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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Today (17. September) is the feast day of: Satyrus of Milan (d. 377 or 378). Uranius Satyrus was an older brother, or perhaps half-brother, of Ambrose of Milan, to whom we are indebted for most of our limited information about him. S. was born at Trier in about 330, had the same sort of education in liberal arts as did A., and rose through the imperial civil service to a high position in the prefecture of Italy. When in 374 A. became bishop of Milan, S. took over management of the family's vast estates. In the exercise of this responsibility he traveled to Africa in 376/77 or 377/78. On the return voyage his vessel encountered a severe storm and was shipwrecked off Sardinia. S., who at the time was still a catechumen, obtained from baptized Christians a sacred host, wrapped it in a napkin, and, trusting in its power alone, jumped with it into the sea. Safely on shore, the grateful S. had himself baptized by the local bishop, satisfying himself first that this worthy was not schismatic. S. returned to Milan, fell gravely ill, and died not long afterward. A.'s two books of consolation on his brother's death (_De excessu fratris sui Satyri_) as well, perhaps, as the fact that A. had S. buried next to what was recognized as the grave of the Milanese martyr Victor, led in time to S.'s veneration as a saint with an Office in the Ambrosian Missal. His relics now repose in an effigy reliquary in the Cappella dei Santi Bartolomeo e Satiro at Milan's Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio: http://santambrogio-basilica.it/immagini/P5260050.JPG S.'s chief physical monument is the originally ninth-century archiepiscopal chapel dedicated to him in Milan and now usually known as the Sacello di San Satiro. Prior to the early 1480s, when it was given a circular outline and attached to the newly built church of Santa Maria presso San Satiro, this was a small separate church with a central plan consisting of a Greek cross opening into lobes of differing dimensions. A plan is here: http://tinyurl.com/rbqfo Some exterior views: http://tinyurl.com/ew4h4 http://tinyurl.com/hdcef http://www.pbase.com/ugpini/image/37109477 This one is greatly expandable: http://tinyurl.com/jzgf3 San Satiro's interior has columns and capitals ranging in date from antiquity to the twelfth century, an early thirteenth-century fresco of the Virgin and Child (itself a supposedly miraculous cult object), and a polychrome terracotta Lamentatio Christi by Agostino de Fondulis (1482-83). Two views: http://www.thais.it/architettura/romanica/schede/sc_00024_uk.htm http://tinyurl.com/p3y37 An English-language translation of Ambrose's _De excessu fratris sui Satyri libri duo_ (Bk. 1 is A.'s funeral oration for S. and has the biographical matter) is here: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf210.iv.iii.ii.html Best, John Dillon (last year's post lightly revised) ********************************************************************** 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