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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Today (15. March) is the feast day of: Longinus (1st cent.) Starting out our run of Passiontide saints is Longinus, the name given by tradition to the centurion at the crucifixion who acknowledged Jesus as the son of God. He is also identified with the soldier who stuck a lance in JC's side. Legend tells that L. converted, left the army, then became a monk (!) at Caesarea in Cappadocia. He was arrested for his faith, and when on trial destroyed the cult statues in the hall. He was then beheaded. Matrona (?) You have a pick of three saints. Candidate #1 was the Christian slave of a Jewish mistress, beaten to death when she remained obstinate in her faith. #2 was a native of Barcelona, taken to Rome, where she was executed for tending to Christian prisoners. #3 was a Portuguese woman purportedly of royal blood, who suffered from chronic dysentery. She was told by an angel to go to Italy for a cure. She died in Capua, where she is the patron saint of those suffering from that unfortunate complaint. (A military historian colleague has suggested a book on saintly soldiers who died of dysentery while crusading. I'll leave you to guess what its name would be.) Zachary (d. 752) Zachary became pope in 741. He seems to have been a good diplomat. He reached an accommodation with the Lombard king Liutprand and encouraged the missionary work of Boniface. Most notable in world-historical terms, he recognized Pepin the Vertically Challenged as king of the Franks in 751. Leocritia (d. 859) Leocritia (or Lucretia) was the daughter of Muslim parents in Cordoba. She secretly converted to Christianity and, when this was discovered, was kicked out of her home. She went into hiding, but in time was captured, convicted of apostasy, and beheaded. A modern saint: Louise de Marillac (d. 1660) After Louise de Marillac was widowed, she met St. Vincent de Paul and the two of them worked together to create social services in France. She created the Sisters (or Daughters) of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, which became extremely popular. By the time of L's death, the congregation had more than 40 houses in France, running hospitals and orphanages for the most part. L. was canonized in 1934, and she was declared the patron of social workers in 1960. ********************************************************************** 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