medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (11. June) is the feast day of:
1) Barnabas, apostle (d. 1st. cent.). According to Acts 4:34-36, B. was a Levite from Cyprus who had been named Joseph until the apostles gave him his present appellation, said to signify "son of encouragement" (there are other interpretations), after he had sold a field and given them the proceeds. In some Bible traditions his name is rendered as Barnabus. B. was especially close to St. Paul and accompanied him on many of his travels, some recorded in Acts and others occurring only in New Testament apocrypha. The epistle that goes under his name was considered authentic by Clement of Alexandria and by Origen but not by Jerome or by Eusebius (and is not so considered by modern scholars).
B.'s apocryphal Acta (BHG 225) have him martyred by Jews on Cyprus. (You can't go home again!). He is said to have been buried at Salamis (the one on Cyprus, of course). In 478 the Cyprian archbishop Anthemios, prompted by a dream vision, found what he said were B.'s grave and relics, with a manuscript of the Gospel of Matthew resting on B.'s chest.
B. is the legendary evangelist of Milan. Visitors to that city's cathedral of Santa Maria Nascente -- a largely medieval structure, so let's have a quick look:
http://faculty.cva.edu/Stout/Gothic/Milan.jpg
http://docenti.lett.unisi.it/files/3/1/4/17/Milano_Duomo.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/njg6u
http://tinyurl.com/p9q8q
-- will see an assertion, untrammeled by any qualification, that B. was the founder of the Milanese church:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Milano_Vescovi.jpg
More recently, though, the archdiocese has been willing to refer to B. as its founder _according to tradition_.
And here are some views of the Hermitage of St. Barnabas at Gamogna (FI) in Tuscany, founded by St. Peter Damian in 1053:
http://www.zoomedia.it/Nomya/Nomyapict/Eremo01.jpg
http://www.circolocubo.it/immagine.php?key=294
http://tinyurl.com/ytmafr
http://www.appenninoromagnolo.it/itinerari_trek/gamogna.asp
2) Maximus of Naples (d. 361, perhaps). The anti-Arian tract known as the _Libellus precum Faustini et Marcellini_ (383 or 384; part of the so-called _Collectio avellana_) informs us that today's less well-known saint from the Regno was an orthodox bishop of Naples sent into exile after the Council of Milan in 355 and replaced by an Arian bishop, Zosimus; it further asserts that M., delicate in appetite and in physique, succumbed to bodily illness in exile and died a martyr. After purveying briefly another account of a persecuted bishop with a Neapolitan connection, the _Libellus precum_ then adds an increasingly unbelievable story about M.'s having condemned Zosimus from exile and about the obstinate Z.'s divine punishment.
Neapolitan tradition differs considerably from this. According to the early ninth-century portion of the _Chronicon episcoporum s. neapolitanae ecclesiae_, M., the city's tenth bishop, soldiered strenuously and entirely moderately on behalf of the holy church; his episcopate is undated and his exile is not so much as mentioned. He is followed in this catalogue by an even less informative entry for Zosimus, here the (apparently orthodox) eleventh bishop, said to have lived in the time of Constantine and pope Sylvester.
Though this entry notes that it was at this time that the Arian heresy arose, it does not associate Zosimus therewith other than temporally. The _Chronicon episcoporum_ says both that M. was buried in the basilica honoring his predecessor Fortunatus and that the latter was constructed by the twelfth bishop, Severus; this allows but does not require the inference that an interregnum of some sort had occurred.
M.'s late antique sarcophagus, bearing on its marble lid the inscription _MAXIMUS EPISCOPUS QUI ET CONFESSOR [Chi/Rho]_ (no indication of martyrdom here!), was discovered under today's cathedral in 1872; reburied, it was dug up again in 1957, examined, and then incorporated in the altar of of the cathedral's Galeota chapel (formerly the chapel of St. Athanasius). In 1872 the sarcophagus was reported to have contained human remains, but perhaps it had merely been re-used, as in 1589 the Capuchins of Naples claimed to have found M.'s remains, along with those of his fellow bishops, saints Ephebus/Euphebius and Fortunatus, under their church of Sant'Efremo (today's Sant'Efremo Vecchio). All three were then formally translated to that church's high altar. When, in 1872, M.'s cult was papally confirmed, celebrations took place both in the cathedral and in Sant'Efremo Vecchio.
The early ninth-century Marble Calendar of Naples records under 11. June M.'s laying to rest (he is not identified here either as a bishop or as a martyr). That date is said to be given for him in other medieval calendars, e.g. the Montecassino calendar of 1332. In modern times he was long celebrated on 10. June. The latest version of the RM reflects the recent return of his feast to today.
3) Rimbert (d. 888). The Fleming R. (also Rembert) was educated at the monastery of today's Turnhout in Belgium, where he made his profession and whence he was chosen by archbishop St. Anskar of Nordalbing (later known as Hamburg and Bremen) to accompany him in missionary work in Sweden. Though apparently only a deacon, he succeeded Anskar as archbishop in 862. Soon thereafter R. entered the monastery of Corvey, of which A. had been abbot during his episcopate and through whose Benedictine connections he and R. supported their missions. In 865 R. obtained from Corvey the services of St. Adalgar, who became his coadjutor as bishop in 875 and who succeeded to the archbishopric upon his death.
R. continued his apostolate in Sweden and in Denmark until the Norman invasions of Francia (880 and following) caused him to concentrate on the needs of co-religionists there. In 884 he organized a military defense of Frisia. R.'s Vita by a monk of Corvey (BHL 7258) tells us about his life of prayer. R.'s own Vita of St. Anskar (BHL 544) is much more informative about its author. Two English-language translations of it are here:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/anskar.html
and here:
http://tinyurl.com/2rnu7p
Best,
John Dillon
(Barnabas and Maximus revised from previous posts)
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