medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (29. March 2008) is Saturday within the Octave of Easter. Ordinarily, 29. March is the feast day of:
1) Eustasius of Naples (d. 3d cent.; also Eustathius, Eustachius). According to the late eighth- or early ninth-century first portion of the __Chronicon episcoporum sanctae Neapolitanae ecclesiae_, today's less well known saint of the Regno was Naples' seventh bishop. His elogium, which has suffered textual damage, focuses on his cult. Referring to the devotion of the populace, it informs us that E. had been translated from his original place of burial to the main altar of a church of the BVM. In the twelfth century that church's successor was in the city's Portanova district and in 1616 E.'s relics, identified by the inscription on their container, were rediscovered there. Three years later E.'s cult, previously restricted to this church, was extended to the entire diocese. Possibly it was then that E.'s relics were moved to the cathedral, where they were accorded a solemn recognition in 1884.
E.'s feast day in Naples is 10. May, the date of his commemoration in that city's early ninth-century Marble Calendar. Slightly later in the same century, Ado of Vienne entered into his Martyrology under this date a different Eustasius (he of Luxeuil). Usuard followed suit in the first version of _his_ Martyrology but in the second moved that E. to his _dies natalis_ on 2. April. Through 1956, though, the RM followed Ado and the earlier Usuard in commemorating E. of Luxeuil today. In its revision of 2001 he was replaced under this date by E. of Naples.
2) Mark of Arethusa (d. 364). M. was made bishop of Arethusa (today's ar-Rastan in Syria's governorate of Homs) by Constantine the Great, His propensity to side with quasi-Arians at various councils caused Baronio, suspecting his orthodoxy, to exclude him from his editions of MR (a decision later altered thanks to the Bollandists' promotion of him as a martyr). Gregory of Nazianzus (_Or._ 4. 88-91) relates his heroism in the face of anti-Christian violence at Arethusa stirred up by the emperor Julian in 361. The aged M., who had torn down a pagan temple and who had been effective in making Christian converts, left the city briefly (out of prudence, not fear, says Gregory) but returned when things got ugly. He was seized, publicly humiliated, and tortured extensively. M.'s steadfastness then and later shamed the magistrates, who allowed him to survive. Today he is considered a confessor (as he has been traditionally in Orthodox churches).
An English-language translation of Gregory's oration is here (the squeamish might wish to skip paragraph 87):
http://tinyurl.com/2e8j9b
Arethusa / ar-Rastan is in the valley of the Orontes / al-ŽAsi. Here's a view of the latter to the east of the city, giving one some idea of the terrain:
http://www.dainst.org/medien/de/orontes_abb01-g.jpg
3) Armogast, Archinimus, and Satyrus (d. after 460). A., A., and S. are Catholic martyrs in Vandal Africa under king Geiseric. We know about them from Victor of Vita's _Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae_, 1. 43-50. Armogast and Satyrus were royal officials, A. in the household of Geiseric and S. in that of the king's oldest son, Huneric. The third martyr's name, according to Victor, was Mascula; he was head of a troupe of mimes and it is his occupation, _archimimus_, which underlies the name used in martyrologies from Florus through, rather disappointingly, today's RM. Florus of Lyon entered these saints under 4. December; Ado moved them to today's date.
4) Ludolf of Ratzeburg (d. 1250). L. was a Premonstratensian who in 1236 became bishop of Ratzeburg (today the county town of Kreis Herzogtum Lauenburg in southeastern Schleswig-Holstein). His opposition to claims on diocesan property by the duke of Lauenburg proved inconvenient for the duke, who had L. imprisoned for a lengthy period, and probably lethal for L., who is said to have been mistreated and who died at Wismar shortly after his release. The Premonstratensian abbey of St. Johann at Hamborn (today's Duisburg-Hamborn in Nordrhein-Westfalen) is said to have a relic of him (did this stay in the abbey church between the abbey's dissolution in 1806 and its reoccupation by the Premonstratensians in 1959/60?).
Here's an illustrated, German-language page on the ex-cathedral of Ratzeburg (the Ratzeburger Dom, completed 1220; chapter house and cloister added in the later thirteenth century):
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratzeburger_Dom
Other views:
http://www.ratzeburgerdom.de/
http://www.boldts.net/album/D-ch-Ratzeburg.shtml
http://tinyurl.com/2fv488
http://www.ipn.uni-kiel.de/aktuell/ipnblatt/ip404/ip404b13.gif
The abbey church at Hamborn was rebuilt in the seventeenth century. The adjoining cloister of 1170 retains some of its medieval appearance:
http://tinyurl.com/25akn8
http://tinyurl.com/yw4czy
Best,
John Dillon
(Eustasius, Armogast et socc., and Ludolf lightly revised from last year's post)
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