medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (27. April) is the feast day of:
1) Simeon of Jerusalem (d. ca. 107). According to Hegesippus, S. was a son of Clopas and a cousin of Jesus. In 62/63 he followed James "brother of the Lord" as head of the church in Jerusalem. He was crucified under Trajan.
2) Liberal of Altino (d. ca. 400, supposedly). A saint both of Venice and of the adjacent _terraferma_, L. has some not awfully believable Acta (e.g., BHL 4905) that make him a disciple of Altino's late fourth- / early fifth-century bishop St. Heliodorus who when the latter retired to an island in the lagoon stayed behind to bring Christianity to pagans and Catholicism to Arians. In time L. too retired to an island in the lagoon, where he lived briefly as a hermit before dying on 27. April of an unrecorded year.
Although in the fourteenth century it was claimed that his remains had been brought to Torcello, where he has an altar in the basilica of Santa Maria Assunta, all in Treviso know that the remains of their patron San Liberale were brought here along with those of other early saints by refugees from Altino fleeing either the Huns in 452 or Lombards in the later sixth or early seventh century. Treviso's cathedral of St. Peter (or of Sts. Peter and Paul) is mostly early modern. But it is built over an eleventh-century crypt, expandable views of which are provided on this page:
http://tinyurl.com/pgnsm
None of the frescoing here is earlier than the thirteenth century. L.'s remains are said to reside in a fifteenth-century tomb in the apse. Presumably, it's somewhere in this view, behind the later gaudiness:
http://tinyurl.com/2uyx74
L. is also the patron saint of Castelfranco (VE), a Trevisan foundation. Its cathedral, dedicated to L., houses an altarpiece by Giorgione from 1505 (ca.) depictng the BVM between L. and Francis of Assisi. The image shown here is expandable:
http://www.wga.hu/html/g/giorgion/religion/madon_fr.html
The depiction of L. as a young knight is traditional in Trevisan representations of him as patron of their commune.
3) Zita (d. 1278). According to her contemporary Vita (BHL 9019), Z. was born at today's Monsagrati (LU) in Tuscany. At the age of twelve she moved to Lucca, where she became a household servant to a noble family who treated her very harshly. Enduring a condition of economic servitude as well as the contempt and verbal abuse of her employers, Z. regularly gave alms to the poor. She also managed to make one pilgrimage to Pisa and frequent brief trips to a monastery outside of town.
Z., who is credited with miracles in her lifetime as well as afterwards, quickly became the focus of a popular cult. In Dante's _Divina Commedia_ she's already santa Zita. She was buried in Lucca's church of San Frediano, now familiar from the thirteenth-century mosaic on its facade:
http://tinyurl.com/356jwb
http://tinyurl.com/2vmdog
After a recognition in 1652 Z.'s remains were said to be incorrupt. They're now on display in San Frediano:
http://tinyurl.com/2nemuh
http://tinyurl.com/29ed9t
Z.'s cult was approved in 1696. Pope Pius XII proclaimed her the patron saint of domestics.
4) James of Bitetto (Bl.; d. 1485 or 1490). Today's less well known holy person of the Regno became a Franciscan lay brother at his native Zadar in today's Croatia. At about the age of nineteen he moved on to Apulia's Terra di Bari, where he served as a cook, a gardener, and an alms-gatherer at Franciscan houses at Bari, at Bitetto, at Conversano, at Cassano delle Murge, and again at Bitetto. A humble contemplative, J. (also Giacomo Varingez, Veringuez, etc.) became famous for his works of charity, especially during the pestilence of 1483. About twenty years later his body was found to be incorrupt. Various miracles have been reported. J. was beatified in 1700.
J. has an active cult and a canonization campaign is ongoing. His body is preserved at his sanctuary in the Franciscan convent at Bitetto, founded in 1433. His torso is said to be still incorrupt, but other parts have decayed. Here are some views:
http://tinyurl.com/2lrufd
http://tinyurl.com/2ktude
http://tinyurl.com/2ppd83
While we're here, a view of Bitetto's originally late eleventh- / early twelfth-century ex-cathedral of San Michele Arcangelo:
http://www.fotopuglia.it/chiese/cattedrali019.jpg
Best,
John Dillon
(Liberal of Altino lightly revised from last year's post)
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