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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Today, February 24, is the feast day of: Caesarius of Nazianzus (d. 369) A member of a very saintly family, Caesarius studied at Alexandria and then returned home to practice medicine. He was so successful that he was called into government service and served at Constantinople as imperial physician under Constantius II and Julian. Members of his family persuaded him to resign his post under Julian but Caesarius returned to service under Jovian and Valens. In 368, while serving as quaestor for Bithynia, he narrowly escaped death in an earthquake. Thus reminded that his life could be brief, he was baptized and left the imperial service to become a penitent. He had given his fortune to the poor when in the following year he died prematurely. We know about Caesarius from his funeral oration by his brother, St. Gregory of Nazianzus. Æthelberht /AEthelbert of Kent (d. 616) Aethelberht became king of Kent in 560 and was king when Christian missionaries led by St. Augustine not-yet-of Canterbury arrived in 597. Married to a practicing Christian (Bertha, a daughter of the Frankish king Charibert), he received this party graciously, gave Augustine a place to live in the decayed Roman town of Canterbury (Kent’s capital), and probably within the year was himself baptized. AE. provided the land at Canterbury on which the monastery of Sts. Peter and Paul (later St Augustine's Abbey) was built, intending the latter's church as his family's future burial site. He used his influence in the kingdom of the East Saxons to provide a site for bishop St. Mellitus' church of St Paul's in London and was helpful in promoting conversions there as well as in his own realm. He ruled for 56 years. We know about Æthelberht chiefly from St. Bede the Venerable's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum and from two mentions by St. Gregory of Tours. Æthelberht's name appears in liturgical calendars starting in the thirteenth century but usually under 25 or 26 February (24 February being medievally, as it still is Germany, the feast of St. Matthias the Apostle). Æthelberht promulgated the first written law code in England. This is in English rather than in Latin and presumably reflects the missionaries' creation of a written form of the vernacular. Here's a view of a twelfth-century copy: http://gallery.nen.gov.uk/image73492-segfl.html Walburga of Heidenheim (d. 779) Walburga was born in c. 710 in England to a family of saints (both parents, an uncle, and two brothers are saints as well as sisters Willibald and Winebald). At the wish of her uncle Boniface, Walburga came to Germany in 750 where she joined the convent of Tauberbischofsheim, then the double monastery of Heidenheim. After two years working with St. Lioba, Walburga was made abbess of the double monastery, which she led from 761 until her death. Walburga is most famous posthumously: medicinal oil flowed from the rock around her tomb at Eichstatt. A very popular saint, numerous churches are dedicated to Walburga in Europe and America, and oil from her shrine in Eichstatt is sent to places throughout the world. Walpurgisnacht (30 April-1 May) has nothing to do with her, except the coincidence that 1 May is the feast of Walburga's translatio. Avertanus and Romaeus (1380) The parents of Avertanus, of Limoges, France, were at first averse to their son’s intention of entering religious life, dreading to be separated from him. But he reassured them, “I am not forsaking you…I have you engraved in my heart and soul.” At this, his parents gave their consent, and he humbly kissed their feet. Avertanus entered the Carmelite Order, becoming a lay brother, content with the lowliest tasks. His rich prayer life was marked by frequent ecstasies. In the dead of night he would crawl on his hands and knees to the top of a nearby hill to pray there until dawn. Avertanus obtained permission to make a pilgrimage to Rome with a fellow Carmelite brother, Romaeus. But before reaching Rome, Avertanus contracted the plague, spending his final hours in a hospital near Lucca, Italy. On his deathbed, he prayed, “Come, sweet Jesus, with your infinite mercy; help this soul devoted to you.” In response to his plea, he experienced a luminous vision of Christ and the Blessed Mother, in which Christ said to him, “Come, beloved soul…into the rest of your Savior.” Shortly after Avertanus’ death, Romaeus also died of the plague. Constantius of Fabriano (blessed) (d. 1481) Constantius was born in Fabriano (Italy) in 1410. Constantius was a child of precocious piety, his prayers even curing his bedridden sister. He entered the Order of Preachers in Florence at the age of fifteen, where the death of St. Antonius was made known to him the moment it took place. He was a good administrator, though, went on to serve as prior in both Florence and Perugia. He was noted for his penitential life and prophetic visions, as well as for his miracles. When asked why he so seldom laughed, he replied: 'Because I do not know if my actions are pleasing to God'. He was beatified in 1821. Sebastian Aparicio (1600) - to escape temptations to sin, he decided to go to Mexico, where he helped religious communities with mundane tasks. happy reading, Terri -- "It's not the verbing that weirds the language -- it's the renounification." - Mahk Leblanc [log in to unmask] ********************************************************************** 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