medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today, February 8, is the Feast Day of:
Marina (?) Legend reports that Marina (masquerading under the name Marinos)
entered a men's monastery along with her father. Later, "Marinos" as accused
of fathering an illegitimate child. She accepted the punishment of being
kicked out of the monastery without complaint or defense and in the
following years lived with the orphan child on the steps of the monastery.
Marina's sex was only discovered when she died.
Quinta of Alexandria (d. 249) whose name in Greek is spelled as Kointa
(whence through a process of transliteration she was known in the medieval
Latin West as Cointa or, with an added 'h', Cointha) was one of the martyrs
of Alexandria in Egypt during its anti-Christian riots in the year preceding
the Decian persecution. According to Eusebius (Historia Ecclesiastica, 6.
41), she was brought into a pagan temple and ordered to perform an act of
adoration. When she refused, her feet were bound together and she was
dragged through the streets of the city, whose paving stones pulped her.
Still alive, she was taken to a suburb and stoned to death.
Florus of Lyon composed a lengthy elogium for these martyrs of
Alexandria, locating it in his martyrology at February 20. St. Ado of Vienne
chopped this into pieces, assigning individual martyrs to different days. In
Ado's scheme (followed in this particular by Usuard), Quinta (or Cointa) was
assigned today's date.
Ælfflæd / Elfleda (d. 714) Ælfflæd's father was Oswiu, king of Northumbria,
and her mother Queen (saint) Eanflæd. In gratitude for his victory in war
over the pagan king Penda of Mercia, Oswiu dedicated her to God, placing her
in the care of nuns at today's Hartlepool in County Durham. When abbess St.
Hilda founded from Hartlepool the community of Streanæshalch that is thought
to have become Whitby Abbey in today's North Yorkshire, she brought Ælfflæd
with her. Ælfflæd in turn became abbess herself, along with her widowed
mother Eanflæd. She became known for resolving disputes, including, it is
said, reconciling Sts. Wilfrid of York and Theodore of Canterbury after pope
St. Agatho had affirmed Theodore's division of Wilfrid's see of Northumbria
into four dioceses.
St. Bede the Venerable's prose Vita of St. Cuthbert (BHL 2021) relates
two miracles involving that saint and Ælfflæd. In the first of these she was
ill and expressed a desire to have some article of his clothing, as that
would cure her. Soon she received a girdle from him. She wore it and, lo,
she was swiftly cured. In the second, Cuthbert was in her presence when he
received a vision of a man being carried by angels to heaven.
Her relics were discovered and translated at Whitby in c1125, in the time
of William of Malmesbury.
Cuthman (c. 900) Cuthman became a hermit at Steyning near Bosham (West
Sussex). His legend especially emphasizes that he was a good son, carting
his paralyzed widowed mother around in a specially constructed wheelbarrow.
He built a church near his hermitage. After his death, when the church there
was granted to the monastery of Fecamp in Normandy, they absconded with the
relics.
Peter Igneus (blessed) (d. c. 1089) Peter was a Florentine noble who became
a Vallombrosan monk under John Gualbert- and in 1068 the monastery's
champion in its fight with the simonist Bishop Peter Mezzabarba. Peter
volunteered to walk through fire to prove the Vallombrosan case, which he
successfully did (as is described in vivid detail in Andreas of Strumi's
vita of John Gualbert). The bishop fled the city; Peter won his nickname of
"fiery" (Igneus). In 1069 Peter became prior of the monastery of Passignano,
and in 1074 was appointed cardinal-bishop of Albano by Pope Gregory VII. He
was a successful papal emissary in France and Germany until his death. Peter
was beatified in 1673.
Jacoba de Settesoli (13th cent.) Jacoba was a friend of Francis of Assisi.
She was a noble Italian who married well. When she met Francis in 1212 (when
she was about 22) she was so impressed that she tried to join him, but was
sent back to her family and joined the third order. She was very active in
aiding the new order, caring for brothers who came to Rome, etc., winning
the nickname "Brother Jacoba" in the process. Francis sent for her just
before his death, and she cared for him in his final days. After that, J.
moved to Assisi to continue to care for the friars. When she died at about
the age of 80, she was buried in the crypt of S. Francesco of Assisi, facing
toward Francis.
Another saint who has left us an interesting textile relic, in this case
a heavily embroidered "veil" (or handkerchief) that she is said to have
handed to St. Francis just before he died. It is 51cm square, of linen
embroidered in silk and gold, and in nearly perfect condition - it was
conserved in 1982 and all it needed was gentle washing.
John of Matha (d. 1213) John, born in Provence, France in c. 1160, became a
hermit, got a doctorate in theology, then joined St. Felix of Valois in his
hermitage. He was ordained a priest and in 1185 had a vision of the Trinity
and received a command from God to found a religious order in honor of the
Trinity. With Felix he composed a rule for the order of the Holy Trinity
(Trinitarians), which Innocent III approved in 1198. The main purpose of the
order was (and is?) to gain freedom for Christian prisoners of the Muslims;
they also provided pastoral care for prisoners, hospitals, etc. The order
spread widely. John's cult was approved in both 1655 and 1694.
Antonio dei Vici (blessed) (d. 1461) Antonio was from Stroncone (Italy). He
became a Franciscan lay brother at the age of eleven. Antonio was chosen to
help Thomas Bellacci's anti-Fraticelli campaign in Tuscany, after which he
returned to a penitential life at the friary. His cult was confirmed in
1687. In an interesting case of modern relic theft, the citizens of
Stroncone forcibly seized Antonio's relics in 1809.
happy reading,
Terri Morgan
--
"Learning compassion eventually means unlearning hatred." - Dianne Sylvan
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|