medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today, February 20, is the feast day of:
Tyrannio, Zenobius and other martyrs (304 and 310) T was bishop of Tyre,
arrested as a Christian in 310 and taken to Antioch along with the priest
Zenobius of Sidon. T. was tortured and then drowned in the Orantes; Zenobius
died while being racked. Eusebius wrote of these martyrs: 'After innumerable
stripes and blows, which they cheerfully endured, they were exposed to wild
beasts such as leopards, wild bears, boars, and bulls. I myself was present
when these savage beasts, accustomed to human blood, were let out upon them,
and, instead of devouring them or tearing them to pieces as might naturally
be expected, they stood off, refusing to touch or approach them, but turned
on their keepers.'
Eleutherius of Tournai (d. earlier 5th cent.). E. is the chiefly legendary
protobishop of Tournai (Doornik) in Belgian Hainaut. His core dossier (a
Vita in different forms plus supplementary accounts; BHL 2455-2470) seems in
the form in which we have it to have been begun at Tournai in the twelfth
century both to document an existing cult and to support attempts to
re-erect Tournai as a separate diocese (it was then joined with Noyon).
Opinions differ on the extent, if any, to which one may rely on its data
concerning either the saint himself or his earlier veneration. E.'s own
existence may be inferred from the early sixth-century prose Vita of St.
Medardus formerly attributed to Venantius Fortunatus (BHL 5864). His relics
are said to have been found in 897 in a church in nearby Blandain and to
have been translated to Tournai in the time of Baldwin, bishop of
Noyon-Tournai (r., 1044/45-1068).
At Tournai and in its diocese E. enjoyed an important cult from at least
the late eleventh century onward. A major monument is his châsse of 1247.
Eucherius of Orléans (d. 738 or 739, supposedly). We know about E. (in
French, Eucher) from a Vita (BHL 2660) that presents itself as closely
posthumous but that in the view of Jacques Le Maho probably was written in
the mid-tenth century by Anno, abbot of Jumièges (in Normandy) and of Micy
(near Orléans). According to this account, E. was the offspring of noble
parents who lived in the vicinity of Orléans. When E. was still in the womb
an angel appeared to his mother as she was dropping off to sleep after
returning from matins, informed her that she was carrying a future bishop,
and gave both her and her seed a divine blessing. E.'s mother promptly
conveyed this news to her husband and he, bolstered by fear and joy,
refrained from further intercourse with his wife until E. was born.
At the age of eight E. was handed over to be educated. He surpassed all
before him and continually absorbed either by reading or by hearing the
written knowledge of all men. After he had thoroughly scrutinized all the
teaching of the canons, St. Paul's observations about the transitory nature
of this world and about the wisdom of this world being foolishness in God's
sight (1 Cor 7:31, 8:19) came into his hands and he entered the monastery at
Jumièges. Elected to succeed his uncle Soavaricus [in other sources,
Savaricus] as bishop of Orléans, E. accepted with reluctance. During his
tenure he adorned churches, loved the clergy, corrected the people through
his preaching, and regularly visited the numerous monasteries about Orléans,
treating their inhabitants with charity and fraternity.
Although E. was loved by all, his growing fame caused him in time to be
slandered before Charles Martel by some who hoped to benefit from a
redistribution of his offices. After Charles had won his victory over the
Saracens who had invaded Aquitania he exiled E. first to Köln and then to
the Hesbaye (de Haspengouw) in today's Belgium. There E. entered the
monastery of Saint-Trond (Sint-Truiden), dying in that house in the sixth
year of his exile. Postmortem miracles confirmed his sanctity. Thus far
E.'s Vita. A later version (BHL 2661) incorporates from the Vita of St.
Rigobertus of Reims a report of E.'s having been translated to the next
world while at prayer and of his there seeing Charles in torment in Hell.
Colgan the Wise (d. c. 796) Colgan was abbot of Clonmacnois (Co. Offaly,
Ireland) and a friend of Alcuin.
Leo of Catania / Leo the Thaumaturge (7th or 8th cent.) From 591 to 604,
Gregory the Great wrote a number of letters to a bishop of Catania of this
name and also referred to him in letters directed to others. In one of the
latter, Leo is said to act severely against ill doers, possibly magicians
(_maleficos_). This Leo is perhaps the historic referent of the otherwise
legendary saint Leo, bishop of Catania in the eighth century. An early
ninth-century Italo-Greek Bios makes Leo an overseer of church property at
Ravenna who in the absence of acceptable local candidates was chosen to fill
the see of Catania, who struggled mightily with an evil thaumaturge named
Heliodorus (whom he eventually had burned alive), and who cured a woman of a
hitherto incurable bloody flux. Most of this Bios concerns the struggle with
Heliodorus (a.k.a. Liodorus), in which Leo operates holy magic to overcome
the achievements of his diabolically inspired opponent. In the Latin
version, which is a bit fuller, L. also destroys a pagan cult statue
surviving from the days of the emperor Decius.
Leo's cult travelled to Constantinople (in Byzantine synaxaries he's
remembered on February 21) and elsewhere in the Greek-speaking world.
Heliodorus has survived at Catania in the name (U Liotru) of the mostly
basalt late antique elephant which in the Middle Ages stood over one of the
city gates and led Arabic-speakers to refer to Catania as Medina el-fil
('City of the Elephant'). The city's official symbol since 1239, in the
eighteenth century it was made part of a sculptural confection adorning a
fountain in the Piazza Duomo.
Leo’s nickname "thamaturge" comes from the posthumous miracles worked at
his tomb.
Wulfric (1154): Born in Compton Martin, eight miles from Bristol, he was a
wastrel in his youth, being especially fond of hunting. Wulfric was a priest
of Somerset who in 1125 became a recluse at Haselbury. He spent his
religious life in a cell adjoining the church there. He indulged in a very
severely ascetic lifestyle and was rewarded with the gift of prophecy. He
wore chain mail next to his skin. At night Wulfric would strip and get into
tub of cold water, remaining there till he had recited the whole Psalter.
One Easter eve Wulfric was troubled in his sleep by a sensual illusion; he
was so distressed thereby that the next day he made open confession of it
before the whole congregation of the church. He had many visitors, including
Kings Henry I and Stephen. Wulfric worked as a copyist and bookbinder in his
cell. His cult caught on only about 30 years after his death, and for the
following 50 years many miracles were reported and Haselbury became a
popular pilgrim attraction until the Reformation.
Elizabeth Picenardi of Mantua (1468): Elisabeth was born in Cremona (Italy)
c1428. Her father taught her Latin so that she was able to read devotional
works. At an early age she and several girls banded together to form a
community of the Servite third order under her direction. She was much
sought for her guidance and devotion to the Virgin Mary. She was beatified
in 1804.
happy reading,
Terri
--
"If you can't get rid of them ugly old skeletons in the closet, at least
teach 'em how to dance funny."
- Billy C. Wirtz
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