saints of the day 4. December

Barbara (?) Yet another great saint of the Middle Ages whose cult was suppressed in 1969 (I'm starting to think the calendar reorganization was a deliberate affront against medievalists). According to Barbara's legend, which apparently first appeared in the seventh century, she was a young woman whose unpleasant father shut her up in a tower. Despite this, B. converted to Christianity, and dad had her killed---upon which he was struck by lightning and died himself.

Clement of Alexandria (d. c. 217) An earlier victim of calendar purging, Clement of Alexandria was deleted from the Roman martyrology in 1751 because Cardinal Baronius thought he was heterodox. Clement was head of the catechetical school at Alexandria, where he taught Origen. Clement played a very important role trying to reconcile Christianity and classical scholarship.

Maruthas (d. c. 415) Maruthas was a great father of the Syrian church, bishop of Maiferkat in Mesopotamia. He reorganized the church in the western part of the Sassanian Persian empire, in disarray thanks to Shapur II's vigorous persecution. M. was a special devotee of the saints, collecting many relics (the Greek form of his city's name is Martyropolis), writing hymns in their honor, etc.

John of Damascus (d. 749) John lived an interesting life as a great Christian theologian in Umayyad-ruled Damascus. After a time serving as the official spokesman for Christians to the caliph, J. became a monk at St. Sabas in the Judaean Desert. He was the last of the great eastern fathers of the church to be important in the west as well; he was declared a doctor of teh church in 1890.

Anno of Cologne (d. 1075) The Swabian Anno became archbishop of Cologne in 1056. He established himself despite criticism of his shockingly low birth (his dad was a poor knight), and was extremely active in both ecclesiastical and political life of the eleventh century. Probably his only real claim to sanctity is that he founded the monastery of Siegburg.

Bernard of Parma (d. 1133) Bernard was an active figure in the Gregorian reform movement. He was a Florentine who gave up a promising secular career to became a Vallombrosan monk. He was already general of the Vallombrosan congregation by the age of 42, when he was made a cardinal; in 1106 he also became bishop of Parma. B's efforts against simony, schism, etc. won him two spells of exile, but while he was there he won a very good reputation as bishop.

Christian of Prussia (blessed) (d. 1245) A rather unattractive sounding saint, Christian was a Cistercian monk who went as a missionary to Prussia in 1207 (he became a missionary bishop in 1215). C. didn't have great success, and after an anti-Christian reaction he helped introduce the Teutonic Knights to the region---who of course went on to exterminate the Prussians.

Phyllis G. Jestice
Associate Professor
History Department
University of Southern Mississippi
Hattiesburg, MS 39406-5047