medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (21. April) is the feast day of:
1) Apollonius of Rome (d. 185). We know about A. principally from Eusebius, who preserves large chunks of the early acts of A.'s martyrdom, and from two chapters in Jerome's _De viris illustribus_. Additionally, he has a Passio that survives in versions in Greek and in Armenian. A. was well known in Rome as a learned philosopher when he was denounced by a disaffected slave as a Christian. After a hearings by a sympathetic magistrate and by a board of Roman senators, he was tried before the full senate and convicted. According to Jerome, A. 1) was himself a senator and 2) defended himself by reading before the senate an "outstanding work on the Christian faith". A. was executed by decapitation; his Greek-language Passio adds that he was tortured first.
Medievally, A. was confused with the Apollo of Alexandria who appears several times in the New Testament and with the A. of the martyrs Apollonius and Valentine listed in the (pseudo-)Hieronymian Martyrology for 18. April. The new (2001) RM moved A.'s commemoration to today.
2) Anastasius of the Sinai (d. shortly after 700). A. was abbot of a monastery in Sinai and the author of a medievally popular introduction (_Hodegos_, 'Guide') to Catholic doctrine, written against monophysites, monothelites, and Jews. Another doctrinal text, edited last year in the Corpus Christianorum series graeca as _Anastasii Sinaitae Quaestiones et responsiones_, is generally considered an eighth- or ninth-century compilation containing very little that is actually from the pen of A.
3) Wolbodo (d. 1021). W. (en français, Wolbodon) came from the nobility of Flanders. He was educated at the cathedral school of Utrecht and later became its head. Bishop Adalbold II (1010-26) made A. cathedral prior. He went on from there to become bishop of Liège (Lüttich) in 1018. As bishop, W. had differences with the emperor who nominated him (Henry II) but his brief pontificate is memorable primarily for the impetus he gave to reformed monasticism in his diocese. He had a popular cult from shortly after his death until well into the early modern period.
W. commissioned a noted early eleventh-century psalter now named for him (Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, cod. 9188-89). I couldn't quickly find an illustration on the Web, but the locations of several in printed books are given here:
http://tinyurl.com/279a4c
4) Anselm of Aosta (d. 1109). A. (also A. of Bec, A. of Canterbury) . Born at Aosta, practically on the border of today's France, A. studied in Burgundy and then, darwn by the reputation of its abbot Lanfranc, moved on to the abbey of Le Bec in Normandy. Already an important theologian at the time of his election as abbot in 1078 (his enthronement took place early in the following year). While abbot, A. followed Lanfranc to Canterbury. He succeeded him there as archbishop on 1093. Difficulties with king William II over church/state relationships caused A. to spend the late 1190s on the continent, where he found time to add to his substantial body of writing. Recalled by Henry I in 1100, he went into a second exile in 1103 and returned only in 1106 after Henry had renounced lay investiture, taxation of the church, and confiscation of its property.
A. was buried in Canterbury cathedral. His Vita by his much younger associate Eadmer (BHL 525, etc.) is deservedly famous; the same author's Miracula of A. (BHL 534) provides early attestation of his cult. St. Thomas Becket failed in an attempt to have A. canonized. Henry VII was more successful in 1492, getting pope Alexander VI to authorize his cult for England. In 1690, in the wake of England's Glorious Revolution, A. was added to the general Roman Calendar. In 1720, at the request of the Stuart pretender James III, he was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church.
Here's an illuminated initial (at the beginning of A.'s _Monologion_) depicting A. as archbishop:
http://tinyurl.com/29dd9u
Some views of St. Anselm's Chapel in Canterbury cathedral:
http://www.loyno.edu/~letchie/becket/images/anselmchapel.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/2scc2k
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/4932320.stm
http://tinyurl.com/3d68jr
Aosta's collegiate church of Sant'Orso, built from 994 to 1025 over a paleochristian predecessor and rebuilt in the later Middle Ages, retains a few eleventh-century frescoes such as the one shown here:
http://tinyurl.com/22teja
Sant'Orso also has a famous tower, whose lower portions of date from the twelfth century:
http://tinyurl.com/2ewrxy
http://tinyurl.com/22dxvs
Other "romanesque" towers may be seen at Aosta's cathedral of San Giovanni Battista:
http://www.pbase.com/lexfrank/image/3008840
The abbey of Le Bec, at today's Le Bec-Hellouin (Eure), was rebuilt in the early modern period. A medieval survivor there is the fifteenth century Tour Saint-Nicolas, shown here in various views:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:La_Tour_Saint-Nicolas.jpg
http://lanormandie.canalblog.com/images/IMG_3014.JPG
Best,
John Dillon
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