medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture This is the best I can find online of the Annunciation at Llandyrnog in the Vale of Clwyd - http://www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/2655794406/ with Gabriel's bones showing, and what looks like a feathered robe as well as wings Maddy Dr Madeleine Gray Reader in History School of Education/Ysgol Addysg University of Wales, Newport/Prifysgol Cymru, Casnewydd Caerleon Campus/Campws Caerllion, Newport/Casnewydd NP18 3QT Tel: +44 (0)1633.432675 'Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness' (Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms) ________________________________ From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Revd Gordon Plumb [[log in to unmask]] Sent: 24 March 2011 19:59 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [M-R] Feasts and Saints of the Day: March 24 medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Some images of Gabriel: In 14th-C. glass at Cartmel Priory, Cumbria (formerly in Lancashire): http://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/2896883868/ In English glass of c.1425 in the staircase bay window at Locksley Hall, North Somercotes, Lincolnshire: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/2926588937/ In 15th-C. glass in the north aisle of the nave at Holy Trinity, Long Melford, Suffolk: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/2227135074/ In the East window of All Saints, Langport, Somerset (15th-C.) http://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/2680920252/ In a tracery light of St Michael, Heydour, Lincolnshire (nV, A2): http://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/3451536691/ From the tracery of a window in Thurburn's Chantry in Winchester College Chapel as part of an Annunciation: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/3456899182/ In an Annunciation scene in Bay 25 of Bourges Cathedral, gorgeously dressed in a cope: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/4266589238/ c1160, also in Bourges Cathedral, South choir aisle: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/4255015242/ Gordon Plumb In a message dated 24/03/2011 03:51:46 GMT Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes: medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Today, March 24 is the feast of: Gabriel the Archangel - - patron of postal, telegraph and telephone workers, and of telecommunications. Callinicus and Basilissa (d. 250 or 251) We know about Callinicus and Basilissa from Byzantine synaxary accounts, including one in the so-called Menologium of Basil II. In these Callinicus sometimes appears erroneously under the feminine name form Callinica; the latter was used in these saints' entry in the RM until the latter's revision of 2001, when its commemoration of them was also moved from March 24 to March 22. Basilissa is said to have been a wealthy woman who through donations distributed by Callinicus subvened Christians imprisoned during the Decian persecution; Callinicus' arrest and confession led to their joint martyrdom (in Galatia, according to the tradition followed by the RM; at Rome, according to a tradition followed by many Orthodox churches). Irenaeus of Sirmium (d. 304) Irenaeus was bishop of Sirmium (Mitrovica, Serbia), martyred under Diocletian. An early account of his martyrdom survives, telling of how, when he was tortured, his wife, children, and even mother gathered around urging him to sacrifice and save his life. After a period of imprisonment, Irenaeus was beheaded and his body thrown into the river. Timolaus, Dionysius, Paesis, Romulus, Alexander, another Alexander, Agapius, and another Dionysius (d. 305). We know about this group of martyrs of Caesarea in Palestine from Eusebius, _De martyribus Palaestinae_, 3. 3. The first six were young men from various places: Timolaus from Pontus, Dionysius from Tripoli in Phoenicia, Romulus from Diospolis where he was subdeacon, Paesis (the name is a trisyllable and is accented on the 'a') and the first Alexander from Egypt, and the second Alexander from Gaza. These bound their hands as though they were prisoners and, at the outset of a game in which recently condemned criminals were to be exposed to beasts, ran towards the provincial governor shouting that they were Christians and were not afraid of what the animals might do to them. Declining to let these six influence the course of his spectacle, the governor simply jailed them and a few days later (24. March), presumably -- though we are not told this - after they were given the formality of a trial -, had them executed by decapitation along with Agapius, who had already suffered many horrific tortures (and who is to be distinguished from another Agapius, arrested in the same year, also frequently tortured, martyred at Caesarea in 306, and celebrated on 21. November), and with the other Dionysius, who had been aiding the others while they were imprisoned. Pigmenius (d. 362) was a priest in the city of Rome; during Julian the Apostate's reign, when Christians were no longer being protected by imperial favor, a non-Christian mob caught Pigmenius and martyred him rather ignominiously by throwing him in the Tiber. Caimin/Cammin of Inniskeltra (d. 653) A member of the royal family of Connacht and a notable scholar, Caimin was a hermit on Inniskeltra (an island in Lough Derg, Ireland). He attracted many disciples and ended up founding a monastery on the Island of Seven Churches. Part of a psalter he copied out still survives. Hildelith/Hildelid/Hildelitha/in Latin, Hildelita/in French, Hildelite/in German, Hildelit (fl. c700) was the second abbess of the double monastery at Barking in Essex, founded in the seventh century by St. Erkenwald (Earconwald). St. Aldhelm's prose De virginitate is dedicated to her and to the sisters there. It is possible to infer from Aldhelm's work that not a few members of the community were wealthy noblewomen who had divorced their husbands in order to become brides of Christ. That description may also fit Hildelith; certainly she was well educated. Hildelith knew St. Boniface well enough to have communicated to him details of a vision of heaven and hell seen by a monk of Wenlock in what is now Shropshire. John of Tynemouth's _Sanctilogium_ has a Vita of Hildelith drawn chiefly from Bede's matter on Barking at Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, 4. 6-11 but also including now unprovable assertions that Hildelith was venerated in the tenth century. Post-Conquest Barking commemorated her deposition on this date. Goscelin of Canterbury (d. in or after 1107) wrote lections for her Office at Barking, where in the early fifteenth century she was celebrated both today and on the octave. According to Bede, Hildelith was an energetic abbess who ruled for many years and who maintained strict discipline. Hildelith seems never to have graced the pages of the RM. She is commemorated in the Order of St. Benedict, in the sanctoral calendar of the Carmelites of France, and in the Eglise Orthodoxe de France. Aldemar (d. c1080) was a native of Capua who became a monk at Monte Cassino. He was appointed director of the nobly founded the monastery of San Lorenzo at Capua, and while there performed miracles and got the soubriquet "the Wise." He also served as chaplain to a nunnery at Capua but worked so many miracles that it was embarrassing, so he was recalled to the monastery. He escaped a feud over him between Monte Cassino and princess Aloara of Capua, and fled to Bocchignano in Abruzzo, where he founded a monastery; while there, bees made a hive in his cupboard, and he would not allow them to be disturbed. He founded several other communities also. William of Norwich (d. 1144) William has a notorious place in Christian history as the first supposed victim of Jewish ritual murder. He was 12 years old, killed on Holy Saturday. And the story developed that he had been slaughtered by the Jews of the town, as part of a great international conspiracy to kill one Christian child a year during holy week, in contempt of Christ. William's cult was very popular for over a century, but died out by the middle of the fourteenth century. John of the Staff/Giovanni dal Bastone (Blessed) (d. 1290) John was an early Silvestrine Benedictine in the Marche. Our information about him comes primarily from a Vita ascribed to his contemporary, Andreas Jacobus of Fabriano, the author of the oldest Vita of the congregation's founder St. Silvestro Guzzolini. A native of the Paterno near Fabriano, John studied with Silvestro at Bologna. After an injury that left him lame he returned to Fabriano and opened a grammar school that became a local success. At the age of thirty he became a Silvestrine monk. Ordained priest by the bishop of Camerino shortly thereafter, he spent the remainder of his active life as a preacher. Today is his dies natalis. John was buried in the church of San Benedetto in Fabriano. Miracles took place at his tomb, a cult arose, and he was soon honored with an altar in the church. In 1586 the church was rebuilt and John was translated to a place of honor in the crypt, where the staff he used in life is said to be preserved next to his elevated tomb. He was beatified in 1772. Popularly considered a saint, he entered the RM in 2001 as sanctus. Katherine of Sweden/Katarina av Vadstena/Katerina Ulfsdotter (1381) Katharine was the fourth child of Ulph Gudmarsson, prince of Nierck, in Sweden, and S. Bridget (Birgitta Birgersdotter of Finsta). At the age of thirteen she was married to a young nobleman, Eggard Lydersson; their union was never consummated (later it was said that both had taken a vow of chastity). When after a few years her father died and with her husband's permission, Katharine undertook a pilgrimage with her mother to various holy places, spending 25 years at her mother's side and finally came to Rome, where S. Bridget died in 1373. Katharine returned to Sweden with her mother's remains and became abbess of Vatzen, in the diocese of Lincopen, on March 24th, 1381. She spent the remainder of her life there and at Rome, working for her mother's canonization and directing the nascent Order of the Most Holy Savior (the Bridgettines). Her own cult was confirmed in 1484 with a feast day of March 22. The Bridgettines now celebrate her today. Simon of Trent (d. 1475) Simon was a 2-1/2 year old boy who died under mysterious circumstances. The local Jewish community was accused of having crucified him; a number of Jews were killed, the synagogue destroyed, etc. In 1478 Simon's canonization was considered, but rejected. In 1588, however, the cult was approved, especially because of the number of miracles that had been worked at Simon's tomb. Simon was removed from the Roman martyrology in 1965 and his veneration forbidden. Happy reading, Terri Morgan -- "An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don't." Anatole France ********************************************************************** 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 ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html ********************************************************************** 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