medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Herewith a revised notice of Athanasius of Sorrento (the notice that I wrote last year and that Terri re-used this year relied on an account that turns out to have been inaccurate in places):
Athanasius of Sorrento (?). This less well known saint of the Regno is traditionally thought of as an early bishop of Sorrento. He is one of the five principal patron saints of Sorrento (Antoninus, Renatus, A., Baculus, and Valerius) whose appearances to terrify the enemy and to encourage the participation of the laggard Neapolitans are said in the Vita of St. Antoninus of Sorrento to have been instrumental in a victory by a combined fleet from the duchies of Gaeta, Naples, and Sorrento over Muslim raiders who had seized the island of Ischia (perhaps in 849). In that later ninth- or earlier tenth-century text, which also says that bodies of all five are kept and venerated at Sorrento, A. is described as being of advancing years, bald, and clean-shaven; these details are thought to derive from his late antique or early medieval portraiture.
Nothing is known about the historical A. He has yet to grace the pages of the RM.
Best again,
John Dillon
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