medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
12. November is also the feast day of:
Evasius of Casale Monferrato (d. early 8th cent., supposedly). Evasius is the patron saint of the city in Piedmont now known as Casale Monferrato (AL); in at least the later Middle Ages the place was known as Casale di Sant'Evasio. His seemingly ninth-century-or-later Passio (BHL 2792) makes him a Catholic bishop of Casale murdered by an Arian duke in the reign of king Liutprand (712-744). This text is generally considered fantasy and the scholarly consensus is that we know nothing about the actual Evasius. Skeletal remains said to be his have undergone scientific examination in recent years and have been pronounced to be those of a man of around sixty years of age.
Evasius was long confused with another Evasius, a fourth-century bishop of the also Piedmontese city of Asti. An Evasius of Brescia, formerly commemorated in the RM under 2. December, is thought to be a misconception arising from the presence in Brescia of translated relics of the Evasius of Casale Monferrato. In his home city, where he is also the diocesan patron, Evasius is celebrated on 12. November. Cardinal Baronio entered him in the RM under 1. December. Evasius remained there until the revision of 2001, when he ceased to grace the RM's pages.
Casale Monferrato has had a church dedicated to Evasius since at least 974. Its present one, consecrated by Paschal II in 1107, was rebuilt in the thirteenth century with five aisles and with what now is apparently the most spacious narthex in all Italy. In 1474 it became the cathedral of a newly erected diocese. A disastrous fire in the nineteenth century led to further rebuilding then. Herewith an illustrated, Italian-language account of this structure formally dedicated to St. Evasius and St. Lawrence:
http://tinyurl.com/72eym5t
Remains of a mid-twelfth-century pavement have been found behind the presbytery. Herewith a partial view:
http://tinyurl.com/86wrxw7
Evasius' cathedral also houses an impressive twelfth-century crucifix (said to have been in the cathedral of Asti until 1403):
http://www.maribe.com/casalfoto/duomoint.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/7v2r9fl
http://tinyurl.com/6qwx7bu
Further views of the narthex:(http://www.thais.it/architettura/romanica/schede/sc_00236.htm)
http://www.thais.it/architettura/romanica/schede/sc_00237.htm(http://www.thais.it/architettura/romanica/schede/sc_00236.htm" target="_blank">http://www.thais.it/architettura/romanica/schede/sc_00236.htm
http://www.ilmonferrato.info/cs/casale/duomo.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/7raklvs
http://tinyurl.com/7xcjxdt
Evasius' baroque display reliquary in this church:
http://tinyurl.com/7vqtfs8
Best,
John Dillon
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