medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today, February 11, is the feast day of:
"The Guardians of the Holy Scriptures" (d. c. 303) A group of north African
Christians who died rather than hand over sacred texts to government
authorities during Diocletian's persecution. The fact that other African
Christians were more accommodating led to the Donatist schism.
Jonas the Gardener (4th cent.) Jonas was a monk at Demeskenyanos (Egypt). He
was the gardener for his community for 85 years, working day & night while
singing psalms, and living on a nourishing diet of raw vegetables and
vinegar.
Castrensis (d. 5th cent., supposedly) Venerated in Campania as an early
martyr-bishop, this less well known saint of the Regno is recorded for today
in the (pseudo-)Hieronymian Martyrology, in the early eighth-century
Calendar of St. Willibrord, and in the ninth-century Marble Calendar of
Naples. He is especially associated with the following places in today's
Caserta province: Castel Volturno (whose ninth-century bishop Radipert is
recorded as having been buried at an altar containing Castrensis' remains),
Capua, and Sessa Aurunca. Castrensis is the leading figure in the
synthesizing and highly legendary eleventh- or twelfth-century _Vita sancti
Castrensis_ (BHL 1644-1645), which brings together twelve saints from
southern Italy and makes them all Africans who in the fifth century escaped
Vandal persecution, made their way in an unseaworthy vessel to Campania, and
died there in various places.
A twelfth-century mosaic illustrating two of Castrensis' miracles is part
of the decor of Sicily's Monreale cathedral (nave, west wall):
http://tinyurl.com/djppyy
Since at least the late sixteenth century the cathedral has laid claim to
Castrensis' (putative) relics. Alleged to have been brought there in 1182
and to have been placed in the new cathedral's then sole altar, these were
translated in 1596 to its present Cappella di San Castrense. A Benedictine
convent dedicated to Castrensis was founded at Monreale in 1499; its church,
expanded in the eighteenth century and still retaining the original
dedication, now serves a local parish. Castrensis (in Italian, Castrense or
Castrese) is the principal patron of the archdiocese of Monreale as well as
the patron saint of Monreale (PA) and, in Campania, of Castel Volturno (CE),
Marano di Napoli (NA), and Sessa Aurunca (CE).
Castrensis' image in the much degraded frescoes of the Grotta dei Santi
at Calvi Risorta (CE) may be made out here (left-hand column, second view;
labelled as Fig. 10):
http://www.cattedrale-calvirisorta.com/imgrottasanti.htm
Castrensis has given his name both to one of Campania's many locally
developed varieties of apricot, the San Castrese, and to a Sicilian pastry,
the _biscotto castrense_, supposedly first made by the sisters at his
convent at Monreale.
Gobnait (sixth century) A native of Co. Clare, according to tradition, the
Irish Gobnait had to flee her home to avoid being caught up in a feud. She
went at first to the Aran Islands, where she built a church. An angel told
her, however, that the "place of her resurrection" (where she would be
buried) was not there, but at the place where she would find nine white deer
grazing. Gobnait set out in search of this site, founding monastic
communities along the way, including the church of Kilgobnet* (near
Dungarvan). Eventually she settled at Ballyvourney (Co. Cork), and
established a religious house with the help of St. Alban. G. was known as a
skillful bee-keeper. Her pilgrimage is still alive today.
[Kil = "church or holy cell" + "Gobnet", her name]
Caedmon (d. c. 680) Caedmon was a herdsman for the monastery of Whitby. A
vision bestowed on him the ability to compose religious poetry. Abbess Hilda
encouraged Caedmon, making him a monk and having him taught the Bible. He
was the first Christian Anglo-Saxon writer of religious poetry;
unfortunately, only nine lines one of his hymns survives, of deep
spirituality, having been quoted by Bede.
Gregory II (d. 731) Gregory was a native Roman who rose through the ranks
from sub deacon to the pope's treasurer and librarian, then becoming pope in
715. He was involved in many building programs, such as the re-erection of a
great part of Rome's walls, the construction of a hospital for old men, and
the conversion of his late mother's house into the monastery of St Agatha.
He got into trouble with the Byzantine emperor, Leo III, over both taxes and
iconoclasm. The Lombard king, Liutprand, took advantage of the quarrel to
invade the exarchate of Ravenna and besiege Rome - which was successfully
defended, in part because G. had repaired the walls. Greg. also encouraged
missionary work, most notably Boniface, liturgical reform, and
accountability in his see. He blessed missionaries to German lands,
including Corbinian and Boniface.
Benedict of Aniane (d. 821) The "other" Benedict, whose central role was
ensuring the dominance of the Benedictine Rule in Western Europe. Originally
named Witiza, he was a Visigoth who served at the Frankish court until he
was 20, serving King Pepin and his son Charlemagne as cupbearer, then
becoming a Benedictine monk in 773. In 779 he founded the monastery of
Aniane on his own estate in Languedoc near Montpellier. Starkly ascetic in
his own practices, Benedict seems to have made propagation of the
Benedictine Rule his life's work. Louis the Pious was very impressed by B of
A, and in 817 had him preside over the council of abbots that imposed the
Rule of Benedict and common customs on all monasteries in the Frankish
empire. He seems to have been rather obsessed with uniformity.
The Translation of St Frideswide. Often noted in Sarum Calendars, but there
is no Sarum Mass or Office.
Adolf of Osnabruck (d. 1224) was a Westphalian noble whose family got him a
canonry at Cologne. But he resigned to become a Cistercian, and went on to
be bishop of Osnabruck in 1216. He was so famous for charity that he got
the nickname "the almoner of the poor." Adolf Hitler was named after him.
happy reading,
Terri
--
Math Problems? Call 1-800-[(10x)(13i)2]-[sin(xy)/2.362x].
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