medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
This saint's name appears in our oldest sources as Cleridona or Cleridonia; the now customary Chelidonia, suggesting a swallow, appears to be a relatively late hagiographical flight of fancy. According to her Vita, she was born in the Cicolano, a territory that until its incorporation into Lazio in the great realignment of 1927 was traditionally part of Abruzzo. She is said to have been of noble birth, to have renounced the world at an early age, to have made a pilgrimage to Rome, and then to have settled in a mountain cave near -- but at a greater height than -- the Benedictine monastery complex at Subiaco on the western edge of the Monti Simbruini east of Rome. There she resided as an hermit, engaging in a life or prayer and fasting and occasionally revealing her sanctity through acts of thaumaturgy. After her death (at some time before 1183; traditionally on 13. October 1152 but neither the year nor the day is known with certainty), Chelidonia was buried in the monastery of St. Scholastica at Subiaco.
Within a few years that house erected at Chelidonia's cave a dependency dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene at Chelidonia's cave, transferring into it the remains of this more recent female hermit. For obvious reasons the new foundation came also to be referred to as the monastery of Sts. Mary Magdalene and Chelidonia. In 1578, when this daughter house was no longer in operation, Chelidonia's relics were brought down to the monastery of St. Scholastica. Some views of what's left at the site, now referred to touristically as the eremo di Santa Chelidonia or as the monastero di Santa Chelidonia, will be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/pn6tzhj
http://www.anienewilderness.it/subiaco-santa-chelidonia/
Chelidonia's cult is documented from the late twelfth century onward. Her Vita's oldest form consists of eight readings for an Office preserved at Subiaco in a thirteenth-century manuscript written for a women's monastery, probably the one dedicated to her. Chelidonia is the principal patron of the city of Subiaco (RO). Today (13. October) is her principal feast day at Subiaco and her day of commemoration in the Roman Martyrology. At Subiaco she is also celebrated in a translation feast on 13. July.
Chelidonia as depicted (seated in her grotto and receiving veneration from two nuns) by Magister Conxolus (usually normalized to Consolus) in a thirteenth-century fresco in the lower church of the Sacro Speco at Subiaco:
http://194.242.241.163/fedora/objects/work:41560/datastreams/MM122025/content
Best,
John Dillon
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: subscribe 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: unsubscribe 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/medieval-religion
|