medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

Today, February 28, is the feast day of:

Martyrs of the Plague at Alexandria (d. 262) A group of Christians cared for
the sick during a great epidemic in Alexandria; Dionysius of Alexandria
describes their selfless work and deaths.  They were entered into the Roman
Martyrology under this day.

Marana and Cyra (d. c455) They were holy women of Berea in Syria (today's
Aleppo/Halab) who acquired a small house outside of town and immured
themselves in it, living a life of extreme asceticism and
self-mortification. They received food and wake-up calls from devoted
maidservants for whom they erected a smaller, attached house and with whom
they conversed through a communicating window.  Theodoret's portrait of
these hermits presents them as still living at the time of his writing
(early 440s).
   We know about Marana and Cyra from the Historia religiosa of Theodoret of
Cyr(r)hus. Cardinal Baronio entered them in the RM under August 3. Byzantine
synaxaries usually recorded them on today's date; the RM's latest version
(2001, rev. 2005) has followed suit. 

John of Reomay, abbot (c. 544) - he refused to converse with his own mother
when she came to the abbey to visit him and he lived to be more than one
hundred years old.

Sirin (Sira) (d. 559) Sirin was a Persian, the daughter of a magus. She was
impressed by the exemplary life of Christian women around her. After a dream
in which an angel struck her with a rod, she had herself baptized. As a
practicing Christian in that part of the world at that time, Sirin had to
suffer many humiliations; she was maltreated and flogged, and when she
persisted was hanged.

Amadeus of Lausanne (1159) - a monk of Clairvaux, his abbot Bernard
appointed him to become abbot of Hautecombe; became bishop of Lausanne in
1144.

James the Almsgiver (1304) - a lawyer who became an ascetic priest, he
joined the Third Order of either the Servites or the Franciscans; when he
proved to the bishop of Chiusi that his see had embezzled funds intended for
a hospice, the bishop invited James to dinner, and arranged for thugs to
ambush James on his way; these ruffians in fact killed James.

Angela da Foligno, widow (1309) - Franciscan tertiary and mystic. 

Antonio da Amandola (1350) - modelled himself after St Nicholas of
Tolentino; public cult to him began some years after his death, following
miracles at his tomb.

Villana de Botti (blessed) (d. 1360) The daughter of rich Florentine
merchant, Villana was born in Florence in 1332. After a short spell of
wedlock, in c1352 she looked in a mirror and saw a demon instead of her own
beautiful face - she entered the Dominican third order. Until her death, she
lived in Florence leading a highly penitential life and caring for others. A
popular cult developed soon after her death. She was formally beatified in
1824.

Peter Thomas, titular patriarch of Constantinople (1366) - one of the motley
crew of preachers at the papal court of Avignon, he was appointed to lead a
military expedition to Alexandria, where he was wounded (he ended up dying
from these wounds on Cyprus). 

Elisabeth of Pomerania (d. 1393) Elisabeth was the wife of Emperor Charles
IV and mother of Sigismund. After she was widowed, she spent the rest of her
life on prayer and works of charity.  She died "in the odor of sanctity" and
was widely regarded as a saint.

Maria Mancini, widow (1431) - she converted her house into a hospital, and
would drink the wine with which she washed the patients' sores.

Luisa Albertoni, widow (1533) - she would bake bread for the poor and give
it to them, but only after placing gold and silver coins in the bread.



happy reading,
Terri
--
(I almost forgot! There I was, going along with my day, do-de-do, and
suddenly it hit me that it was nearly the ned of the work day and...did I
send out the Saint's post for today? This is what happens when one is still
in surgical recovery - I swear they remove part one one's brain, too!)

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