medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (13. December) is also the feast day of:
1) Antiochus of the Sulcis (d. early 2d cent., supposedly). A. was originally the local saint of the late Roman city of Sulci, now the town of Sant'Antioco on the homonymous island in the southwestern Sardinian district of the Sulcis. He has a legendary Passio (BHL 566d), not older than the eleventh century and probably of the twelfth or early thirteenth, that makes him a physician active in Galatia and Cappadocia who converted many to Christianity, was arrested and tortured by Roman authorities, and defended the faith in a lengthy colloquy with the emperor Hadrian. According to that account (which up to this point is adapted from a Passio of St. Antiochus of Sebaste), A. was exiled to the island of Sulci, where he became a hermit and continued to practice Christianity. Denounced to the pagan rulers of Calaris (today's Cagliari), he was granted a peaceful entry into heaven after soldiers sent to seize him arrived at the cave in which he was dwelling.
The cave in the Passio is the latter's interpretation of the early state of the chamber beneath the church at Sant'Antioco in which A. has been venerated since late antiquity. This chamber, formed within a cluster of hypogea going back to Sulci's pre-Roman and Roman Punic past and later expanded and rebuilt with stones from Sulci's Roman city wall, contains a late antique sarcophagus that in 1615 held remains said to be A.'s. At that time the sarcophagus bore a marble slab (now in the cathedral of Iglesias on the Sardinian mainland) with a Latin inscription, seemingly carved in the sixth or very early seventh century and thought from its versification to be a copy of a fifth-century text. This identified the spot as the resting place of A., characterized as a saint but not as a martyr.
In the early Middle Ages Sulci dwindled to a small community with a church in the form of a Greek cross surmounting A.'s burial chamber. From at least the late tenth century this was an Eigenkirche of the house of Lacon-Gunale; in the late eleventh century it belonged to that branch of the family who ruled the judicate of Cagliari. By 1089 judge Constantinus Salusius II had given land next to the church to the Victorines of Marseille for a monastery dedicated to A. When the church was reconsecrated in 1102 it had been rebuilt on a Latin-cross plan and the area beneath may have already become the two-apsed complex known today as the Catacombe di Sant'Antioco. In 1124, when judge Marianus Torchitorius II and others in his immediate family gave the income of the entire island of Sant'Antioco to the monastery, they could still refer to the church as their hereditary property.
Members of the same house were in the eleventh and twelfth centuries judges of Arborea and of Torres; they may have been responsible for the extension of A.'s cult into those judicates. A.'s Passio and the hexameter verse celebrating his martyrdom that accompanies it in his Office were probably written by the Victorines, perhaps at Cagliari rather than at Sant'Antioco itself. The Office is still read on 13. November, A.'s feast day within the ecclesiastical region of Sardinia. A. is a patron saint of all Sardinia.
An Italian-language introduction to A.'s much rebuilt cathedral church at Sant'Antioco (CI) is here:
http://tinyurl.com/wdn6e
To the bibliography add now Pier Giorgio Spanu, _Martyria Sardiniae. I santuari dei martiri sardi_ (Oristano: S'Alvure, 2000), pp. 83-95 and (text of the Office) 177-85.
Another illustrated, Italian-language page on this church:
http://tinyurl.com/ycwqhqw
More views:
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/3858706.jpg
http://flickr.com/photos/puntomaupunto/253572096/
http://www.sardegnacultura.it/immagini/7_70_20060308130424.gif
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/7237839.jpg
http://www.viaggiscoop.it/foto/2646/4470/37415.jpg
The so-called catacombs beneath the church (view of the entrance; illustrated, Italian-language page; other views):
http://tinyurl.com/yacnadd
http://tinyurl.com/5bh9v6
http://tinyurl.com/29l8a8y
http://tinyurl.com/5qknt8
A tomb said to be the one that in 1615 was identified, on the basis of a late antique inscription that had been placed upon it, as the one containing A.'s relics:
http://tinyurl.com/57wsrc
http://tinyurl.com/5d83uk
A.'s putative relics are displayed in the church above:
http://tinyurl.com/2b99r8p
Thanks largely to his supposed medical prowess, A. has been popular in various parts of Sardinia from the central Middle Ages onward. Herewith some views, etc. of the originally mostly later twelfth-century chiesa di Sant'Antioco di Bisarcio, an ex-cathedral at Ozieri (SS) in the former judicate of Torres:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sant%27Antioco_di_Bisarcio
http://tinyurl.com/ybnqku3
http://www.mondimedievali.net/Edifici/Sardegna/bisarcio.htm
http://tinyurl.com/5d89zq
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/15029218.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/free_soul_magic/3423228961/sizes/l/
2) Eustratius, Auxentius, Eugenius, Mardarius, and Orestes (d. ca. 304, supposedly). According to their legendary Passio (BHG 646; in existence by the ninth century; Epilogue: BHG 646a), Eustratius, a senior official of the city of Satala in Armenia Minor, and the priest Auxentius were arrested during the Diocletianic persecution and subjected to various tortures; their constancy caused one of the onlookers, Eugenius, to declare himself a Christian too. All three were sent to Nicopolis; on the way they were joined by the layman Mardarius and by Orestes, a soldier of their escort. Auxentius and later Eugenius and Mardarius were executed _en route_. Mardarius' end was gruesome: he was suspended by his feet and heated nails were driven into his body.
From Nicopolis, where because many of the soldiers were Christians it was thought risky to execute the two survivors, Eustratius and Orestes were sent on to the provincial capital, Sebaste, where the governor ordered O. to be executed by being placed on a red-hot iron grid and E., who perished last of all, to be executed in a fiery furnace. The bishop of Sebaste, St. Blaise, gave Holy Communion to E. while the latter was still in prison.
Thus far the Passio of these Holy Five Companions, which has two translations into Latin (BHL 2778, by the later ninth-century Neapolitan hagiographer Guarimpotus, and BHL 2778b) and one into Armenian (BHO 300). According to the _Liber Pontificalis_, during the pontificate of Hadrian I (772-795) Greek monks brought these saints' relics to Rome, where they were venerated in Hadrian's church of St. Apollinaris (now the entirely rebuilt basilica di Sant'Apollinare). Other putative relics of them were venerated in Constantinople at a church of St. John the Apostle. Relics believed to be theirs are kept in the church of the Hodegetria in the Patriarchate of Peć at Peć in, depending on one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija.
The earlier ninth-century Marble Calendar of Naples records Eustratius (probably standing for the group as a whole) under both 10. December and today (also these saints' day of commemoration in the Synaxary of Constantinople).
A reduced, black & white image of the martyrdom of Eustratius and companions (Eustratius at far right; Orestes over flames) as depicted in the late tenth- or very early eleventh-century so-called Menologion of Basil II (Città del Vaticano, BAV, cod. Vat. gr. 1613, fol. 241r):
http://tinyurl.com/23cohfk
Auxentius (in a roundel at upper right in a pendentive between the Apostles and the Nativity) in the early eleventh-century mosaics (restored between 1953 and 1962) in the katholikon of Hosios Loukas (expand the image and scroll up):
http://tinyurl.com/yg44uhu
In this image A's roundel is near bottom, just right of center:
http://tinyurl.com/yeg8lhp
Eustratius as depicted in the mid-eleventh-century mosaics of the katholikon of the Nea Moni on Chios:
http://tinyurl.com/23etfa2
Eugenius as depicted in the mid-eleventh-century mosaics of the katholikon of the Nea Moni on Chios:
http://tinyurl.com/2cwqbbt
Mardarius as depicted in the mid-eleventh-century mosaics of the katholikon of the Nea Moni on Chios:
http://tinyurl.com/29seoq6
Orestes as depicted in the mid-eleventh-century mosaics of the katholikon of the Nea Moni on Chios:
http://tinyurl.com/2ezpwnr
Eustratius as depicted in a late eleventh-century mosaic in the katholikon of the Daphni monastery, Chaidari (Athens prefecture):
http://tinyurl.com/y8mlyqa
Eustratius healing a man demonically possessed as depicted in an earlier twelfth-century icon at St. Catherine's monastery on Mt. Sinai:
http://tinyurl.com/yh327x8
Eustratius as depicted in a late thirteenth- or very early fourteenth-century fresco, attributed to Manuel Panselinos, in the Protaton church on Mt. Athos:
http://tinyurl.com/3xtfqwz
Detail view:
http://tinyurl.com/347kamp
Auxentius as depicted in a late thirteenth- or very early fourteenth-century fresco, attributed to Manuel Panselinos, in the Protaton church on Mt. Athos:
http://tinyurl.com/3y4zwbm
Eugenius as depicted in a late thirteenth- or very early fourteenth-century fresco, attributed to Manuel Panselinos, in the Protaton church on Mt. Athos:
http://tinyurl.com/2eozf2g
Mardarius as depicted in a late thirteenth- or very early fourteenth-century fresco, attributed to Manuel Panselinos, in the Protaton church on Mt. Athos:
http://tinyurl.com/27ejg8p
Detail view:
http://tinyurl.com/2d9ewd8
Orestes as depicted in a late thirteenth- or very early fourteenth-century fresco, attributed to Manuel Panselinos, in the Protaton church on Mt. Athos:
http://tinyurl.com/ydnn83d
Detail view:
http://tinyurl.com/2faul58
Eustratius as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (ca. 1312-1321/22) in the nave of the monastery church of the Theotokos at Gračanica in, depending on one's view of the matter, either Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija or the Republic of Kosovo:
http://tinyurl.com/26yffvl
Detail view:
http://tinyurl.com/2d7jn8j
Auxentius (at center) as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (ca. 1312-1321/22) in the nave of the monastery church of the Theotokos at Gračanica in, depending on one's view of the matter, either Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija or the Republic of Kosovo:
http://tinyurl.com/2f5tgm2
Detail view:
http://tinyurl.com/2dr2hn7
Eugenius (detail view) as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (ca. 1312-1321/22) in the nave of the monastery church of the Theotokos at Gračanica in, depending on one's view of the matter, either Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija or the Republic of Kosovo:
http://tinyurl.com/25e3umf
Mardarius as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (ca. 1312-1321/22) in the nave of the monastery church of the Theotokos at Gračanica in, depending on one's view of the matter, either Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija or the Republic of Kosovo:
http://tinyurl.com/22ln5v7
Detail view:
http://tinyurl.com/24cavck
Orestes as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (ca. 1312-1321/22) in the nave of the monastery church of the Theotokos at Gračanica in, depending on one's view of the matter, either Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija or the Republic of Kosovo:
http://tinyurl.com/2ck5dng
Detail view:
http://tinyurl.com/29gbhs8
Eustratius (roundel at right) as depicted in an earlier fourteenth-century fresco (1315), attributed to George Kallierges, in the Church of Christ (Holy Savior) in Veria (Imathia prefecture):
http://tinyurl.com/2vky88t
Eustratius, Eugenius, and Orestes (in that order, top to bottom) as depicted in an earlier fourteenth-century mosaic (betw. 1315 and 1321) in the exonarthex of the Chora Church in Istanbul:
http://tinyurl.com/32rgggd
Orestes as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1335 and 1350) in the nave of the church of the Holy Ascension at the Visoki Dečani monastery near Peć in, depending on one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija:
http://tinyurl.com/26njjkg
Mardarius as depicted in the late fourteenth-century frescoes (later 1380s?) in the nave of the church of the Holy Ascension at the Ravanica monastery near Ćuprija in central Serbia:
http://tinyurl.com/yghkqva
Orestes as depicted in the late fourteenth-century frescoes (later 1380s?) in the nave of the church of the Holy Ascension at the Ravanica monastery near Ćuprija in central Serbia:
http://tinyurl.com/ybcnr2d
http://tinyurl.com/ycq5cv2
3) Judoc (d. 7th cent.). J. (who has many name forms, incl. English Joyce, French Josse, German Jodok and Jo[b]st, and Breton Uzec) is said in his late eighth- or early ninth-century Vita (BHL 4504) to have been the second son of a Breton king who declined an offer of succession, was a pilgrim in various parts of northern France, and in Picardy was ordained priest and founded a hermitage that in the late eighth or early ninth century would become the now vanished abbey named for him near today's Montreuil-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais). In about 902 some of its monks, seeking safety from the Northmen, crossed over to England bringing relics of J. which were deposited in the Old Minster at Winchester. By this time J. was already being venerated at St. Maximinus at Trier and at the abbey of Prüm in the Eifel, whence his cult spread widely in German-speaking lands.
In the early eleventh century J. received expanded Vitae by Isembard of Fleury-sur-Loire (BHL 4505-4510, including a reported Inventio in 977 of relics that had not been transported to England) and by Florentius of Saint-Josse. In the central and later Middle Ages his cult spread widely in an arc from Brittany across northern France and the Low Countries and across Germany into Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia.
An illustrated, English-language page on an early medieval Islamic textile (now in the Louvre) in which J.'s putative relics at the abbey were wrapped:
http://tinyurl.com/5lh5fg
Latin texts and German-language translations of J.'s Vitae may be reached via hotlinks on this page :
http://www.st-jodok.de/index.php?id=39
J. as depicted in the mid-fifteenth-century frescoes of the former Stiftskirche St. Goar in Sankt Goar (Lkr. Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis) in Rheinland-Pfalz:
http://tinyurl.com/2494l7c
Some views, etc. of the originally late fourteenth-century (1385) Sankt-Jodoks-Kirche at Ravensburg in Baden-Württemberg:
http://tinyurl.com/5cgxyd
http://tinyurl.com/5so4vj
Some views, etc. of the originally fourteenth-/sixteenth-century Pfarrkirche St. Jodok in Landshut in Niederbayern, begun in 1369:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Jodok_(Landshut)
http://www.st-jodok.de/typo3temp/pics/31e1d55e26.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/yapjsxv
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/10389542.jpg
http://www.st-jodok.de/index.php?id=102
Some views, etc. of the originally fourteenth-/sixteenth-century chapelle de Saint-Uzec in the vicinity of Pleumeur-Bodou (Côtes-d'Armor) in Brittany:
http://les.amis.de.st.uzec.free.fr/crbst_3.html
http://paroissepb.org/spip.php?article63
http://www.jodok.de/typo3temp/pics/27a0212198.jpg
http://www.jodok.de/typo3temp/pics/8e72825f60.jpg
Views of the menhir on the chapel grounds:
http://www.lieux-insolites.fr/cotedarmor/uzec/uzec.htm
4) Odilia of Hohenburg (d. ca. 720?). O. (also Ottilia) is the saint of two monasteries, one now defunct at what now is Mont Saint-Odile / the Odilienberg near Saint-Nabor (Bas-Rhin) in Alsace: the abbey of Hohenburg on the heights of this elevation and the former monastery of Niedermunster (in German, Niedermünster) at the upper end of a valley below. We first hear of her in the eleventh century, when in a poem presented to the Alsatian-born pope St. Leo IX she is named as a saint of the abbey and when the first witnesses of her legendary, perhaps originally tenth-century Vita (BHL 6271) were written.
That Vita makes her a daughter of Adalricus / Eticho, the later seventh- and early eighth-century founder of the Etichonid line of dukes of Alsace, has him found the abbey for her; it has her as abbess found the lower monastery as an hospice. Symbolic aspects of the Vita include its presentation of Eticho as a pagan and of O. as having been born blind and as having miraculously recovered her sight after her baptism at a monastery to which she had been sent once E. had been persuaded not to have her put to death. Like today's St. Lucy, O. is also a patroness of the blind and of those with other afflictions of the eye. She is sometimes represented as holding a book (variously closed or open) on which two eyeballs rest, as in the fifteenth-century examples shown at upper left here:
http://tinyurl.com/y984xo4
A closer view of that first example is here (image is expandable):
http://tinyurl.com/ya9uu3v
Herrad of Landsberg's twelfth-century _Hortus deliciarum_ was written at Hohenburg Abbey. Herewith two reproductions of early nineteenth-century copies of illuminations in this work's since destroyed sole manuscript showing _Eticho dux_ and O.:
http://tinyurl.com/y8pa7o7
http://tinyurl.com/ybc2h25
Hohenburg Abbey was rebuilt in the seventeenth century and restored in the nineteenth. Herewith two views of on its few survivals from its late eleventh- and twelfth-century state:
http://tinyurl.com/yas5vy6
http://tinyurl.com/y8f8qxo
O.'s modern tomb in the abbey church:
http://tinyurl.com/ybsbqjz
Several views of what's left of the abbey (as it became) of Niedermunster are here:
http://tinyurl.com/ybmlhxa
Another view:
http://tinyurl.com/y8quqh6
A sixteenth-century representation of O. in wood:
http://www.brynmawr.edu/library/exhibits/hours/odilia.html
Best,
John Dillon
(last year's post lightly revised and with the addition of Eustratius, Auxentius, Eugenius, Mardarius, and Orestes)
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