medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (19. May) is the feast day of:
1) Pudentiana (d. 2d cent., supposedly). P. is one of the legendary daughters of Pudens, the eponymous donor of the _titulus Pudentis_ at Rome. From the fourth century onward this church was also known as the _ecclesia Pudentiana_. In time this name form spawned a saint, P., who along with her sister Praxedes is a protagonist of a legendary Vita (BHL 6988, etc.). According to this text, she lived in this building (her family's house) during the reign of Antoninus Pius (138-61) and died on 19. May of some undisclosed year. Later texts made her a martyr. P. and her sister Praxedes have had a checkered career in modern times. Benedict XIV (d. 1758) removed both saints from the general Roman calendar. In 1969 their cults were suppressed, with the sole exception of services at the Roman basilicas dedicated to them.
Herewith some views of Rome's basilica di Santa Pudenziana (the belltower is of the thirteenth century; major modifications were made in 1588; the facade dates from 1870 but retains an eleventh-century frieze):
http://www2.siba.fi/~kkoskim/rooma/sivut/357_007B.HTM
http://tinyurl.com/5jfwej
http://tinyurl.com/5nmj3w
Expandable view and section here:
http://tinyurl.com/2syduz
A page of greatly expandable views of the originally fifth-century apse mosaic, reduced in size during the sixteenth-century rebuilding:
http://tinyurl.com/39bohs
Probably less familiar is P.'s early eleventh-century church at Narni (TR) in Umbria. Here are three illustrated, Italian-language sites on it:
http://web.tiscali.it/pmusilli/SantaPudenziana.htm
http://www.ternionline.net/itg.narni/S.Putenziana/index.htm
http://www.santapudenziana.org/
P. as depicted in a mid-thirteenth-century gradual (ca. 1250-1260) for the Use of the abbey of Notre-Dame at Fontevrault (Limoges, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 2, fol. 138v):
http://tinyurl.com/29sdgx4
P. as depicted in a later fourteenth-century Roman Missal (ca. 1370) from Bologna (Avignon, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 136, fol. 240v):
http://tinyurl.com/29hkstv
2) Urban I, pope (d. 230). U. succeeded pope St. Callistus I in 222. His papacy, which occurred in principate of Alexander Severus (whose administration did not persecute Christians), took place during the Hippolytan Schism. We are as uninformed about how U. dealt with that situation as we are about his pontificate in general. He was laid to rest in the cemetery of Callistus on the Via Appia, where (in the cemetery, not the road) in the nineteenth century was found a fragment of a Greek-language funerary inscription identifying a bishop Urbanus in a manner paralleled for other third-century popes.
Prior to his removal from the general Roman Calendar in its revision of 1969, U. was celebrated on 25. May, the date given by the (pseudo-Hieronymian) Martyrology for the commemoration of a bishop Urban buried in the cemetery of Praetextatus (also on the Via Appia); the latter's presence there is recorded in the seventh-century itineraries for pilgrims to Rome. In the "new" RM (2001) U. is instead commemorated today, the date given by the (ps.-)HM for Parthenius and Calogerus and others including an Urban, all Roman martyrs of the cemetery of Callistus.
Apart from some dubious matter in the _Liber Pontificalis_, most of what was believed about U. during the Middle Ages stems from his role in the legendary Acta of St. Cecilia of Rome, which latter, if not specifically her Passio BHL 1495, were already in existence in some form in the sixth century and in which U. too is a martyr. Based on these are a not-later-than-eleventh-century Passio of U. (variously recorded as BHL 8376 or 8379) and another printed in the _Bibliotheca Casinensis_ (112-14). Herewith a view of the opening lines of the first of those as presented in an eleventh-century French _Vitae sanctorum_ (Troyes, Bibliothèque de l’agglomération troyenne, ms. 1171, fol. 2r) with an illuminated initial depicting a seated U.:
http://tinyurl.com/6hthle
A better view of the illumination:
http://tinyurl.com/62c32f
Also thought to be from the eleventh century (quite possibly from the pontificate of Urban II) is a poorly preserved fresco cycle, at Rome's extramural chiesa di Sant'Urbano alla Caffarella, of scenes from the Passio of St. Cecilia; most of these have to do with U. as well. Greatly expandable views of some of these are here:
http://www.gliscritti.it/gallery2/v/album_015/?g2_page=2
and an Italian-language page describing the cycle in some detail is here:
http://tinyurl.com/6aj82r
Also from the eleventh century is our first mention of U.'s cult at today's Bucchianico (CH) in Abruzzo, when -- according to his probably late eleventh-century Vita -- in the earlier part of that century St. Aldemarus of Bucchianico founded a monastery adjacent to that town's church dedicated to U. In 1243 the then bishop of Salpi translated relics believed to be those of U. to a place of honor beneath the main altar of that church. These are said still to repose in the church's later eighteenth-century successor, Bucchianico's present chiesa di Sant'Urbano. U. is Bucchianico's patron saint.
Two illustrated, Italian-language pages on the originally later eleventh-century but mostly twelfth- and thirteenth-century abbey church of Sant'Urbano all'Esinante (a.k.a Sant'Urbano in Domo) at Apiro (AN) in the Marche begin here:
http://tinyurl.com/66dngg
The Italia nell'Arte Medievale page on this church:
http://www.medioevo.org/artemedievale/Pages/Marche/Apiro.html
A relatively recent study of the church by an expert on "romanesque" abbatial churches in the Marche: Hildegard Sahler, "Die Abteikirche Sant'Urbano all'Esinante in den Marken", _Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz_ 47 (2003), 5-56.
U. is also Apiro's patron saint.
A probably better known dedication to U. is the église collégiale de Saint-Urbain at Troyes, begun under Urban IV in 1262 and completed only in the nineteenth century. Herewith some views:
http://fr.structurae.de/structures/data/photos.cfm?ID=s0013001
http://tinyurl.com/5usvms
http://img47.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc000033ld.jpg
http://img70.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc000067gz.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/5nbv73
U. (at right; at left, St. Blaise) in the late thirteenth-century Livre d'images de Madame Marie (ca. 1285-1290; Paris, BnF, ms. Nouvelle acquisition française 16251, fol. 87r):
http://tinyurl.com/yk9p76d
In this altar frontal dated to a little after 1304 (from Florence's chiesa di Santa Cecilia and now in the Uffizi; depicts C. and various scenes from her Passio) U. is in the first panel at the upper right, baptizing C.'s brother-in-law St. Tiburtius:
http://tinyurl.com/5sw24y
U.'s (supposed) martyrdom as depicted in an earlier fourteenth-century copy (1326-1350) of a French-language collection of saint's lives (Paris, BnF, ms. Français 185, fol. 232r):
http://tinyurl.com/2d526tf
U.'s (supposed) martyrdom as depicted in an earlier fourteenth-century copy (1348) of the _Legenda aurea_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (Paris, BnF, ms. Français 241, fol. 134v):
http://tinyurl.com/29xwgmn
U. causing idols to topple as depicted in a later fifteenth-century copy (1463) of Vincent de Beauvais' _Speculum historiale_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (Paris, BnF, ms. Français 51, fol. 9v):
http://tinyurl.com/272nkc6
U. on the late Gothic altar of the St.-Liudger-Maternus-Kirche in the locality of Unterrißdorf in the city of Eisleben in Sachsen-Anhalt:
http://www.luther-in-unterrissdorf.de/urban.shtml
More views of the sculptures of the altar:
http://www.luther-in-unterrissdorf.de/versammlung.shtml
A not awfully good view of the altar in its entirety is here:
http://www.luther-in-unterrissdorf.de/madonna.shtml
3) Dunstan (d. 988). A noted scholar and one of the leading figures of tenth-century Benedictine reform in England, D. was born in the vicinity of Glastonbury and got his early schooling at its abbey. After entering the royal court of Wessex he was ordained priest. At some point in the years 940-46 he was made abbot of Glastonbury. D. and his colleague Æthelwold reformed the abbey; he also enlarged the abbey church. From 946 to 955 D. was again at court. After two years in exile at St. Peter's in Ghent he was recalled, made bishop of London and, in plurality, of Worcester, and in 959 became archbishop of Canterbury. D.'s cult commenced almost immediately after his death; his first Vita (BHL 2342) was already in existence in 1004.
An expandable view of a tenth-century drawing of D. prostrating himself before Christ is here:
http://www.saintedwardbrotherhood.org/dunstan.html
This is from fol. 1r of Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Auct. F. 4. 32, a composite manuscript known as Dunstan's Classbook as much of it can be connected with Dunstan's teaching activity at Glastonbury. The two-line prayer _Dunstanum memet clemens, rogo, Christe, tuere / Tenarias me non sinas sorbsisse procellas_ ('I beseech you, kind Christ, to protect me, Dunstan. Do not permit the storms of Hell to suck me in.') is almost certainly of Dunstan's own composition.
An online facsimile of the manuscript is here:
http://tinyurl.com/o3ujk8
And a fuller account of it than the one linked to from the facsimile is here:
http://tinyurl.com/qqa8w2
Herewith two views of St Dunstan's Church, Canterbury, the first to be dedicated to him (it's been rebuilt since):
http://kent.lovesguide.com/images/canterbury_st_dunstan.jpg
http://www.canterburykfhs.co.uk/images/Image12.gif
and a page on St Dunstan's Church, Mayfield (East Sussex):
http://tinyurl.com/2nj952
4) Peter Celestine (d. 1296). The hermit Peter of the Morrone (today's still fairly well known saint of the Regno, thanks in large part to a reference by Dante Alighieri) founded the Benedictine congregation of the Celestines. He became pope as Celestine V in 1294 and abdicated within a year. His successor, Boniface VIII, imprisoned him in a castle in southern Lazio. P. was canonized in 1313.
Here's a view of the castle of Fumone (near Alatri and Ferentino) where after his abdication P. resided as Boniface's "guest":
http://www.castellodifumone.it/italy/borgo/rocca_file/grande.jpg
And here's the Italia nell'Arte Medievale page (views expandable) on the church of Santa Maria di Collemaggio at L'Aquila (AQ) in Abruzzo, said to have been begun at P.'s behest in 1287 and his resting place since 1327, when most of his remains were surreptitiously brought from Ferentino to L'Aquila (P.'s heart is said still to remain at Ferentino in its chiesa di Santa Chiara):
http://tinyurl.com/2csgbn
P.'s tomb in that church:
http://tinyurl.com/deja6b
P.'s effigy reliquary in the tomb:
http://tinyurl.com/qmvcb2
http://www.basilicacollemaggio.it/images/celestinoV.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67835733@N00/209949807/sizes/l/
P.'s skull exhibits a rectangular hole in the left forehead that has provoked some suspicion about the manner of P.'s end:
http://www.archelaos.com/popes/image.aspx?id=65
http://www.laquilax.com/B-teschio-bucoLayer1.jpg
NB: Those views of Santa Maria di Collemaggio were taken before the terrific earthquake of 6. April 2009 in which the church was seriously damaged. Four pages of recent views begin here:
http://tinyurl.com/d7j92n
Thanks perhaps to the power of the saint, his tomb survived undamaged.
Here's a view of a late thirteenth- or early fourteenth-century fountain, said to have been erected in P.'s honor, in Isernia (IS) in Molise (Isernia is one of the candidates for the distinction of being P.'s birthplace):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22079679@N07/2827516655/
This page offers a greatly enlargeable view of P.'s portrait (before 1375) formerly in the abbey of Santa Maria at Casaluce (CE) in Campania and now in the cappella di Santa Barbara in the Castel Nuovo in Naples:
http://tinyurl.com/c6f9p6
5) Ivo of Kermartin (d. 1303). The Breton I. (also Yvo, Yves) Hélory (in Breton: Erwan Helouri) was born at Kermartin (Côtes-d'Armor), near Tréguier. An ecclesiastical lawyer and judge famous for defending the poor, he studied at Paris and at Orléans and practiced at Rennes and at Tréguier. In his later years he was ordained priest, after which he spent the remainder of his life in two Breton parishes and died in great poverty on this day. A popular cult arose immediately, scraps of I.'s clothing were treated as relics, and many miracles were ascribed to him. I. has an extensive hagiographic dossier beginning in the early 1330s with texts prepared for his canonization trial (BHL 4625ff.). Canonization came in 1347. I. is Tréguier's patron saint, a secondary patron of Brittany, and a patron saint of lawyers and judges.
In 1420 duke Jean V of Brittany vowed a new tomb for I. in Tréguier's cathedral of St. Tudwal. This was built and survived until 1794, when it was destroyed by the soldiers of the bataillon d'Étampes, who had taken over the town. Its late nineteenth-century replacement is a replica:
http://tinyurl.com/2d9fjjr
http://tinyurl.com/29frvjy
http://i44.servimg.com/u/f44/11/64/82/51/tombea15.jpg
http://www.infobretagne.com/images/cathedrale-treguier_33.jpg
http://www.infobretagne.com/images/cathedrale-treguier_34.jpg
I.'s skull on display at one end of the monument:
http://tinyurl.com/36vof5k
http://i44.servimg.com/u/f44/11/64/82/51/le_sai10.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/22vecjo
I. in a fourteenth-century panel painting in the cappella di Sant'Ivo in Florence's cathedral:
http://i44.servimg.com/u/f44/11/64/82/51/saint182.jpg
I. as depicted by Rogier van der Weyden in a panel painting of ca. 1450 now in the National Gallery in London:
http://www.wga.hu/art/w/weyden/rogier/16portra/03stivo1.jpg
I. (at left, pleading) as depicted in a later fifteenth-century copy (ca. 1470) of the _Legenda aurea_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (Mâcon, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 3, fol. 256v):
http://tinyurl.com/2by8jbk
I. as depicted in a late fifteenth-century breviary (after 1481) for the Use of Langres (Chaumont, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 32, fol. 429r):
http://tinyurl.com/2efczpz
I. as portrayed in a statue from ca. 1500 in the église Saint-Jean-Baptiste in Chaumont (Haute-Marne):
http://tinyurl.com/2ang7vf
http://tinyurl.com/23pygm3
I. as depicted (at right; at left, St. John the Theologian) in a glass window from 1524 in the Universitätskapelle of the Münster in Freiburg im Breisgau:
http://tinyurl.com/32vw7hc
6) Agostino Novello (Augustine of Tarano; Bl.; d. 1308 or 1309). Today's less well known holy person from the Regno, an early luminary and prior general of the Augustinian Hermits, A. was born either in Tarano (RI) in today's Lazio near the east central Italian homeland of his order or else, though other places have also been proposed, in today's Termini Imerese (PA) on the island of Sicily. According to both of his early Vitae (which divide on the matter of his birthplace), he pursued a legal education at Bologna, becoming a doctor of both canon and civil law, and served as a high curial official in the kingdom of Sicily in the reign of Manfred (1258-66).
During Charles of Anjou's conquest of the kingdom A. fled to a place of relative safety, became seriously ill, and determined to enter religion should he recover. His health restored, he became an Augustinian lay brother with the name of Agostino (his baptismal name was Matteo), serving first in the kingdom and later in Tuscany near Siena. Sent to Rome in the 1280s on behalf of his order, A. assisted Bl. Clement of Osimo in revising its constitutions. Ordained priest and quickly rising to prominence, he served Nicholas IV, Celestine V, and Boniface VIII as penitentiary in the Roman curia. Elected the order's prior general in 1298 against his will, he assumed this office under pressure from Boniface and resigned it two years later.
A. retired to the hermitage of San Leonardo al Lago at today's Santa Colomba di Monteriggioni (SI) in Tuscany. Upon his death he was laid to rest in Siena's church of Sant'Agostino, where a cult in his honor quickly developed. A. (whose byname Novello descends from the tribute 'novus Augustinus' accorded him in the early Vitae) was beatified in 1759. His cult was confirmed in 1770. An outstanding visual reminder of the early devotion paid to A. is Simone Martini's altarpiece in his honor, dated to 1324. Herewith a page with several expandable views of this masterpiece:
http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/s/simone/4altars/5agostin/
(the accompanying notes at times leave something to be desired, e.g. the bizarre characterization of Manfred as "the son of Ludwig II").
Best,
John Dillon
(last year's posts combined and revised)
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