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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Today (3. March) is the feast day of: Nonna (d. c. 540) The mother of David of Wales. Legend tells that Nonna (Non) was a noble (and very beautiful) young woman in the convent at Ty Gwyn. A local chieftain, Sant, raped her, and the result was David. Another legend tells that N was married to Sant. A number of place names attest to N's popularity in Cornwall and Brittany Winwaloe (6th cent.) Winwaloe (Guenole) was a Breton saint. Legend tells that he became a hermit on a coastal island, then settled with a group of monks on another island. It was a very exposed location, though, and after sticking it out for three years they migrated to the mainland, where W. founded the monastery of Landevennec. W. is shown in art with a goose. This is probably in reference to a rather odd miracle: his sister had an eye plucked out by a goose. W. ordered the goose to cough up the eye, which it did. Then W. replaced it in its socket. Kunigunde (d. 1039) Kunigunde of Luxembourg married Duke Henry of Bavaria, who succeeded Otto III as Emperor Henry II. K. is commemorated as a virgin, but there seems to be no basis to the legend that K. and H. took a vow of chastity on their wedding day.K. joined with H. in founding the diocese of Bamberg and the monastery of Kaufungen. When widowed, she devoted herself completely to the religious life. She was canonized in 1200. Gervinus (d. 1075) Gervinus was a canon of Rheims who gave up his comfortable life to become a monk at St-Vanne, Verdun, from which he moved on to be abbot of St-Riquier. G. was famous for his holiness, to which he added an interesting twist by contracting leprosy (or at least what was called leprosy). He suffered for four years, then died. When his body was washed, all trace of the leprosy had vanished. Peter Geremia (blessed) (d. 1452) Peter was a native of Palermo who studied law at Bologna. But a vision persuaded him to give up law and get religion. He became a Dominican and yet another of those wonderful fifteenth-century preachers. PG was commissioned by the pope to reform the Sicilian clergy, became prior of St. Zita's, and had a reputation for mildness and general holiness. ********************************************************************** 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