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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture On 08/20/11, I wrote: > Magnus "of Trani" (?). This less well known saint of the Regno, also known as M. of Fondi and M. of Anagni, is widely venerated in southern and central Italy. The (pseudo)-Hieronymian martyrology enters him under today as a martyr of Fabreteria, now generally understood to be Fabreteria Vetus or today's Ceccano (FR) in southern Lazio, the general region in which his cult appears to have originated. > <SNIP> > Fondi's monastery of St. Magnus is of uncertain age; legendarily, it was founded by the town's sixth-century bishop St. Honoratus to honor M., whose remains H. is said to have brought there. When in the later eleventh century St. Peter of Agnani (P. of Salerno; 3. August) was building his town's then new cathedral, he devoted the main altar of the crypt to M., who according to local legend (already present in Peter's closely posthumous Vita and more fully recorded in a translation account, BHL 5175) had been translated first from Fondi to Veroli and later from Veroli to Anagni for safekeeping during a period of Muslim incursions. The diocese of Veroli is recorded from the late tenth century as having had a church dedicated to M. at today's Ceprano (FR). > > M.'s altar in the crypt at Anagni: > http://tinyurl.com/2f9x9pa > A twelfth-century fresco in that crypt depicts M.'s laying to rest at Fondi (this is the first in a sequence depicting M.'s translation to Anagni): > http://tinyurl.com/5lrjb3 I don't know what I was smoking when I wrote that last bit about the fresco of the laying to rest at Fondi. But it must have been strong. The fresco in question is in fact the last of its sequence (whose subject matter starts before M.'s translations); it depicts M.'s laying to rest in Anagni after his translation from Veroli. The sequence itself begins to the viewer's left of the crypt's main apse, continues across the lower register of the apse frescoes, and ends on the wall to the viewer's right of that apse, starts with a depiction of pagans burning M.'s cross, followed by a scene of M.'s martyrdom in the vicinity of Fondi: http://tinyurl.com/3lqmu49 The sequence continues across the apse with scenes of M.'s translation from Fondi to Veroli: http://tinyurl.com/4yjoxle of his causing the death of horses belonging to Muslims who were occupying Veroli: http://tinyurl.com/3ha4287 of the Muslim king Muca's release of M.'s body for transportation to Anagni: http://tinyurl.com/3bjklav and of M.'s arrival at Anagni: http://tinyurl.com/3pqfc9p http://tinyurl.com/3hqhu7f The sequence then ends with that depiction of M.'s laying to rest in Anagni: http://tinyurl.com/5lrjb3 All the paintings in this sequence are by the First Master of (the crypt of) Anagni, assisted by others in his workshop. The First Master used to be dated to the earlier thirteenth century but his work in this crypt now is usually assigned to the years around 1179 (the date of the cathedral's consecration by Alexander III). The paintings in the crypt (which also include famous scenes from the Apocalypse) were restored in the later nineteenth century and again -- extensively -- in the late twentieth century. In order of appearance, three relatively recent, book-length treatments of them are: Giammaria, Gioacchino, ed., _Un universo di simboli. Gli affreschi della cripta nella cattedrale di Anagni_ (Roma: Viella, 2001). Cappelletti, Lorenzo, _Gli affreschi della cripta anagnina. Iconologia_ (Roma: Editrice Pontificia Universitą Gregoriana, 2002; Miscellanea historiae pontificiae, vol. 65). Bianchi, Alessandro, ed., _Il restauro della Cripta di Anagni_ (Roma: Istituto Centrale per il Restauro -- Artemide Edizioni, 2003). Best again, John Dillon ********************************************************************** 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