medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

Today, April 20,  is the feast of:

Anicetus, pope (d. c166) was the tenth bishop of Rome after St. Peter, according to the Liber Pontificalis he came from Emesa (today's Homs) in Syria. According to Eusebius, he was bishop for eleven years. Early in his pontificate he hosted the elderly St. Polycarp of Smyrna. Anicetus must have had contact with St. Hegesippus when the latter came to Rome and it would be surprising if he had not known St. Justin Martyr, who had been teaching in the Eternal City during the pontificate of his immediate predecessor, St. Pius I. He may well have been the pope (the LP says it was Anacletus) who built the martyrium for St. Peter on the Vatican. Here is a view of his portrait (1480 or 1481) in the Sistine Chapel: http://www.heiligenlexikon.de/Fotos/Anicetus.jpg

Victor, Zoticus, and companions (303) Victor, Zoticus, Acindynus, Zeno, Cæsarius, Severian, Christopher, Theonas and Antoninus, are the names of men who saw St. George undergo his various torments, and filled with astonishment, confessed Christ, and then were executed by the sword.

Theodore Trichinas (d. c330) was a hermit near Constantinople, who got his nickname "the hairy" because he wore nothing but a very rough hair shirt.

Marcellinus of Embrun (d. 374) has a Vita of undetermined age that makes him an African who arrived at Rome in the brief pontificate of pope St. Eusebius and whom Eusebius sent into today's France with two companions. Arriving at Nice, they evangelized in the Alpes Maritimes and later in the Dauphiné as well. He was consecrated bishop of Embrun in about 365, but was driven out by Arian persecution and spent the rest of his life hiding in the hills. According to the legend, Marcellinus converted the last Pagan in his city. At table one day a man confessed that he was the only Pagan remaining in Embrun, and that a miracle would alone convert him. As he spoke, his glass fell on the ground and broke, Marcellinus took up the pieces, and restored the glass as it was before. The Vita credits him with being a thaumaturge; Gregory of Tours informs us of a perpetually burning lamp at his tomb whose oil had miraculous healing powers. In the tenth century his putative relics were translated to Digne, where later they were burned during the Revolution.

Theotimus of Tomi (beginning of 5th century) Theotimus, the Philosopher, had been brought up in the philosophical schools of Greece, and imbued with their systems; but he renounced heathenism, embraced Christianity, and was afterwards elevated to the bishopric of Tomi (modern Konstanza in Rumania) in 392. He devoted his full efforts to the conversion of the Huns.

Marcian (d. c488) lived in Bourges, but fled when the Visigoths occupied the place. He became a monk at Auxerre. When Marcian sought admittance to the monastery founded by St Germanus, the abbot, to test Marcian's commitment, gave him the lowest possible post - that of cowman and shepherd. Marcian happily accepted the post. It soon became apparent that Marcian had a strange power over animals: the birds flocked to eat out of his hands; bears and wolves departed at his command; and when a hunted wild boar fled to him for protection, he defended it from its assailants and set it free. After his death, the abbey took the name of this humble monk.

Anastasius II of Antioch (d. 609) was a monk who became patriarch of Antioch in 599. He was martyred, thanks to an unpopular imperial policy. Emperor Phocas had ordered forcible conversions of Jews, and the horrified Syrian Jews rioted; Anastasius was one of many victims.

Cædwalla (d 689) was the violent king of an Anglo-Saxon tribal group, the Gewisse, who extended his rule over other kingdoms south of the Thames, killing their rulers and many others and treating the survivors very harshly. In his first campaign against Sussex he encountered St. Wilfrid, then in exile and ministering to the South Saxons. It is said that Cadwalla was so impressed by him that he started spreading Christianity and enriching the Church from the proceeds of his conquests. Badly wounded in his conquest of the Isle of Wight (the last "pagan" kingdom), the still young Cadwalla (he was only about thirty at his death) abdicated in 688 and went as a pilgrim to Rome. He is the first Anglo-Saxon king known to have gone there. Pope Sergius I baptized him on Easter Sunday of 689, giving him the name Peter. He died within a week, still wearing his baptismal robes. Today is his dies natalis. Cadwalla/Peter was buried in St. Peter's; Bede gives the verse epitaph on his tomb, a rare specimen of literary craft from the Eternal City in the century following the death of St. Gregory the Great. 

Harduin of Fontenelle (d. 811) became a monk at Fontenelle in 749, and in later years a hermit near the monastery. He spent his life in isolation copying the works of the fathers of the Church.

Secundinus of Córdoba (?) We know nothing about Secundinus other than his name and that he was martyred at Córdoba. The ninth-century martyrologist Usuard entered him under April 21.  According to its tenth-century calendar, the church of Córdoba was then celebrating him on April 20. Today's RM follows the later but more local indication.

Heliena of Laurino (d. before 915, supposedly) see May 22.

Hugh of Anzy-le-Duc/Poitiers (d. c930) was a Poitevin. He entered the Benedictine order at a young age and, after living in several monasteries, made his way to the newly founded monastery of Cluny. He played an active role in the revitalization of Benedictine life of his time, and was prior of Ancy-le-Duc at the time of his death. His relics were elevated in 1001.

Wiho/Wicho/Wilho (in Latin)/Viho (d. early 9th century) was the first bishop of Osnabrück, appointed by Charlemagne c800 to serve in that strategically located population center in newly conquered Saxony. The late fifteenth-/early sixteenth-century north German historian Albertus Krantzius declared him to have been Frisian; recent scholarship regards this as a guess. Wiho's cathedral (the city's first, consecrated by a bishop of Liège/Lüttich who died in 787) is long gone, except for some foundation walls discovered during recent excavations.

William of Windberg (d. early 12th century)  became a full-time pilgrim, and then eventually settled as a hermit near Windberg in Bavaria. He is credited with gifts of spiritual counseling and the ability to heal the sick. The counts of Bogen built a chapel over William's tomb, which later developed into the Praemonstratensian canonry of Windberg – after William appeared to the count in a dream and ordered him to make the foundation.

Oda of Rivreulle (d. 1158) Oda, the daughter of a noble family of Brabant, was one of the first female members of the Praemonstratensian order. She joined the order against the wishes of her family (who had arranged Oda's marriage), by cutting off her nose to avoid the marriage. In c. 1150 she entered the convent of Rivreulle. Oda soon became prioress, winning a great reputation for her humility and love for the poor and sick. She became a Norbertine canoness in the priory of Bonne Esperance, near Binche, in Hainault, where she made herself remarkable by her virtues, her docility, patience, and self-restraint.

Hildegund/Hildegundis of Schönau (d1188) has a dossier of several Vitae of Cistercian origin from the very late twelfth- and early thirteenth centuries (BHL 3936-3940), ending with an account in the _Dialogus miraculorum_ of Caesarius of Heisterbach (1. 40). According to Caesarius, she 
was born at Neuß am Rhein. Her mother is said to have died giving birth to her. Her father made a vow that if she lived he would undertake a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. When she was old enough to travel he fulfilled his vow. Hildegund, with her hair cut and dressed as a young man, accompanied him, taking the name of Joseph. The father died at Tyre on the way back, the servant with the money absconded, and she was left to fend for herself. The tale goes on to tell that she was hanged as a robber, but an angel kept her from strangling, and she also underwent an ordeal. After a year Hildegund/Joseph returned to Germany, where, still passing for male and using the name Joseph, she entered the Cistercian abbey of Schönau in the Odenwald near Heidelberg. She never took vows and died a novice. The monk who had been charged to instruct her wrote her Vita. She had confided her adventures to him, but never her gender. It was only after her death that it was discovered that Hildegund was a woman. Her story appears to be a true one and her cult was very active during the Middle Ages. She was included in sixteenth-century expanded editions of Usuard. But her cult has never been approved by Rome.   

Agnes Segni of Montepulciano (d1317) At the age of nine Agnes entered a “Sisters of the Sack” (they got their name from their rough clothing) community where she immediately displayed an extraordinary piety. She was responsible for joining the community to the Dominicans. After barely five years she was selected to found, along with her mistress of novices, a new house in the diocese of Acquapendente and at the age of sixteen she was named its superior. In 1306 she founded another Dominican convent at her native Montepulciano in southern Tuscany. She spent the remainder of her life at this house, practiced extreme asceticism, had a lot of visions and ecstasies, and was famed for working miracles – received holy communion from an angel; floated in the air while in ecstasy; after experiencing ecstasy, her cloak and the place where she was kneeling were covered with white manna. The manna was so abundant that it appeared as if Agnes had just come in from a blizzard. In 1365-66, Bl. Raymond of Capua wrote a Vita of her. Raymond later became confessor to (and biographer of) St. Catherine of Siena, who in 1377 had visited the convent at Montepulciano to pray at Agnes' tomb and while there had experienced a vision of her performing again her most famous miracle (covering the church's altar with manna). Catherine speaks of her with great respect as "glorious mother." Agnes was canonized in 1726. Her relics remain in her former convent church, now dedicated to her, at Montepulciano. 
   Views of Agnes at rest in her church and of the church's Renaissance cloister are here: http://www.clarte.eu.com/reliques2008/montepulciano.htm

Simon Rinalducci (d. 1322) Simon was a native of Todi who became an Augustinian friar, famous as a preacher and provincial superior of Umbria for a time. In the following decades, Simon held a number of offices in the order besides winning a reputation as one of the leading preachers of his time. He showed his humility by not defending himself when unjustly slandered in absentia, chosing to suffer in silence rather than to court an inquiry that would have caused scandal and might have lead to dissension in the order. Simon's cult was confirmed in 1833.


Happy reading,
Terri Morgan 
--
From the Book of Kerric: 
"It requires great strength to be kind, whereas even the very weak can be brutal. Likewise, to speak hard truths fearlessly is often the hallmark of greatness. Bring me one who is both gentle and truthful, ...and I will show you an iron oak among hawthorns, a blessing on all who know them."

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