a brief English-language account of the comune -- including an  
account of its historical apogee in the first century B.C.E. -- see:
http://roccalett.tripod.com/Corfinio.htm

There is indeed a small community called 'San Pelino' near Avezzano.  
I had the misfortune of visiting there at lunch time, so of course  
there wasn't much to be seen, as everyone was ... having lunch! I'll  
try again next time I'm in the area. For this community, see:
http://sezione20.terremarsicane.it/spelino.htm

There is a great deal to see of medieval religious interest in  
Corfinio and its valley (which includes the much bigger and very  
pretty city of Sulmona). It is only a 90 minute drive or bus ride --  
and a slightly longer but extremely scenic train ride -- to Corfinio  
from Rome. To get an idea of the huge quantity of sites to visit and  
and things to do in the area, see:
http://www.concapeligna.it/

If you want to make an extended visit so that you see the many sites  
in the valley (including the hermitage of Sant'Onofrio, built by  
Peter of the Morrone and where he was living at age 84 when he was  
told he had been elected pope -- he took the name Celestine V), I can  
recommend staying at the Hotel Excelsior, Via Sacra 37, 67030  
Corfinio (AQ) (tel/fax +39 0864 728 300 -- English spoken).

Thanks again, John!

George

--
George FERZOCO
University of Leicester
School of Modern Languages
University Road
LEICESTER LE1 7RH
UNITED KINGDOM
tel +44 (0)116 252 2654
fax +44 (0)116 252 3633
[log in to unmask] (alias: [log in to unmask])


On 5 Dec 2006, at 05:58, John Dillon wrote:

> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and  
> culture
>
> Today (5. December) is the feast day of:
>
> Pelinus (d. 4th cent., supposedly).  Today's less well known saint  
> from the Regno is said in his probably eleventh-century Vita (or  
> Passio; BHL 6620) to have been a Greek-speaking monk from  
> Dyrrachium (today's Durres in Albania; in Italian, Durazzo) who  
> together with his Syrian companions Gorgonius and Sebastius and his  
> disciple Cyprius, crossed the Adriatic in flight from Julianic  
> persecution and arrived at Brundisium (today's Brindisi in  
> Apulia).  Here he is said to have been welcomed by bishop  
> Aproculus, who made him archdeacon of the cathedral and whom he  
> succeeded as bishop some years later, the now elderly Aproculus  
> having accompanied P. to Rome to insure his consecration by pope  
> Liberius.
>
> P. then returned to Brundisium and took up his office.  When  
> ordered by civil authorities to sacrifice at the temple of Jupiter  
> he had only to set foot on the lintel and an earthquake brought  
> down the whole structure (not injuring P., apparently).  At  
> Julian's command the evil tribune Maximus had P. and his companions  
> arrested and brought to Rome where they were paraded prior to being  
> executed.  P. was handed over to the judge Cornicularius who  
> brought him to Corfinium, the city of the Paeligni, and there had  
> him killed on a 5. December variously estimated as being either in  
> 361 or 362.  Gorgonius and Sebastius were executed on the following  
> day but Cyprius was spared on account of his youth.  Returning to  
> Brundisium he succeeded P. as its bishop.
>
> Apart from Julian (reigned 361-63) and Liberius, none of these  
> people is otherwise attested, not even the saintly Aproculus.   
> Indeed, although Pelinus and Cyprius now figure in Brindisi's  
> _series episcoporum_, their names are strikingly absent from the  
> indices of the _Codice diplomatico Brindisino_; other medieval  
> evidence for P.'s having had a cult there is apparently also  
> lacking.  The archdiocesan view in Brindisi-Ostuni is that these  
> events really transpired in the reign of Constans II (641-68) and  
> that P.'s Vita -- which survives in an eleventh- or very early  
> twelfth-century passionary/legendary (Vat. lat. 1197) seemingly of  
> south central Italian origin*** -- is based on an account by a  
> seventh-century contemporary.  See its account reachable from:
> http://www.brindisiweb.com:8080/arcidiocesi/santi/index.html
> Here it is also implied that P. continues to be celebrated at  
> Brindisi on 5. December (he is absent from the December listings of  
> the online Italian version of the new Roman Martyrology).  The  
> archdiocese's homepage
> http://tinyurl.com/yhmr9c
> is silent today about any celebration of P., noting as the saint of  
> the day only Bl. Filippo Rinaldi.
>
> To others (including the great historian of the early dioceses of  
> Italy, Francesco Lanzoni), the story of Pelinus et al. is a fiction  
> from beginning to end, created in the diocese of Valva in the  
> eleventh century in connection with P.'s cult at Corfinium, today's  
> _frazione_ of San Pelino in Avezzano (AQ) in Abruzzo.  A  
> concatenation of suspicious elements, it is devoid of any  
> verifiable early connection with Brindisi and may even (depending  
> on its real date) have been written in connection with abbot-bishop  
> Transmundus' erection here, starting in 1075, of the cathedral  
> complex of St. Pelinus.  It would certainly have been an  
> extraordinary coincidence for a bishop of far-away Brundisium to  
> have borne this unusual name so suggestive of that of the people  
> inhabiting the area of P.'s known cult, the P(a)eligni.
>
> Consecrated in 1124 as one of the cathedrals of Valva (the other is  
> San Panfilo at Sulmona) and still a co-cathedral of the modern  
> diocese of Sulmona-Valva, San Pelino with its adjacent mausoleum of  
> pope St. Alexander is a major architectural monument in the  
> Paelignian basin.  An English-language account is here:
> http://www.abruzzoheritage.com/magazine/2001_11/0111_a.htm
> One in French is here:
> http://tinyurl.com/ayyre
> And a more detailed and better illustrated one in Italian is here:
> http://tinyurl.com/d6qyk
> The diocesan account is also worth reading (though its dates for  
> the ms.
> of the Vita are way off).  Go here:
> http://www.diocesisulmona-valva.it/
> and click on the view of the Concattedrale di S. Pelino.
>
> The carving around the front entrance is certainly noteworthy:
> http://www.abruzzoheritage.com/magazine/2001_11/images/valva3.jpg
> Detail:
> http://tinyurl.com/7vnjz
>
> Two views of the rear of the mausoleum and of adjacent parts of the  
> cathedral:
> http://tinyurl.com/74hts
> http://tinyurl.com/dofdk
> Rear views of the cathedral, showing thirteenth-century construction:
> http://tinyurl.com/dx2gm
> http://tinyurl.com/a2lg4
> Rear apse details:
> http://tinyurl.com/8pb72
> http://tinyurl.com/dq9jz
> Further exterior details are here:
> http://tinyurl.com/e47m6
>
> This relief of the Madonna with Child, found during restoration of  
> the cathedral, is said to be affixed to the wall of the left transept:
> http://tinyurl.com/9wo6r
> The interior of the cathedral offers an impressive ambo from the  
> period 1168-1188:
> http://tinyurl.com/7r54n
> A whole page of expandable views of the complex, complementing  
> those used above:
> http://www.medioevo.org/artemedievale/Pages/Abruzzo/Corfinio.html
>
> The main portal of Sulmona's cathedral (the latter also a project  
> of abbot-bishop Transmundus) bears statuary niches housing images  
> of Sts. Panfilo (its dedicatee) and of Pelino:
> http://tinyurl.com/9v3y9
>
> Best,
> John Dillon
> (last year's post, lightly revised)
>
> *** For the date and probable origin of this manuscript, which  
> seems to have belonged to the chapter library of San Pelino, see  
> now Pasquale Orsini, "Cultura grafica tra l’XI e il XIII secolo a  
> Sulmona," in Ezio Mattiocco, ed., _Scripta et scripturae.  
> Contributi per la storia di Sulmona_ (Lanciano: Editrice itinerari,  
> 2002), pp. 143-178.
>
> **********************************************************************
> 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

**********************************************************************
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