medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (30. November) is the feast day of:
Andrew the Protoclete, apostle (d. 1st cent.). Like his brother Simon Peter today's well known saint of the Regno was a disciple of St. John the Forerunner before becoming an adherent of Jesus of Nazareth. According to Eusebius, he preached in Scythia, quite possibly the Roman province of this name erected by Diocletian today's southeastern Romania and northeastern Bulgaria. Theodoret has A. preaching in Greece. From at least the fourth century onward it has been believed that he suffered martyrdom at Patras.
In 357 relics venerated as A.'s were brought from Patras to Constantinople's church of the Holy Apostles. Scot believe that in the eighth century their St. Regulus (Rule) brought A.'s relics from Constantinople to today's St Andrews in Fife.
Two illustrated pages on St. Rule Tower and the ruins of St Andrews cathedral at St Andrews are here:
http://tinyurl.com/22ldzd
http://tinyurl.com/yrfguc
But all in Campania know that in 1208 A.'s remains were brought from Constantinople to Amalfi, where they are now housed in the cathedral dedicated to him. Matthew of Amalfi's account of this translation, as revised in the later thirteenth century and published by the Comte de Riant in vol. 1 of succeeding versions of his _Exuviae sacrae Constantinopolitanae_ (1876; 1877-78), repays reading in several respects.
Of course, neither Matthew nor his reviser had any idea that in the 1460s the Despot of Morea, Thomas Palaeologus, would bring with him into exile in Italy a head said to be that of St. Andrew, that Pius II would acquire it for the Roman church and use it as a propaganda device for his projected crusade against the Turks, that in this context none other than Cardinal Bessarion gave a welcoming speech to A. in his (partial) presence in 1462, and that in 1964 Paul VI would "return" this relic plus a finger bone from A.'s relics in Amalfi to the Greek Orthodox church in Patras.
Herewith a few views of Amalfi's cattedrale di Sant'Andrea, begun in the tenth century and much reworked since then:
Facade:
http://www.terragalleria.com/europe/italy/amalfi-coast/picture.ital7489.html
http://www.antoniomucherino.it/photo/AmalfiDuomo.jpg
Atrium (thirteenth-century; rebuilt after the collapse of 1861):
http://greenlightwrite.com/Napamal15.JPG
http://www.artemisworks.plus.com/italy/amalfi/pages/duomo3.htm
Entrance, with the eleventh-century "bronze" doors whose plates were cast in Constantinople:
http://tinyurl.com/ygd9na
Door, detail:
http://www.euratlas.net/eon/amalfi.htm
Italian-language account giving the metallic composition of those plates:
http://www.amalfiscoast.com/italiano/scoprire/stor/bronzo_amalfi.htm
Thirteenth-century cloister:
http://www.ilmegliodisalerno.it/images/amalfi_duomo_chiostro.JPG
http://tinyurl.com/22nmpr
Cloister decor:
http://www.amalficoastweb.com/amalfi/italiano/chiostro.html
http://medivia.sele.it/MediviaFotoGrande.asp?Lingua=FRA&ID=83
Belltower, begun in the twelfth century and finished in 1276:
http://greenlightwrite.com/napamal14.JPG
http://tinyurl.com/ync56p
The interior is largely early modern. A. is in the crypt (constructed in 1253 and redone in 1719), in the area shown here:
http://www.splendido.net/caruso_download.php?a=26&view=amalficoast
specifically, under this altar:
http://www.globopix.net/dettaglio.asp?idi=12&i=5&pagina=11
Some medieval frescoes survive in the church. The one shown here portrays the first Grand Master of the Hospitallers of St. John, Bl. Gerardo Sasso of Scala, a local boy who made good:
http://ecostieramalfitana.it/diocesiamalfi/ordinema.htm
Or perhaps not so local. There's also a view that he came from Martigues (Bouches-du-Rhône) in Provence.
Some views of Wells Cathedral (twelfth- to fifteenth-century; dedicated to A.), starting with the West Front:
http://tinyurl.com/2a4s9x
Various:
http://people.bath.ac.uk/absdfda/wells/pic/
Finally, some views of Bordeaux' twelfth- to sixteenth-century cathédrale Saint-André:
http://tinyurl.com/2jonhw
http://tinyurl.com/25zvch
http://tinyurl.com/yrr8ca
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/157/400073846_1c6774fcf3_b.jpg
http://images.blog-24.com/680000/675000/675491.jpg
http://www.virtourist.com/europe/bordeaux/imatges/08.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/29hb86
http://tinyurl.com/32t739
http://tinyurl.com/ypv88c
http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/photos.cfm?ID=s0011463
Best,
John Dillon
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