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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture What a coincidence... I just enjoyed the Lyric Opera of Chicago's wonderful production of Thais; today, going through my e-mail, I noticed that two of the saints of Jan 11 (Palaemon and Vitalis) taken together, approximate the story: A hermit follower of "Palemon (!)", named Athanael, goes to Alexandria to convince the prostitute Thais to follow him to the desert and salvation. Athanael is no Vitalis, however: while Thais really converts, and dies ecstatic, Athanael cries out that all his arguments were lies and he really wants to keep Thais for himself. I wonder (idly) if Anatole France got his idea from musing upon the saints of Jan 11? TGD, lucky to be in Chicago >>> [log in to unmask] 01/10/03 07:35PM >>> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Today (11. January) is the feast day of: Palaemon (d. 325) One of the earliest Egyptian hermits, Palaemon taught the young Pachomius, and worked with him to organize cenobitic life in Egypt. Theodosius the Cenobiarch (d. 529) The Cappadocian Theodosius left his home when he was about 30, settled in Palestine, and formed a small monastery near Bethlehem. The community grew quickly, and was especially famous for care of the sick and elderly. In time Theo was appointed leader of all cenobitic monks in Palestine---thus his nickname. In his spare time, T. was an active opponent of Monophysite teachings. He died at about the age of 105. Anastasius of Castel Sant' Elia (d. c. 570) Anastasius retired from his job as a notary of the Roman church to become a monk and abbot of Castel Sant' Elia (Suppentonia). According to Gregory the Great, one day he heard an angelic voice saying "Anastasius, come!" A. and all his monks died within eight days. Vitalis of Gaza (d. c. 625) Vitalis was a monk. At the age of 60 he was inspired by the story of Jesus and the adultress to go to Alexandria and take up a ministry to the prostitutes. He worked as a day laborer, and with the proceeds would buy a night's entertainment from a prostitute. Then he would reason with her, pray with her, etc., and try to get her to give up the life (which seems based on the odd premise that prostitutes enter the line of business for the fun of it), making the whore promise not to tell what he was doing. V. is said to have visited every prostitute in Alexandria this way, and to have won over many. But one day when leaving a brothel, he was hit on the head and mortally wounded by a man who apparently misunderstood his intentions. Paulinus of Aquileia (d. 802) Paulinus was an Italian scholar, called to Charlemagne's court in 776. In 787 he was made bishop of Aquileia, an office he held with great activity---playing an important role in several councils, sending missionaries to the Avars, writing against Adoptianism, composing hymns, etc. Dr. Phyllis G. Jestice [log in to unmask] ********************************************************************** 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 ********************************************************************** 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