medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Actually, Bob, the earliest evidence we have for the saint later known as Jovita points to that person's having been female. The entry for both saints in the (pseudo-)Hieronymian Martyrology reads as follows in the latter's earliest witness, the very early eighth-century Paris lat. 10837, fols. 2-33, is reported in the standard ed. of De Rossi and Duchesne to read as follows:
"In brittanis n[ata]l[e] s[an]c[t]oru[m] faustiniani et iuventiae".
Two other eighth-century witnesses (the codices Bernensis and Wissemburgensis, respectively) read as follows:
"In brittania Natal[e] s[an]c[t]orum Faustiniani Iouentiae"
"In brittaniis Nat[a]l[e] s[an]c[t]orum faustini ioventie"
This is the same "In brittanis" (vel sim.) discussed recently on this list in respect of Augulus of Britain. Here, however, rather than supposing a localization in Britannia, it's long been thought likely, thanks to abundant evidence for the Brescian cult of the saints in question, that "brittanis" (vel sim.) represents a mistaken expansion of an abbreviation _Bri_ (for _Brixia_, of course).
That said, it seems clear enough that the later sixth- or (more probably, perhaps) earlier seventh-century compiler of the (ps.-)HM thought that the saints in question were named Faustinianus and Iuuentia or Ioventia. Where his information came from is unknown, although it has been reasonably hypothesized that one of this compilation's underlying documents was a fifth-century martyrology of north Italian origin.
There's no more evidence that I'm aware of until we get to the Passio, which has been thought to be of the eighth or earlier ninth century (BHLms is not of much help here but my impression is that the actual witnesses are rather later than that). There I. is a male Iovita.
Usuard (later ninth-century) says:
"Civitate Brixa, sanctorum martyrum Faustini et Iobitae virginis."
His contemporary Wandelbert of Prüm clearly construes the name as masculine:
"veneratur ... / Brixia Faustinum celebrem sanctumque Jovitam".
Both Usuard and Wandelbert enter F. and J. under 15. February (the date given in the Passio). The (ps.-)HM enters them under 16. February.
_Pace_ the Wikipedia article quoted by Matt, I'm not aware of the existence of _Iouita_ as a women's name in ancient or in medieval Latin (other than, apparently, in Usuard's construction of the gender of this saint -- I say "apparently" because there are also male virgins, though in the absence of clear evidence it would be a stretch to suppose that Jovita was widely thought of in this way). It's an unusual name (indeed, it may be unique to the saint and to persons named for him). Morphologically there's no bar to its being construed as masculine: the also ninth-century Anastasius Bibliothecarius can refer to a Nicetas in the nominative as _Niceta episcopus_ and of course there are many names of male persons familiar from the Latin Bible where in medieval texts one encounters a nominative in _-a_, e.g. _Esdra propheta_.
I hope this helps a little.
Best,
John Dillon
Emeritus, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison
On 02/16/15, Robert Kraft wrote:
>
> I'm interested in the "maleizing" of women's names, and this confusion of Jovita (female) and Jovinus (male) seems to be relevant. The earliest clear identification of Jovita as female seems to be Usuard's Martylology in the 9th century, which apparently calls Jovita a virgin. Is this citation of Usuard accurate? Is there other evidence for the identification of Jovita as a woman (rather than as the brother of Faustinus, and a "deacon" at that)? Are there other similar instances in the late antique materials (I know of the Junia/Junias example in Paul's NT letter).
>
> Bob Kraft, UPenn Emeritus
>
> On 2/15/2015 8:44 PM, Heintzelman, Matthew wrote:
>
>
> > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> > https://www.facebook.com/604882972899463/photos/a.624764970911263.1073741830.604882972899463/779168285470930/?type=1&theater
> >
> >
> >
> > Saints Faustinus and Jovita were said to be Christian martyrs under Hadrian. Their traditional date of death is 120. They are patron saints of Brescia.
> > "Jovita" is a woman's name. In some accounts the saints were instead Faustinus and Jovinus, brothers. (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faustinus_and_Jovita)
> >
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