 |
 |
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Today, September 20, is the feast of: Eustachius/ Eustace, Theopista, Theopistus, and Agapius (d. c118, supposedly) Unknown to early martyrologies and with no known really ancient cult, these saints are the subject of an extraordinarily popular romance-like Passio whose original version was thought by Delehaye to have been that of BHG 641 but that exists in many languages other than Greek. About the only point that can be firmly demonstrated historically is that Eustachius' cult originated in the eastern church and spread in the eight century to Rome and from there to the rest of western Europe. According to this tale, in the reign of Trajan the Roman general Placidus, one of nature's noblemen, was out hunting one day when he saw a stag of surpassing beauty bearing between its horns a luminous cross with the figure of Jesus Christ. This marvelous beast announced its identity to Placidus as Jesus Christ, asked why it/He was being pursued, and invited Placidus and his family to accept baptism. Which they did; Placidus taking the name Eustachius (or Eustathius), his wife Theopista, and his sons Theopistus and Agapius. Still according to the legend, Eustachius was treated as a new Job, undergoing all sorts of privations, as did also his immediate family. One of these that was important for their construction in the later Middle Ages was that they lost all their slaves and their horses and cattle to a plague; as they themselves survived, they became plague-saints. At the end of all these adventures, during which Eustachius had been separated at different times from his wife and sons, they were reunited to take part in celebrating a military victory that Eustachius had won for Trajan. This of course required ritual sacrifice, Eustachius refused, he and his family were condemned. All four, after exposure to wild beasts had proved ineffectual, found quick death in a bronze bull made red-hot by a fire beneath it. Their miraculously unburnt bodies were buried by fellow Christians; when Constantine had ended the persecutions an oratory was built over their grave. The earliest known dedication to Eustachius is that of a diaconal church in Rome attested from the time of pope St. Gregory II (715-731), a predecessor of today's Sant'Eustachio in Campo Marzio. The feast of Eustachius, Theopista, Theopistus, and Agapius was removed from the general Roman Calendar in the latter's revision of 1969. Theopista, Theopistus, and Agapius were dropped from the RM in its revision of 2001 (in Orthodox churches they are still celebrated today along with Eustachius); Eustachius was retained as the saint of the aforementioned diaconal church. He is a patron saint of (among others) Madrid, Matera in Basilicata, Acquaviva delle Fonti in Apulia, and Campo di Giove in Abruzzo. Eustachius is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. See also Nov 2 (2 November in the Sarum Calendar and the Eastern Orthodox date. Eustachius at right on the Harbaville Triptych (tenth-century), now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris: http://tinyurl.com/3m3sj6 Eustachius, Theopista, Theopistus, and Agapius in the bull as depicted in the so-called Menologion of Basil II (Città del Vaticano, BAV, Vat. gr. 1613; later tenth- or very early eleventh-century): http://tinyurl.com/2c4rdpb Eustachius and the Stag in a wall painting (twelfth-century?) in the rupestrian cripta di Sant'Eustachio (a.k.a. Santo Stasio alla Gravina) at Matera in Basilicata: http://www.ilvicinato.com/data/s%20eustachio.jpg , http://www.lacittadelluomo.it/sez03_05_saneustachio.htm Illumination of Eustachius and the Stag in a thirteenth-century psalter of English origin (Venice, Biblioteca Marciana, ms. lat. I, 77 [2397], fol. 6v): http://tinyurl.com/4hhstz Eustachius as depicted ca. 1300 in a fresco attributed to Manuel Panselinos in the Protaton church on Mt. Athos: http://www.myriobiblos.gr/museum/gallery/panselinos/54.jpg Illumination of Eustachius and the Stag in an earlier fourteenth-century collection of French-language saint's Lives (Paris, BnF, ms. Français 183, fol. 231v): http://tinyurl.com/mc667a Eustachius as depicted in the (betw. 1335 and 1350) frescoes of the nave in church of the Holy Ascension at the Visoki Dečani monastery near Peć: http://tinyurl.com/352glx9 , http://tinyurl.com/28kb7pf Eustachius, Theopista, Theopistus, and Agapius in the bronze bull as depicted in a September calendar scene in the (betw. 1335 and 1350) frescoes of the narthex in church of the Holy Ascension at the Visoki Dečani monastery near Peć: http://tinyurl.com/2eqy6cy Dorymedon (d. 2d or 3d century) is entered under this day in the later fourth-century Syriac Martyrology as an ancient martyr (i.e. one who suffered prior to the Great Persecution) of Synnada. Apart from that, we know nothing about him. The legendary and synthesizing Passio of Trophimus, Dorymedon, and Sabbatius (at least three versions: BHG 1853-1855) presents him as a secret Christian who during a [supposed] persecution under the emperor Probus visits Trophimus and Sabbatius at Synnada in Phrygia (today's Şuhut in Turkey) and who a few days later refuses to sacrifice to the Dioscuri. Arrested, Dorymedon is subjected to various tortures, is exposed to beasts together with Trophimus, and is decapitated with him once the animals have declined to slaughter the two saints. Thus far the Passio (insofar as Dorymedon is concerned). Prior to its revision of 2001 the RM commemorated Trophimus, Dorymedon, and Sabbatius on September 19 (which latter, following the practice of the Greek church in this respect, is where the RM still enters Trophimus). The martyrdom of Dorymedon and Trophimus (at left; at right, Sabbatius undergoing torture) as depicted in the so-called Menologion of Basil II (Città del Vaticano, BAV, Vat. gr. 1613; later tenth- or very early eleventh-century): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Menologion_of_Basil_044.jpg The martyrdom of Trophimus, Dorymedon, and Sabbatius (shown with an unnamed female saint) as depicted in a September calendar scene in the (betw. 1335 and 1350) frescoes of the narthex in church of the Holy Ascension at the Visoki Dečani monastery near Peć: http://tinyurl.com/38sr3ts Theodore of Perga and companions (d. 220) A group of four Christians: Theodore and another soldier, Dionysius (a former traditional priest), and Philippa (Theodore's mother) were crucified at Perga (Asia Minor) in Eliogabulus' reign. They are said to have taken three days to die. Fausta, Evilasius, and Maximus (d. 303) Fausta's legend tells that she was a 13-year-old Christian virgin of Cyzicus (now Erdek, Turkey) arrested and tortured at the order of Evilasius, a magistrate, after she had refused to sacrifice to the state gods. According to legend, her executioners first failed to kill her by sawing her in half, then by driving nails through her, and only succeeded when they stuck her in a cauldron of boiling pitch. She so impressed Evilasius that he converted, and together they then converted the praetor Maximus. All three were martyred at Cyzicus (in the Sea of Marmara). Methodius of Olympus (d. 311) Jerome tells that Methodius was a bishop, serving first at Olympus (Lycia) and then Tyre. He was martyred late in the Great Persecution. But, to confuse matters, Jerome's account disagrees with other sources. Methodius was an important author; his works include a dialogue On the Resurrection, written in refutation of Origen, and a treatise on free will against the Valentinians. He also wrote an imitation of Plato's Symposium, with ten virgins sitting together talking. Vincent Madelgar / Madelgarius / Madelgaire (d. c687) was a Frankish nobleman, originally named Madelgar, who married St. Waldetrudis and begat four future saints (Landericus/Landry, Madelberta, Aldetrudis, and Dentelinus). Then the couple separated to enter the religious life; Madelgar, taking the name Vincent, entered the monastery of Haumont (his own foundation). He later founded Soignies, where he became abbot. His vita was written in the abbey of Hautmont in the tenth or eleventh century. Eusebia of St-Cyr (d. c838) Legend tells that Eusebia was abbess of St-Cyr in Marseilles. She and the 39 nuns under her authority are supposed to have been massacred by Muslim pirates. Pomposa (d. 853) Pomposa and Columba were Benedictine nuns in two different convents in Cordoba. The caliph had both convents destroyed and Columba beheaded on September 17. Pomposa, on witnessing her friend's death, then volunteered to die too; she was killed on September 20. They are sometimes celebrated together on September 17. (See Sep 17) Warin of Corvey (d. 856) was the son of St. Ida of Herzfeld, born in c790. He was raised at Charlemagne's court, then entered the monastery of Corbie. In 826 he became abbot of Corbie's daughter house, Corvey, and later also of Rebais. Warin made the new foundation of Corvey flourish, and also is believed to have promoted missionary work in the north, being an active missionary in northern Germany. Adelpertus/Albert of Trent, blessed (d. 1172) was bishop of Trent, from early in the eleventh century until its Napoleonic conquest in 1801 the administrative center of a sizeable imperial territory governed by bishops who in time came to be styled formally as prince-bishops. Albert, who was zealous in the maintenance of episcopal rights - and thus income - within this territory, is said to have used that income generously on behalf of children and of the poor. He was assassinated by a local noble with whom he had been at odds and with whose family the prince-bishops of Trent remained in conflict until 1273. Though Albert was never canonized, his veneration as a martyr seems to have begun almost immediately and from at least the sixteenth century onward he was celebrated liturgically on March 27. Which is where he was in the RM until its latest revision (2001), when his commemoration was moved to today in accordance with the day of his passing given by our one detailed source for this event, the thirteenth-century hagiographer Bartholomew of Trent. Today is his dies natalis. Albert's sarcophagus in the cathedral was once covered with this plaque showing him being run through by a lance wielded by a figure identified in a nimbus-like defined space as one Aldrigitus, i.e. Aldrighetto da Castelbarco, the nobleman said to have committed the murder: http://www.ora-et-labora.net/image015.jpg (see March 27) Thomas Johnson (blessed) (d. 1534) Johnson was a Carthusian priest of the London charterhouse, and thus one of the first martyrs of Henry VIII's separation from Rome. Johnson was one of the Carthusians left to starve slowly in the Marshalsea prison. Happy reading, Terri Morgan -- “The nice thing about studying history is that you can always find people who are a lot weirder than you are.” – Delia Sherman ********************************************************************** 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