medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (24. August) is the feast day of:
Bartholomew, apostle (1st cent.). Today's well known former saint of
the Regno is so named in the synoptic gospels and is usually identified
with the Nathanael of John 1:45-50 and 21:2. He is said to have
preached in places vaguely called 'India', in Lycaonia and other parts
of Asia Minor, and, finally, in Armenia. Accounts of his martyrdom
vary. In the East he was often said to have been crucified; Rabanus
Maurus, Ado, and Usuard have him decapitated; and Isidore of Seville and
Bede have him flayed alive. B.'s iconography in the later medieval West
often shows him holding a flaying knife; tanners and leatherworkers took
him for their patron.
After fifth- and early sixth-century translations in Asia, B.'s alleged
remains were brought to Lipari in the Aeolian Islands (north of Sicily)
in about 580, an event narrated by Gregory of Tours in his _De gloria
martyrum_ (cap. 33). In or about 838 these were brought to Salerno
just ahead of the Muslim seizure of Lipari and from there they soon went
on to the city of Benevento, capital of the principality of the same
name. Outstanding among the several accounts of this latter sequence is
a sermon written in probably the late eleventh century by Martin the
priest to Benevento's archbishop Roffred I and drawing upon a sermon of
Theodore the Studite as well as upon Latin sources.
At some point in the eleventh century, it would seem, these relics made
a further trip to Rome where they were housed in Otto III's church on
Tiber Island dedicated to Sts. Adalbert (of Prague) and Paulinus (of
Nola). There they are said to remain (less pieces that have gone
elsewhere), in the church that quickly began to be called after B. An
Italian-language account of today's San Bartolomeo all'Isola is here:
http://www.medioevo.roma.it/saggi/chiese/bartolomeo.htm
Exterior views:
http://tinyurl.com/lpeb4
http://tinyurl.com/ky7ey
Inside, among more recent splendors, is a medieval wellhead carved out
of a Roman column drum. See views no. 16-20 here:
http://catholic-resources.org/AncientRome/Tiber.htm
Imperial veneration of B. also manifested itself north of the Alps,
where a chapel dedicated to him was erected in 1017 in the residence at
Paderborn and adjacent to the cathedral. Two expandable views are here:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholom%C3%A4uskapelle_(Paderborn)
Exterior view (apse):
http://www.greatbuildings.com/gbc/images/cid_aj2473_b.jpg
In the late eleventh century (a big one for B., apparently) the
Norman-led reconquest of Sicily got to the Aeolian Islands and a
Benedictine abbey dedicated to B. was installed on Lipari. Its cloister
was later incorporated into Lipari (ME)'s early modern cathedral of San
Bartolomeo:
http://tinyurl.com/o4lga
http://tinyurl.com/ocyw6
http://tinyurl.com/ou9pj
In 1239 construction began on a church, dedicated to B., for the
imperial residence at Frankfurt am Main. Popularly known as the
Kaiserdom ('Dom' in the sense of 'large, impressive church'), it was not
completed until the early fifteenth century. Views, etc. follow:
Multi-page site:
http://www.altfrankfurt.com/Dom/
Brief history:
http://www.altfrankfurt.com/Dom/Geschichte/
floor plans:
http://lexikon.freenet.de/Bild:Mk_Frankfurt_Dom_Grundriss.png
http://www.altfrankfurt.com/Dom/Inneres/Plan.htm
Exterior views:
http://tinyurl.com/gzerw
http://tinyurl.com/nkj85
In the meantime, the cathedral of Benevento consoled itself for the loss
of B. with this fourteenth-century statue of him by Nicola da Monteforte:
http://tinyurl.com/gul9v
Best,
John Dillon
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