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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Today (5, May) is the feast day of: 1) Hilarius of Arles (d. 449). H. was a member of the Gallo-Roman aristocracy who at a young age was persuaded by his older relative St. Honoratus, the founder of the monastery of Lérins, to sell off his inheritance and to enter that community. When in about 426 Honoratus was named bishop of the metropolitan see of Arles he brought H. with him as secretary. In 429 Honoratus died and H., then only twenty-nine years old, succeeded him as bishop. His principled but impolitic exercise of his metropolitan powers (he sacked two bishops, both of whom were reinstated by Rome) caused pope St. Leo I to transfer that authority to Fréjus (it was restored to Arles in the year following H.'s death). H. is the author of a well-written _laudatio_ of Honoratus (BHL 3975). This provides most of our little personal information about him. He has two Vitae of his own (BHL 3882, 3882b) emphasizing his asceticism and his care for his clergy. 2) Godehard (d. 1038). G. (also Gotthard) was born in the vicinity of what at the time was the canonry of St. Moritz at today's Niederalteich (Kr. Deggendorf) in Bavaria. After schooling there he spent three years of administrative training at the archdiocesan court in Salzburg, travelled to Italy, continued his studies at the cathedral school of Passau, and returned to Niederaltaich (this older spelling is still conventional for the canonry/monastery) where he swiftly became provost. When that house was subsequently transformed into a Benedictine abbey G. stayed on as a novice. He made his monastic profession in 990, was ordained priest in 993, and in 996 was elected abbot. As abbot, G. steered Niederaltaich in the direction of Cluniac reform and also established there a school to train scribes and illuminators. Upon the nomination of the future emperor Henry II, he reformed Tegernsee in 1001-1002 and Hersfeld from 1005 until his return to Niederaltaich in 1013, when he began work on rebuilding that abbey and its church. He was named bishop of Hildesheim in today's Lower Saxony in 1022. G. was canonized in 1131. On 4. May 1132 his body was translated from the abbey church to the cathedral and on the following day his liturgical feast was celebrated for the first time. Miracles occurring at that event laid the foundation of what became his ongoing reputation as a healing saint. St. Gotthard pass takes its name from a hospice erected to him there in the thirteenth century. Here are a few views of the later medieval abbey church at Niederalteich: http://tinyurl.com/27kk92 http://tinyurl.com/27xz9o http://tinyurl.com/ysmnd5 http://www.dva.cz/vs/img/fv/01niederalteich.html As you might suppose from that last view, something has happened to the choir. The latter is very prominent in this engraving from 1687: http://tinyurl.com/ysj2y9 Hildesheim's abbey church of St. Michael was begun very early in the eleventh century by bishop Bernward and was completed by G. in 1033 Here's an illustrated, English-language page on it: http://tinyurl.com/7lgyx Further views: http://tinyurl.com/3bte4v http://tinyurl.com/2jms2j http://tinyurl.com/2v65gw There are some interesting views of the interior at this site (click on Panorama): http://www.st-michaelis-hildesheim.de/ An illustrated, English-language page on the eleventh-century cathedral of Hildesheim (the Hildesheimer Dom) is here: http://tinyurl.com/2brefn And a German-language one is here: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildesheimer_Dom Here's a view of G.'s twelfth-century shrine: http://tinyurl.com/2equ6e That's from a page of views of objects in the cathedral treasury: http://tinyurl.com/24lc2j And here's G., above the north portal: http://tinyurl.com/24ufw9 Many other views here: http://tinyurl.com/accpt Single views: http://www.unesco-heute.de/0805/hildesheim_dom.jpg http://www.peterkamin.de/Reisen/hildesheim.dom.jpg http://tinyurl.com/2gscs6 Hildesheim is also the home of a church dedicated to G., the twelfth-century Basilika Sankt Godehard. Multiple views here: http://tinyurl.com/yvnao3 More here (expandable): http://tinyurl.com/2t94hv Single views: http://tinyurl.com/2err9d http://tinyurl.com/2935zn http://tinyurl.com/2z3dtr Portal, with G. at right in the tympanum: http://tinyurl.com/yp4aaa 3) Angelus the Carmelite, venerated at Licata (d. ca. 1220). Little is known about A. (A. of Sicily, A. of Jerusalem). His late medieval Vitae (BHL 464, 466) tell us that he was born in Jerusalem, that he became a Carmelite in Palestine, that he was ordained priest at the age of twenty-five, that he was sent to Italy, where he preached successfully at St. John Lateran, and that he was sent to Sicily to preach against "cathars", one of whom stabbed him fatally at today's Licata (AG) in the southwestern part of the island. Veneration as a martyr ensued and a church was erected to house his remains. The Carmelite Order is said to have adopted his cause in 1456, with confirmation of his cult by Pius II coming in 1459. A. has a major sanctuary at Licata, whose illustrated website (for those not afraid of early modern splendors) is here: http://www.santuariosantangelo.it/ 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