medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

Today, February 24, is the feast day of:

Matthias (1st century) Matthias replaced Judas Iscariot as the twelfth apostle, chosen by the other apostles (by lot) as recounted in the book of Acts. According to legend, Matthias went on to become a missionary in Ethiopia, and was martyred there. Another legend reports that he went first to Macedonia, where he proved his holiness by successfully drinking a glass of poisoned wine, as well as healing 250 blind men. This legend reports that Matthias returned to Judaea, where he was stoned to death. Yet another legend says that Matthias stayed in Macedonia and died peacefully. St. Helena is supposed to have discovered Matthias' relics in Palestine and brought them to Rome, where some are still preserved in the church of S. Maria Maggiore; Helena arranged for part of the relics to be sent to Trier. But the church of S. Giustina in Padua also claims to have the saint's relics.

Lucius, Montanus, and companions (d. 259) This is a group of seven African martyrs, several of whom had been clerics under Cyprian (who had been executed the year before). A revolt broke out and the Roman governor blamed it on the Christians, They were arrested as convenient scapegoats, imprisoned for a time, and finally decapitated. Of interest is their acta: they themselves wrote the first part, telling of their imprisonment, and a witness concluded with an account of their martyrdom.
   Successus, Paulus, and Lucius (d. c259) We know about these martyrs of Africa Proconsularis from the Passio of Sts. Montanus and Lucius (BHL 6009; abridgment, BHL 6010), whose narration by a contemporary calls Successus a bishop and has him suffer with Paulus and with unnamed others in what is evidently the persecution of Valerian (the narrator has a vision of the martyred St. Cyprian, his bishop). Lucius is the Lucius of that Passio, who earlier therein is named with Montanus and various others, none of whom is either Successus or Paulus and all of whom are victims of the same persecution at the same place (presumably Carthage). Lucius, Montanus, and the others named with them used to be commemorated in the RM on February 24; the present commemoration (Jan 18) conflates the two groups and drops the companions in each group. The RM calls all three bishops and has them suffer in the Decian persecution.

Evetius (d. 303).  The fourth-century Syriac Martyrology and the sixth- or seventh-century (pseudo-)Hieronymian Martyrology record for today a martyr of Nicomedia called Euhetis in the Syriac text and Evetius in the Latin one. The correspondence of the day with that of the execution in Nicomedia of the unnamed Christian high official said by Eusebius and by Lactantius to have suffered for defacing there a public copy of Diocletian's initial edict at the outbreak of the Great Persecution makes it likely Evetius was the person in question.
   For reasons that are not clear, St. Ado of Vienne entered into versions of his martyrology (including the so-called Parvum Romanum, until 1984 widely thought to be a text of late antique origin) an elogium of this saint under September 7 and under the name Iohannes.  Usuard adopted "John of Nicomedia" from Ado and the Roman Martyrology adopted him from Usuard, always keeping the September date until the RM's revision of 2001, when Evetius was restored to both the date and the Latin form of the name recorded in the earlier martyrologies.

Demetrias (d. 425) was the daughter of a wealthy Roman family, born at the end of the 4th century. She fled from Rome in 410 to escape the city's sack by the Visigoths. Taking refuge in Carthage, she heard Augustine give a sermon and from then on lived as a Christian virgin. Demetrias returned to Rome in time and founded a basilica on the Via Latina dedicated to St. Stephen.

Praetextatus/Prix (d. 586) became bishop of Rouen in 549 and held the office 35 years. He got involved in Merovingian power politics, especially falling foul of Fredegunde, whose sins he had publically denounced. She engineered Praetextatus' condemnation by the council of Paris in 577 and exile on a small island for six years, but he was restored in 584, being permitted to return by King Guntram of Burgundy. An assassin sent by Fredegunde stabbed him to death in his own church on Easter Sunday (he was stabbed in the armpit while saying Matins.)

Adela of Blois (d. 1137) Adela was the youngest daughter of William the Conqueror and Mathilda.  She married Stephen of Blois, was active in French politics, seems to have been responsible for getting Stephen to go on the Crusade of 1101 after he abandoned the first crusade, and, when he died on the latter venture, was very active in endowing monasteries and churches.

Costanzo of Fabriano/Costanzo Servoli/Costanzo di Meo/Constantius/Costante (d. 1481 or 1482) was born in today's Fabriano in the Marche. At the age of fifteen he entered the Order of Preachers; among his teachers were St. Antoninus of Florence and Bl. Corradino of Brescia. He was prior at Dominican houses at Fabriano, Perugia, and Ascoli Piceno. A noted public preacher with a reputation for austerity and holiness, he helped calm civil dissent at Fabriano in 1469 and at Ascoli Piceno in 1470/71. Exceptionally devoted to prayer, Costanzo made a point of daily recitation of the Office for the Dead. He was also a reformer and biblical scholar. When he died, he received a public funeral, and the town council declared his death a "public calamity."
   Costanzo died on this day at Ascoli Piceno, where he was laid to rest in his Order's church of St. Peter Martyr and where he was locally venerated. In 1496 a fellow Dominican stole Costanzo's head and brought it to Fabriano, where by 1503 it was in the convent of San Sebastiano (it's now said to be in the cathedral). Costanzo's cult was papally confirmed in 1821 with a Mass and Office.
   Ascoli Piceno's chiesa di San Pietro Martire was begun in 1280 and was completed in the fifteenth century. The headless Costanzo reposes under the altar in the left-hand apse.
   In this late fifteenth-century painting by Lorenzo d'Alessandro da Sanseverino of the Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine of Siena, now in London's National Gallery, the Dominican beatus at front right is thought to be Costanzo: http://tinyurl.com/36mugq
      A greatly expandable view is here, a little less than halfway down the page: http://tinyurl.com/3bx5z2
      That painting is part of a now dismembered altarpiece whose top is in the Uffizi in Florence: http://tinyurl.com/2dk4xw


happy reading,
Terri
--
"It's not the verbing that weirds the language -- it's the renounification."
- Mahk Leblanc
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