 |
 |
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture A very special thank you to John for including the material on Praetextatus (completely new to me). And a happy Easter to all. Bernadette 2) Lea (d. 384). We know about L. from St. Jerome, who shortly after her death praises her in a letter to her friend Marcella (_Ep_. 23). L. is described as an aristocratic Roman widow who had once been the head of a great household but who after her conversion lived a life a great simplicity and daily labor while heading a monastic community of Christian women in Rome. In this letter, in which L. is contrasted with her recently deceased fellow aristocrat Vettius Agorius Praetextatus (now in Tartarus, according to Jerome), she is called _sanctissima_ and said to be in heaven. > > L. entered the martyrologies in a sixteenth-century addition to Usuard. > Her modern cult is widespread in Lazio, especially at Ostia (where Jerome > tells us she was buried). > > We don't spend much time with non-Christians on this list. But > Praetextatus, familiar to many medievalists from his portrayal in > Macrobius' _Saturnalia_, and his wife Fabia Aconia Paulina, prominent > pagans in an increasingly officially Christian late antique Rome, have > left a couple of visuals worth noting. Here's a dedication to him listing > his priesthoods (_CIL_ VI. 31929), with an English-language translation > and discussion following: > http://tinyurl.com/2qdt95 > and here's their funeral monument: > http://tinyurl.com/25jxsp > This bears an inscription (_CIL_ VI. 1779), most of which is in verse > spoken by Paulina (herself a priestess of several mystery cults). Here's > a translation: > http://tinyurl.com/2h8nuv > Maijastina Kahlos, the author of a recent book on Praetextatus (__Vettius > Agorius Praetextatus: A Senatorial Life in Between_, Acta Instituti Romani > Finlandiae, no. 26 [Roma, 2002]), argues that Jerome's _Ep_. 23 is a > response to this text. See her discussions here: > http://tinyurl.com/382ngr > and here: > http://tinyurl.com/3377m5 > Here's an English-language translation of Jerome's letter: > http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001023.htm > > ********************************************************************** 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