January 28, is the feast day
of:
Aemilianus/Milianus of
Trevi (d. c305, supposedly) has a Passio (BHL 107) that makes him an
Armenian who late in the third century arrived at Spoleto, where he impressed
Christians with his piety, asceticism, and preaching ability. With papal
approval he was made bishop of nearby Trebia(e), today's Trevi in Umbria.
Arrested during the Diocletianic persecution, he underwent various tortures, was
exposed unsuccessfully to wild beasts, and finally was decapitated at nearby
Bovara while bound to a young olive tree. When the Passio was written an olive
tree was being pointed out as the very one to which he had been tied. Aemilianus
is the patron saint of Trevi, whose former cathedral (the diocese is now united
with that of Spoleto) is named after him. At some point his putative remains
were removed to Spoleto, where in 1660 they were discovered in that city's
cathedral; today they are back in Trevi.
What is thought to be
the oldest olive tree in Umbria is located in Bovara; it owes its preservation
to the local belief that it is the tree that witnessed Aemilianus's martyrdom. A
couple of expandable black-and-white views of it are here: http://www.protrevi.com/protrevi/olivoSe1.asp
Cannera/Conaire
of Inis Cathaig (d. c530) The Irish Cannera appears in the legend of St. Senan.
Cannera was a hermitess who, when she felt death approach, had a vision that she
would be buried on the island of Inis Cathaig. She decided to go to Senan's
monastery of Inis Cathaig on the Shannon - although no women were allowed.
Nobody would ferry her over to the monastery, so she got there by walking on
water. Despite that, Senan still refused to let her land, until she argued
passionately that Christ died for women, too. She was allowed to touch ground –
and promptly died. Thus she won from Senan the last rites and a burial place at
the furthest edge of the isle, where she became a patron saint of
sailors.
Jacob the Hermit (6th century?) Jacob, the product of many
legends, was a hermit of very ascetical convictions. He is supposed to have
lived in various caves in Palestine for 50 years, moving around to discourage
visitors. He spent the last years of his life lying in a stone
sarcophagus.
Charlemagne (d. 814) Charlemagne was canonized by the
pro-imperial antipope Paschal III in 1165. This was never recognized by a
legitimate pope, although Pope Benedict xiv gave him the title "blessed" in the
eighteenth century. Although his canonization has a strongly political flavor,
Charlemagne did a great deal for Christianity, including providing much of the
force behind a wide-ranging ecclesiastical reform movement, converting a lot of
people to Christianity (admittedly by force in many cases), and cementing the
Carolingian-papal alliance that would have such long-term implications for
western Christendom. Charles hated fancy dress, and would only wear it when he
absolutely had to. He wasn't fond of it on others, either. Once, as a lesson to
his courtiers, he dragged everyone out for a hunt, even the ones in fancy
clothing .Ranged hither and yon, with little regard for underbrush, etc. When
they returned to court, Charles' clothes were fine, but the fancy silk stuff was
in shreds.
One reads in some notices that his cult was
confirmed by Benedict XIV (1740-1758) but Charles' notice at the "Santi Beati"
site http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/91756
is careful to point out that Benedict was not yet pope when he observed in his
De servorum Dei beatificatione that Charles' traditional cult
constituted the equivalent of beatification. Charles, who does not appear
in the RM, is celebrated liturgically today in the cathedral of Aachen, where
the celebration is a locally permitted feast, and at the abbeys of Metten (Lkr.
Deggendorf) in Bavaria and Müstair (Münster; founded by Charles) in Graubünden,
where it is "tolerated" by the Sacred Congregation of Rites.
Charles (at far left, being blessed by St. Giles) in a twelfth-century fresco on
the north wall of the crypt of St. Clement in the cathédrale de Notre-Dame in
Chartres: http://tinyurl.com/y9yojjo
Charles in a late twelfth- or early thirteenth-century relief over the north
door of the facade of the cattedrale di San Donnino in Fidenza in
Emilia-Romagna: http://tinyurl.com/ycnel6k
Some views of Charles' shrine (1215) in the cathedral of Aachen: http://tinyurl.com/2ao9pd , http://tinyurl.com/yvmohk
Here Charles's
designation SANCTVS appears very clearly (left to right in lower register: St.
Leo III; Charles; archbishop Turpin of Reims, thought to have been the author of
the Historia Karoli Magni): http://tinyurl.com/22cujz
Some views of Charles's reliquary bust (c1349) in the cathedral treasury at
Aachen:
http://www.bonnensia.de/geschichte/karl034.htm
http://tinyurl.com/2kyj36 , http://tinyurl.com/2bfu6j
Nimbed Charles (c1388), in a pontifical and missal for the Use of Luçon (Paris,
BnF, ms. Latin 8886, fol. 400v): http://expositions.bnf.fr/fouquet/grand/f628.htm
Thomas
Aquinas (d. 1274) was born c1225 to a knightly family at Rocca Secca near
Aquino, Italy (thus "Aquinas" is a place name, despite the tendency to call the
guy "Aquinas" as if it were a last name). He was a nephew of one of the kingdom
of Sicily's great nobles, Tommaso d'Aquino, count of Acerra and grand justiciar
of the realm. His father, Landolfo d'Aquino (the count's younger brother), was
the lord of Roccasecca, the castle where Thomas was born. Educated first at
Montecassino and then at the University of Naples, Thomas shocked his family by
becoming a Dominican novice. Unhappy at this turn of events, Thomas' father had
him kidnapped and held at another castle until he (Thomas) should come to his
senses. After almost two years Thomas managed to escape with the aid of his
sister Theodora and then entered upon the life's work that would make him
famous. Albertus Magnus was the first to recognize Thomas's quality; he is
supposed to have said that even though Thomas was called the "dumb ox, his
lowing would soon be heard all over the world." (Farmer, 471) Thomas was
Albertus’ student in Cologne from 1248 to 1252. Thomas spent the rest of his
life teaching, organizing schools, and especially writing what are perhaps the
crowning works of scholastic theology. For that, one may read Ralph McInerny's
account of Thomas in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aquinas/
. Thomas died at the Cistercian abbey of Fossanova at today's Priverno, in
southern Lazio. He so impressed his contemporaries that he was given the title
"doctor communis" (amended in later centuries to "doctor angelicus"). Thomas was
canonized in 1323 and declared a doctor of the Church in 1567. His primary feast
is today, rather than on his death day (March
7).
The most notable of holy fat men is of
course Thomas Aquinas. He is reputed to have been so fat that a portion of
the table had to be cut out in front of him. One of the brethren urged him to
cut down on his intake of food, but St Thomas with a smile replied "Two swallows
don't make a Summa." - Oriens.
Thomas offering his
Catena aurea to Urban IV as depicted in a late thirteenth- or early
fourteenth-century copy of that work (Dijon, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 72,
fol. 2r): http://tinyurl.com/yh7mwuk
The Triumph of Thomas as depicted in a c1340 panel painting by Francesco
Traina now in Pisa's chiesa di Santa Caterina d'Alessandria: http://www.wga.hu/art/t/traini/thomas.jpg
The Triumph of Thomas as depicted in a c1365-1368 fresco by Andrea Bonaiuti
(Andrea da Firenze) in the former chapter room, now the Cappella Spagnuola, of
Florence's basilica di Santa Maria Novella: http://www.wga.hu/art/a/andrea/firenze/3left1.jpg
Detail (Thomas): http://tinyurl.com/lcfae
Thomas teaching and Thomas praying as depicted in a c1378-1383 book of prayers
(Avignon, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 6733, fols. 6r and 6v): http://tinyurl.com/yl7d5sm , http://tinyurl.com/yjwkbyd
Thomas at prayer in a (1423) panel painting by il Sassetta (Stefano di Giovanni)
now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest: http://tinyurl.com/mz3h87
Thomas as depicted (at far right, upper register of saints) in a c1441-1442
fresco by Beato Angelico in the chapter room of the convento (now Museo
nazionale) di San Marco in Florence: http://www.wga.hu/art/a/angelico/09/corridor/crucifi.jpg
Detail (Thomas): http://www.cptryon.org/prayer/special/aquin-c.jpeg
Thomas as depicted in a (1471) panel painting by Benozzo Gozzoli now in the
Louvre: http://www.wga.hu/art/g/gozzoli/5various/7aquinas.jpg
Peter
Nolasco (d. 1256) was born in Barcelona to a merchant family. He came to work
for Raymond of Penaforte, ransoming Christian slaves from the Muslims. From this
beginning, Peter founded the Mercedarian order in 1234, which he led until
1249.
Peter Thomas (d. 1366) was a French Carmelite and diplomat.
He entered papal service in 1342 and carried out a series of legations,
receiving in turn several eastern bishoprics, then the archbishopric of Candia,
and finally became Latin patriarch of Constantinople. At the command of
Urban V and with the support of the king of Cyprus, Peter even led a crusade,
which attacked Alexandria unsuccessfully. Peter received wounds in the process
from which he died three months later.
Maria Mancini, widow (1431)
converted her house into a hospital, and would drink the wine with which she
washed the patients' sores.
happy reading,
Terri
Morgan
--
"Nobility depends not on parentage or place of birth, but on
breadth of compassion and depth of loving kindness. If we would be noble, let us
be
greathearted." -
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