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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Today (14. April) is also the feast day of: John of Montemarano (d. 1094 or 1095). J. (in Italian, Giovanni) is the first known bishop of today's Montemarano (AV), a population center in south central Irpinia that seems to have been raised to episcopal dignity only in the eleventh century. He has a very brief medieval Life (BHL 4414) and a set of presumed remains said to have been incorrupt at the times of their respective translations within Montemaro's then cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta in 1624 and 1726. His cult was confirmed in 1906. According to the Life, J. was a monk whom Gregory VII, during his exile in Salerno, named as bishop upon the request of the clergy and people of Montemarano. It has been inferred from this that J. was of local origin. He is said to have led the people in prayer when a church at Montemarano that he had dedicated became unusable due to an infestation of worms; this expression of collective piety caused the church's priest to confess that he had fouled this temple by using it repeatedly for sexual trysts. On another occasion, J. was in charge of a group of laborers engaged in clearing land near the river Calore; when it proved impossible to provide sufficient wine for them, J. had water drawn from the river, blessed it, and the Lord, honoring his servant, converted it into wine. Montemarano's Santa Maria Assunta was rebuilt in 1494 to such an extent that it received a new consecration. It has been rebuilt several times since, most recently after the great Irpine earthquake of 1980. Nonetheless, its crypt has some medieval capitals visible here: http://tinyurl.com/la7k2 and is also said to have in its central apse two late eleventh- / twelfth-century frescoes, one of which portrays a seated bishop whom Riccardo Sica, writing in the _Storia illustrata di Avellino e dell'Irpinia_: http://www.cesn.it/Pubblicazioni/varia/storia_avellino.htm , identifies as J. In the crypt, J.'s presumed remains are kept here: http://tinyurl.com/gc32r Details: http://tinyurl.com/osuqg The crypt is also said to contain a fifteenth-century wooden bust of J. The earliest representation of him whose reproduction I could find readily on the Web is this sixteenth-century statue in silver: http://tinyurl.com/jq582 In the rural district of San Leonardo outside of Montemarano are some remains of an originally twelfth-century Benedictine monastery. Two views of a ruined tower on this site are here: http://www.palatucci.it/natura/montemarano1.jpg http://www.promontemarano.it/img/3g.jpg And here are the remains of a belltower from a church in the rural district of Contecorbo: http://tinyurl.com/zogr7 http://www.promontemarano.it/img/4g.jpg Montemarano's diocese was folded into that of Nusco in 1818. One of its treasures was this fifteenth-century folding chair (said to be one of but three of its kind now known to exist in Italy), preserved in part because it was later said to have been J.'s: http://tinyurl.com/kca4e Best, John Dillon ********************************************************************** 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