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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Today, February 4, is the Feast Day of: Veronica (?) Most likely a purely legendary figure, Veronica (whose name means "true image") is supposed to have wiped Christ's face as he went to be crucified - and his image remained miraculously imprinted on her cloth. The legend seems to have first appeared in the fourth century, originally with a miraculous picture of Christ that healed King Abgar of Edessa. By the sixth century the picture had become a cloth. At some point Veronica was linked to the woman suffering from a flow of blood, whom Jesus healed in the gospels. Phileas, martyr (304) - an account of his trial in Alexandria is in the history of Eusebius. Phileas became a Christian as an adult, and became bishop of his city of Thmuis (Egypt). Soon after his consecration he was arrested, and imprisoned for several years before his martyrdom. He was tortured and then beheaded during the Great Persecution. Part of a letter from Phileas to his community is still extant, telling of the tortures suffered by the imprisoned Christians. Theophilus the Penitent (d. c. 538) According to legend, Theophilus was archdeacon of Adana in Cilicia. He was unjustly deposed, and was so furious that he made a pact with the devil. But he repented and after forty days' penance he was able to confess his sin, which was pardoned by his bishop and everyone else in the church, and the Virgin Mary appeared and returned the document he had signed for Satan. This is the basis of the story of Faust. Aldate (6th cent.?) There are churches dedicated to Aldate at Oxford & Gloucester and colourful legend says that he was a Briton fighting Saxon invaders... or perhaps a he was bishop of Gloucester. Actually, there's a suspicion that the name is a place not a person - Aldate = "old gate." Hrabanus Maurus, archbishop of Mainz (856) - Born in Mainz c780 and given to the Church as a child, after studies at the monastic school of Fulda and then at Tours (under Alcuin), he returned to Fulda to become the headmaster of the monastery school and became abbot (822-42), then abdicated and devoted himself to theological writing, before his appointment to the Mainz archbishopric in 847 - due to his obedience to the Holy See, he was nicknamed 'the Pope's slave'. He proved to be an unpopular rigorist. Perhaps his most lasting work is the hymn Veni creator Spiritus. Nicholas Studites, abbot (863) - Born on Crete c.795, Nikolaos entered the famous Studion monastery in Constantinople at the age of ten. He was imprisoned from 813-820, caught up in the Iconoclast Controversy. Later Nikolaos became abbot of Studion. He voluntarily abdicated twice but was serving as abbot again at the time of his death - while still under strict imprisonment. Gilbert of Sempringham (d. 1189) The long-lived Gilbert was born in Sempringham (England) in c.1090 of Norman knightly family, but handicapped so he couldn't pursue a career in arms. So instead he studied in France and on his return to England founded a school for boys and girls. He became a priest in 1123 and clerk to the bishop of Lincoln. His father gave him a parish church on his lands and his parishioners at Sempringham included seven very pious women who wished to live a communal life: he built a house for them next to the church - which then grew. He asked the Cistercians to take over, but they wouldn't, so ended up founding his own "Gilbertine" order of nuns. It became the mother house of the Gilbertine order, the only order founded by an Englishman. Gilbert was first head of the order, retiring when he went blind. 22 double monasteries were founded in Gilbert's lifetime. his cult existed immediately after his death; he was canonized in 1202. Obitius of Nardo (blessed) (d. 1204) Obitius, a knight and count of Brescia (N. Italy) was badly wounded in battle after falling into a river and nearly drowning. Shocked by a vision of damnation he had at that time, Obitius immediately entered the monastery of S. Giulia in Brescia and committed himself to a life of penance. Andrea Corsini, bishop of Fiesole (1373) - a Florentine by birth, after a wayward youth, he joined the Carmelite convent of Florence when he was 16; he then studied in Paris then became prior of his community in Florence, where he won a reputation as a preacher and healer before joining an uncle, who was a cardinal in Avignon; when he was elected to the Fiesole bishopric in 1360, he tried to avoid this office by hiding in the Carthusian convent of Enna (Sicily), but he was discovered; as bishop, he was renowned for his diplomacy, charity and asceticism. He was canonized in 1629. Jeanne de France/de Valois, (1505) - founded the Annonciades de Bourges. Jeanne was daughter of King Louis XI of France and Charlotte of Savoy, physically deformed (hunched backed & pock-marked). She was married off to the duke of Orleans (who became Louis XII) when she was 12, but her husband got the marriage nullified on the grounds of constraint as soon as he became King. She then retired to a castle at Bourges, where in 1500 she founded the order of nuns of the Annunciation, with an emphasis on active charity and not living in a community. She was professed in 1504. Huguenots destroyed Jeanne's tomb in 1562; she was still beatified in 1742 and canonized in 1950. For those into trivia, Louis XII was particularly concerned with getting out of this marriage so that he could marry the widowed Duchess of Brittany, Anne; otherwise France would have lost the duchy. When Anne died without producing a viable son and heir, Louis took Mary of York, who was less than thrilled with the old king. When Louis died, and after the requisite period of time to determine that Mary wasn't carrying a future king of France, Mary was returned to the English court and her brother, Henry VIII. This opened the way for Francis I. happy reading, Terri Morgan ********************************************************************** 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