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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture On Monday, December 12, 2005, at 7:13 pm, Phyllis wrote: > Today (13. December) is the feast day of: > Lucy (Lucia) (d. c. 304) Like Agatha up the road in Catania, Lucy was venerated in Syracuse not only in late antiquity but right through the city's period of Muslim rule (878-1088). In late 1039 and early 1040, towards the end of his ephemeral reconquest of eastern Sicily, the East Roman general George Maniakes had the relics of both saints transported to Constantinople. In the early twelfth century French knights from Norman-ruled Sicily returned Agatha to Catania (less a breast that got left en route at Gallipoli [LE] but is now in the church of Santa Caterina d'Alessandria at Galatina [LE]). But Lucy, or at least what Maniakes had been told was Lucy (she is also said to have been translated to the duchy of Benevento in the eighth century and to have wound up at Metz in the tenth***), remained in Constantinople until the Frankish conquest of 1204, during whose aftermath the Venetian contingent had her shipped to Venice. Today she reposes in Venice's San Geremia: http://www.basilicasantalucia.it/le_reliquie_di_santa_lucia.htm The archdiocese of Syracuse had her on loan from Venice for the period 15. to 22. December 2004. A photograph gallery of this temporary translation is here: http://tinyurl.com/baehp Syracuse's basilica of Santa Lucia alla Badia is a twelfth-century church replacing a Byzantine predecessor said to have gone back to the sixth century. Shown here, http://www.ibmsnet.it/siracusa/chlucia.gif it is a three-aisled, three-apsed basilica that underwent substantial reconstruction in the seventeenth century (including the addition of the portico so prominent in the photograph). The apses and the three lower floors of the belltower are holdovers from its Norman-period form. A side view shows in the foreground the octagonal, seventeenth century baptistery known as the Chapel of St. Lucy: http://www.skm-italia.it/img/Sepolcro_Santa_Lucia.gif or http://tinyurl.com/bn6qb This is built over what was traditionally thought to have been the site of L.'s ancient tomb and displays what is said to have been her loculus: http://tinyurl.com/d88rl And now for something completely different: the originally twelfth- century church of Santa Lucia at Sos del Rey Católico (Zaragoza): http://www.arquivoltas.com/5-Zaragoza/990499-SosStaLucia.htm apse view: http://www.aragonromanico.com/cincovillas/sos7a.htm Best, John Dillon (last year's post, revised) *** It would be remiss not to observe that, according to Sigebert of Gembloux' Life of bishop Dietrich of Metz, the remains alleged to have been L.'s that that worthy had translated to his own diocese in 970 had been reposing at Corfinium, i.e. today's Corfinio (AQ), now better known for its veneration of the recently commemorated saint Pelinus (see "saints of the day", 5. December). ********************************************************************** 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