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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture On Sunday, August 13, 2006, at 8:29 pm, I wrote, apropos Hippolytus of Rome: > <SNIP>. The author of the _Passio sancti Polycronii_ > (first version, late fifth-century?) used this date for the _dies > natalis_ of the martyr H. drawn to death by wild horses in the legends > of St. Lawrence (d. 258). From at least this point onward, confusion > between that H. (already memorably celebrated by Prudentius in > _Peristephanon_, 11) and the H. now celebrated today was rampant. I was compressing too much here. The H. of Prudentius, _Peristephanon_, 11 is already a composite of the H. the former schismatic and and H. the martyr torn to pieces while being dragged by wild horses (a painting of whose torment P. claims in the poem to describe). The _Passio s. Polycronii_ makes H. a soldier converted by Lawrence (d. 258, supposedly), gives him a nurse (Concordia) who also becomes a martyr, and has him meet his end in the manner described by Prudentius. and, apropos Cassian of Imola: > <SNIP> According to this > account, C. was a teacher who endured a slow and painful martyrdom of > his non-Christian students who stabbed him repeatedly with their > styluses. That is, a martyrdom _at the hands_ of his non-Christian students. Apologies for any puzzlement caused by this omission. > By the sixteenth century the Roman church was celebrating on this > day a joint feast of Hippolytus of Rome and Cassian of Imola. Herewith three examples of medieval churches now dedicated to Saints Hippolytus and Cassian: At Umbertide (PG) in Umbria: http://tinyurl.com/s2vbr http://tinyurl.com/3qsor At Colle di Val d'Elsa (SI) in Tuscany: http://tinyurl.com/qfeeu At Gaione (PR) in Emilia (recently restored): http://tinyurl.com/fvy5f http://turismo.parma.it/allegato.asp?ID=119555 http://turismo.parma.it/allegato.asp?ID=208192 http://turismo.parma.it/allegato.asp?ID=208191 These may once have been dedicated to Cassian alone, as were medieval predecessors of today's churches with this double dedication at Pieve di Saliceto, a _frazione_ of Pontremoli (MS) in Tuscany and at Vanzago (MI) in Lombardy. But which Cassian? There were several and, in Umbria at least, Cassian of Todi is also a possibility. The original dedicatee of the fortified abbey of San Cassiano at Narni (TR), to give another Umbrian example, is unknown: http://www.ternionline.net/itg.narni/S.Cassiano/foto.htm The church at Settimo (PI) in Tuscany identified here as that of Santi Cassiano e Giovanni (don't miss the detail views at the foot of the page): http://www.stilepisano.it/immagini/Pisa_Pieve_di_San_Cassiano.htm is also known in the scholarly literature as that of Santi Ippolito e Cassiano or, more simply, as San Cassiano. Finally, another dedication to C. worth having a look at is the twelfth-century abbey church of San Cassiano at Valbagnola, a _frazione_ of Fabriano in the Marche: http://www.fabrianostorica.it/abbazie/sancassiano.htm http://www.guanciarossa.it/leviedellafede/scassian.htm http://www.cadnet.marche.it/fabriano/cassiano.html http://www.fabrianostorica.it/epigrafi/sancassiano.htm http://tinyurl.com/g3ht2 Best again, 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