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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Today I visited the church of St Agatha, Portsmouth, where I was shown a 17th C Reliquary believed to have been the property of Mary (Beatrice) of Modena, second wife of King James II (or VII if you are a Scot). A sturdy glass-fronted casket, it contained one skull and several bones neatly bedecked in crimson ribbons. It is labelled as containing severally some of the bones of Saint Boniface, Saint Perpetua and Saint Restitutus. They (and I) are familiar with Boniface and Perpetua but are flummoxed by Saint Restitutus. Being the sort of person I am, I offered to do a bit of looking-up. The Catholic Encyclopaedia on-line gives no one of that name. The on-line Catholic Forum Patron Saint Index gives a Saint RestitutA. (fl 304. Fd 17 May) but no Saint RestitutUS. A trawl through Med Rel Archives gives more about the above RestitutA - she came from North Africa, was martyred by being put to sea in a burning boat and ended up near Naples. There was also reference to a Saint RestitutA of Sora (fl 271 ? Fd 27 May) The only RestitutUS is the first known Bishop of London who attended the Council of Arles in 314 but there is no indication that he was ever canonised. Does anyone have any ideas ? Is Saint Restitutus history, myth or clerical error ... ? I know it is Out of Period, but does anyone have any idea why Mary of Modena should have acquired the relics of these particular saints ? Brenda M. C. ********************************************************************** 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