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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture On Thursday, February 16, 2006, at 8:55 pm, Phyllis wrote: > Today (17. February) is the feast day of: > > Theodore Tiro (d. c. 306) Theodore is one of the three great > warrior > saints of the East (and of the West, too, after the crusaders > discovered him). It's not certain that he was a soldier; he was > martyred as a young man and a major cult developed around his > shrine. > As his legend developed, he was elevated to generalship in the > imperial army. Since the late fourth century, "eastern" churches have considered today to be the _dies natalis_ of T. of Amasea (so called from his place of martyrdom). From Bede through the Roman Martyrology of 1956, "western" martyrologies listed him on 9. November. Shortly after the ninth century his legend bifurcated: in both "east" and "west" T. was treated both as Theodore the General (T. stratelates) and as Theodore the Recruit (T. tiro), as the young Theodore's appellation was now interpreted. T. the General (a.k.a. T. of Heraclea) came to have a different _dies natalis_, 7. February (in Byzantine synaxaries, 8. February), and was listed as a saint of that day in the RM though itsversion of 1956. The new (2001) version of the RM returned to the early practice of considering T. as a single saint, martyred on 17. February. Here's young T. on his column in Venice (perhaps wondering how he's going to get back at the winged lion on the next column for having ousted him as the city's patron): http://relay.arglist.com/photos/20050527-005.jpg And here he is in a jamb at the south transept of Notre-Dame de Chartres: http://www.wga.hu/art/zgothic/gothic/1/french/03f_1232.jpg In the early thirteenth century remains said to be T.'s were translated from his major cult site at Euchaita (today's Avkat) in Pontus to Brindisi (BR) in Puglia, where they were placed in the partly silver container shown here: http://www.brindisiweb.com/storia/foto/arca1.jpg This panel illustrates the translation by which T. became a saint of the Regno (and, of course, Brindisi's patron saint): http://www.brindisiweb.com/arcidiocesi/foto/arca_part.jpg Note the two columns in the representation of Brindisi: unlike those at Venice (largely a medieval foundation), these were holdovers from the Roman city. They have since suffered earthquake damage and one is now at Lecce (LE) on the Salentine peninsula, where it supports that city's statue of Sant'Oronzo in the piazza of the same name. For a fuller description (Italian-language) of this container, go here: http://www.brindisiweb.com/arcidiocesi/santi/index.html and click on "San Teodoro". Whereas this _objet d'art_ is now in the archdiocesan museum at Brindisi, T.'s putative remains are kept in a chapel dedicated to him in that city's cathedral: http://www.brindisiweb.com/monumenti/foto/duomo3.jpg Among the many noteworthy "eastern" churches associated with T. are: his church (Mar Thedros) in Bahdidat, Lebanon, with its impressive twelfth(?)-century mural paintings: http://www.mari.org/JMS/april97/Frescoes_of_Saint_Theodores.htm his eleventh-century church at Athens: http://www.caed.kent.edu//History/Byzantine/stheodore1.jpg http://www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/images/conway/cbbad8b0.html and his late thirteenth-century church at Mistra: http://www.viaggiaresempre.it/01GreciaMistraSanTeodoro.jpg An early testimony to T.'s cult in the "west" is his perhaps sixth- century church at Rome. An English-language account of it is here: http://roma.katolsk.no/teodoro.htm Some views: http://philrome1997.free.fr/htm500/det/002_0102.htm http://p.vtourist.com/1302809-San_Teodoro_Rome-Rome.jpg http://www.stuardtclarkesrome.com/teodoro.html Best, John Dillon PS: I couldn't resist. For a novel interpretation of "Tiro", go here: http://www.saintbarbara.org/about/icons/theodore.cfm Begorra! ********************************************************************** 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