medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
The Ice Saints of Hungarian-, German-, and Dutch-language folklore (Frisian-language too? I haven't checked) often include Mamertus (Mamerz) of 11. May as well as those named below by Karl. Saints of the day this year covered Mamertus, Pancratius, and Servatius and on each of their days I wondered if this topic would arise.
The Boniface of 14. May is the legendary Boniface of Tarsus, whose cult has now been suppressed. If one goes to the Google Books snippet here for one printing of Butler's Lives of the Saints
http://tinyurl.com/298hpv
and goes to 14. May one will find that B. has there suffered a _damnatio memoriae_.
The Sophia of 15. May is the shadowy martyr Sophia of Rome. She is entered for that date in Greven's expanded Usuard of 1515. The early Bollandists entered her (along with St. Quirilla) under 15. May in the _AA.SS._ She is absent from the RM in its versions of 1955 and following and thus from this list's "saints of the day" entries.
Boniface of Tarsus is in the ninth-century Usuard under 5. June; Sophia of Rome is absent altogether. So, unlike Mamertus, Pancratius, and Servatius, they will not have been linked to these days in May until at least the late Middle Ages. Note that Frans' Dutch-language tradition appears not to include them.
If the Ice Saints' veneration as such is medieval or very early Early Modern in origin then their days initially came ten or eleven days later in the solar year than has been the case since the varied introductions of Gregorian calendar reform. As Kit has already indicated, in much of the northern United States (which warms up a little later in the year than do Europe's Hungarian-, German-, and Dutch-speaking areas), it is only towards the end of May that one can feel reasonably confident about the outdoor survival of cold-sensitive seedlings. Even in mid-May chilling frosts are possible.
Best,
John Dillon
On Wednesday, May 16, 2007, at 2:12 pm, Bernadette Filotas wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Thanks to you, Tom and Anne. I must say that considering the success
> rate of the weather forecasts in our local newspaper, belief in them
> qualifies as at least a minor superstition, a triumph of faith over
> experience - I'd put my money on the peasants.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Brunner Karl
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 2:06 PM
> Subject: Re: [M-R] weather saints
>
>
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
> culture
>
>
> In German they are "die Eisheiligen", Pankraz, Servaz and Bonifaz
> and the cold Sophie, and it's not a superstition, but a regular change
> of the weather around this time, the meteorologists say and the
> peasants know for centuries.
> yours
> k
>
>
> Am 16. Mai.2007 um 18:56 Uhr schrieb Charles Giguere:
>
>
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
> culture
> O periti arcanorum:
>
> As I was sitting chilled to the bone here in Montreal during what
> Hungarians call the "icy saints" (fagyos szentek - the feasts of
> Pongrac (?), Servatius and Boniface, namely 12 - 14 May) I was
> wondering if it is merely a Hungarian superstition that these are
> weather saints, and if there is a comparable term in English or French
> for these days. I think the question might have come up before, but I
> cannot find it in the archives.
>
>
>
> Bernadette Filotas
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