medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear Terri,
I'm sure the list -- not to mention the entire calendar of saints --
will be thinking of you while you're in the hospital. We all, I am
sure, wish you a speedy recovery.
Jim
On 24/01/2011 11:28 PM, Terri Morgan wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> [Personal note and explanation: I'm going to be away from my computer for
> the next few days. I don't know how long as surgeon can't tell me when I can
> escape the hospital, so I'm sending these in advance. Be nice and don't read
> and reply all in a clump today, okay? Save some for later this week. :) -
> Terri]
>
> January 26, is the feast day of:
>
> Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, martyr (d. c154/155) The account we have of
> Polycarp's martyrdom is probably the oldest acts of a martyr. Written in
> 156, it is very valuable testimony to the early development of the cult of
> martyrs. Polycarp, born in c70, was a disciple of John the Evangelist, and
> teacher of St. Itrenaeus. He led the Christian community in Smyrna from c100
> on. He was a hater of heretics (example: on meeting the heretic Marcion in
> the streets of Rome,Polycarp ignored him; Marcion, offended, called out, 'Do
> you not know who I am?', to which Polycarp replied, 'Yes, I know you, the
> first-born of Satan'). He was sentenced to be burned at the stake; when the
> flames didn't harm him, he was stabbed to death. According to his Acta,
> Polycarp was 86 years old at the time of his death. His dies natalis is
> Frebruary 23.
>
> Athanasius of Sorrento (?) This less well known saint of the Regno is one of
> the four early patron saints of Sorrento (Renatus, Athanasius, Baculus, and
> Valerius) whose appearance in perhaps 849 to a combined fleet from the
> duchies of Gaeta, Naples, and Sorrento setting out to battle Muslims is
> recounted in the later ninth- or earlier tenth-century Vita of St. Antoninus
> of Sorrento. In that text, which also says that bodies of all four are kept
> and venerated at Sorrento, Athanasius 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 in Sorrento. Although the Vita
> sancti Antonini calls all four saints bishops, one at least (Renatus) is not
> so characterized in the 8th-century sermons devoted to him (though he is so
> described in textual and pictorial sources from the ninth century onward).
> Nothing is known about the historical Athanasius. He has yet to grace the
> pages of the RM.
>
> Paula of Rome (d. 404) We know about Paula from the correspondence of St.
> Jerome, especially from Letter 108, his eulogy of her. Born c347 in Rome and
> raised a Christian, she was married at 15 to a pagan; they had five children
> (one of whom was St. Blesilla). She was widowed by the age of thirty-two and
> was already living ascetically when a few years later she came under the
> influence of Jerome and of St. Epiphanius of Salamis and St. Paulinus of
> Antioch. These encouraged her to adopt a monastic existence. In 385 Paula
> and her daughter St. Eustochium traveled as pilgrims to the Holy Land, with
> Jerome accompanying them on the final part of their journey. Paula settled
> in Bethlehem, where she learned Hebrew, established churches, and founded a
> monastery for women (mostly wealthy Westerners and their female companions)
> and a smaller one nearby for Jerome, whose work she supported financially.
> She spent all her money on these endeavors, died poor, and was succeeded by
> her granddaughter Paula the Younger (whom Jerome had educated).
> Here's a view of what are said to be the tombs of Paula and of Eustochium
> in the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem: http://tinyurl.com/agvblv
>
> Theorigitha/Tortgith (d. 681) was born c620 in England, and was a nun and
> later novice mistress at the convent of Barking. She was a friend and
> companion of St. Ethelburga, and is most notable for her visions of
> Ethelberga, which are recorded by Bede.
>
> Notburga of Buehl (d. 840?) A purely legendary report tells that Notburga
> was married to a Scottish duke or king. When he died, she settled in Buhl
> (German/Swiss borderland), where in 820 she gave birth on a single occasion
> to nine children. In her spare time, she built a school and a hospice. She
> is still honored as a patronness of pregnant women and multiple births.
>
> Alberic of Cīteaux (d. 1109) was an hermit near Chatillon-sur-Seine who
> attached himself to St. Robert of Molesme and who joined him in the founding
> of the New Monastery that developed into the community of Cīteaux. He was
> the Prior when in 1099 Robert was ordered back to Molesme; he became the
> next abbot. Having secured from Paschal II in 1100 a guarantee of the
> community's independence of Molesme, Alberic transferred the community to a
> site about a mile south of the original one, erecting there the abbey's
> first non-wooden structures: a small stone church (consecrated in 1106) and
> cloister. Cistercian tradition places in Alberic's time the Order's adoption
> of the habit of unbleached wool that caused them to be called White Monks.
> Cistercians celebrate Robert, Alberic, and Alberic's immediate successor St.
> Stephen Harding in a joint feast on this day.
>
> Augustine of Trondheim (d. 1188) was born to a noble family in Norway. He
> studied in Paris and returned to become a royal chaplain. In 1157 Augustine
> was named archbishop of Trondheim (Nidaros). His time as archbishop was
> spent trying to enforce gregorian reform policies such as clerical celibacy.
> This eventually led him to such conflict with King Sverre that Augustine had
> to flee to England, where he lived for two years. He was regarded as a saint
> immediately after his death and a local synod of Nidaros declared him thus
> in 1229, but the papal canonization process was never completed.
>
>
>
>
> happy reading,
> Terri Morgan
> --
> "Nobility depends not on parentage or place of birth, but on breadth of
> compassion and depth of loving kindness. If we would be noble, let us be
> greathearted." - anon [log in to unmask]
>
>
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