Today, October 28, is the feast of:
Simon Zelotes/Cananaeus and Jude/Judas Thaddaeus/Jude of James (first century) Apostles, culted together in the West perhaps because their relics were translated to St. Peter's, Rome together on this day. Simon was called either the Canaanite of the Zealot (because of his zeal for the Jewish law before his conversion) in the gospels. He disappears from history after Pentecost. Menology of Basil (Eastern Tradition) says he died peacefully in Edessa, but in Roman liturgy he first preached in Egypt and then joined Jude in Mesopotamia; they went together to Persia were they were martyred together. The lack of clear tradition about his martyrdom can be seen in the variety of his iconographic attributes, including a fish (or two), a boat, an oar, a cross, or a saw (one legend says he was sawed in half).
Similarly, Jude (usually identified with Thaddaeus and the author of the Epistle of Jude) was one of the Big Twelve (apostles, that is), a brother of James the Less and related to Jesus in some way. He is little known after Pentecost, except for the martyrdom story just mentioned and seems to have suffered by being confused with Judas Iscariot. Bernard of Clairvaux carried a relic of his. Jude's special patronage of hopeless causes began in the early 19th century. Jude is usually shown in art carrying a club - the instrument of his martyrdom. Scholarly opinion now holds that this Jude is not the author of the epistle of Jude. The two have a legendary, originally late antique Passio that calls Simon 'Simon Chananaeus' and Jude 'Judas Zelotes' and that narrates their evangelizing and martyrdoms on this day in what would appear to be Parthia. Or perhaps Armenia, where they are traditionally considered its apostles along with St. Bartholomew and where Jude (as Thaddaeus) and Bartholomew are commemorated jointly on November 28. In many Eastern-rite churches Simon is celebrated on May 10 and Jude is celebrated on June 19.
Simon and Judas in a panel painting of c1324-1325 by Ugolino di Nerio, once part of his now dismembered Santa Croce Altarpiece and now in the National Gallery in London: http://tinyurl.com/yha7k85
The two overcoming demons in the presence of magi and the king of Babylon as depicted in a later fifteenth-century (1463) illustrated copy of Vincent de Beauvais' Speculum historiale in the translation by Jean de Vignay (Paris, BnF, ms. Français 50, fol. 335v): http://tinyurl.com/yjht8us
Simon and Judas accused by magi as depicted in an even later fifteenth-century (c1480-1490) illustrated copy of Vincent de Beauvais' Speculum historiale in the translation by Jean de Vignay (Paris, BnF, ms. Français 245, fol. 148v): http://tinyurl.com/yfsrxtx
Simon (at left, with the saw by which he is often said late medievally to have suffered) in a panel of the high altar (1503 or 1504) of the Münster St. Marien und St. Jakobus in Heilsbronn in Bavaria: http://tinyurl.com/yhe4wkc
Simon and Jude (in that order) as depicted in the later thirteenth-century frescoes of the ceiling of the baptistery of Parma:
http://www.cattedrale.parma.it/img/voltabatt/55-simone_Z.jpg
http://www.cattedrale.parma.it/img/voltabatt/53-taddeo_Z.jpg
The martyrdom of Simon and Jude as depicted in the (c1285-1290) Livre d'images de Madame Marie (Paris, BnF, ms. Nouvelle acquisition française 16251, fol. 70r): http://tinyurl.com/367scnm
An expandable view of the martyrdom of Simon and Jude as depicted in a copy of French origin of the Legenda aurea (San Marino, CA, Huntington Library, ms. HM 3027, fol. 148r): http://tinyurl.com/23svh5f
Simon's crucifixion as depicted in a May calendar scene in the frescoes (c1312-1321/1322) in the nave of the monastery church of the Theotokos at Gračanica: http://tinyurl.com/262wyrv
The martyrdom of Simon and Jude as depicted in an earlier fourteenth-century illustrated collection of French-language saint's lives (Paris, BnF, ms. Français 183, fol. 53r): http://tinyurl.com/2wfojoh
Simon and Jude as depicted in a copy (1348) of the Legenda aurea in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (Paris, BnF, ms. Français 241, fol. 286r): http://tinyurl.com/36wvlnh
Jude as depicted in fresco (c1440) by Bicci di Lorenzo, formerly in the cathedral of Florence and now in its Museo dell'Opera del duomo: http://tinyurl.com/yhmo9m5
Simon as depicted in a glass window (c1440-1450) in the Church of St. Mary, Orchardleigh (Somerset; photographs by Gordon Plumb):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/2490918776/ Detail (Simon): http://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/2490098431/
Jude as depicted in a glass window (c1440-1450) in the Church of St. Mary, Orchardleigh (Somerset; photographs by Gordon Plumb):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/2490116547/ Detail (Jude): http://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/2490936478/
Simon (at right; at left, St. Matthew) and Jude (at left; at right, St. Matthias) as depicted in fifteenth-century tracery panels of the same window in the Church of St Mary the Virgin at Melbury Bubb (Dorset; photograph by Gordon Plumb):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/3480767394/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/3479960857/
Anastasia and Cyril (d. c253) The old Roman Martyrology tells that Anastasia was a young Roman woman living with a group of consecrated virgins who was publicly mutilated as a Christian in the reign of Valerian; being tortured with fire and scourges, having her breasts cut off, her nails torn out, her teeth broken and her hands and feet cut off before being beheaded. During the torture she asked for water, which a man named Cyril brought; he was then executed as a Christian sympathizer. Their historic existence is doubted. Their Greek Passio says she was a consecrated virgin, taken before the prefect and stripped naked, after which she was tortured as per above.
Ferrutius of Mainz (d. c300) was a Roman soldier in Mainz, martyred during Diocletian's persecution of Christians.
Fidelis of Como/of Samolaco (d. c303) The cult of Fidelis is ancient. Two legends exist about Fidelis, both telling that he was in the army. In one version, he tried to desert with a couple of Christian companions when the persecution of Maximian broke out, but was caught and executed at Como. The other legend tells that he was an officer who helped five Christian prisoners in Milan, escaping with them toward the Alps, only to be caught and executed. Both Como and Milan claim his relics. Fidelis is also known as Fidelis of Samolaco, after the town in Sondrio province near the supposed site of his martyrdom.
Fidelis and companions are in a number of medieval texts of uncertain date. Fidelis, whose cult is at least as old as the sixth century, when he is mentioned by Ennodius, got as far as today's Novate Mezzola in Lombardy. Here, on the shore of the Lago di Mezzola (just north of the Lago di Como), he was clubbed, crucified, and decapitated. Whereupon a great storm arose, accompanied by lightning and terrifying the martyr's killers. One of the latter buried Fidelis at the site of his execution.
An English-language translation of BHL 2922 is here: http://www.ucc.ie/milmart/Fidelis.html
In 964 Fidelis' relics were translated to Como and deposited in a church formerly dedicated to St. Euphemia but now rededicated to him. He is the subject of a sermon by St. Peter Damian. Milan has relics of Fidelis housed in an interesting late sixteenth-century church dedicated to him.
Vincent, Sabina, and Christeta (d. 306, supposedly) are martyrs of Ávila (today's Ávila de los Caballeros). The earliest testimony to their existence, the seemingly pre-conquest Mozarabic hymn Huc vos gratifice, plebs pia, convocat, tells us nothing about them.
These saints have a legendary Passio (earliest witness is of the tenth century) whose narrative part is thought to be of the late eighth century and that makes them a brother and two sisters, originally of today's Talavera de la Reina, who are martyred with great cruelty at Ávila on October 27 in some year during the Great persecution, and whose remains, exposed to the elements outside the city, are protected by a great snake. According to this text, the snake attacks a Jew who had come to despoil the bodies and wraps itself violently around him. Recognizing in this an evident miracle, the Jew then converts to Christianity and builds on the site a church dedicated to the martyrs.
Honoratus of Vercelli (d. c410) was trained by St. Eusebius, and followed his master into exile and long wanderings in Egypt, Cappadocia, etc. Eventually Honoratus returned to the west, where in 396 he became bishop of his home town of Vercelli at the recommendation of St. Ambrose.
Abraham of Ephesus (6th century) built the monastery of the Abrahamites by the Golden Gate at Constantinople, and also a Byzantine monastery near Jerusalem. In time, he became archbishop of Ephesus, and was a noted writer on religious topics.
Salvius or Saire (sixth century) was a hermit in the forest of Bray in Normandy; no vita exists, only breviary lessons about him.
Faro/Burgundofaro (in French, Faron) of Meaux (d. c672) We know about Faro chiefly from his own not very reliable ninth-century Vita by bishop Hildegar of Meaux. Faro, who is thought to have been the brother of St. Fara or Burgondofara, abbess of Faremoutier, and St. Chainoaldus of Laon, is said to have grown up in the court of Theudebert II of Austrasia and to have passed from there to that of Chlotar II and the latter's successor Dagobert I, whom he served as chancellor. He and his wife decided to enter religion and, once they had separated, Faro became a cleric of Meaux. In about 626 Faro became that city's bishop. He is said to have wrought various miracles. Late in life he founded the monastery at Meaux that bore his name. In his day it was Columbanian but within a century it had become Benedictine. In 762 it became the mother house of the re-founded abbey of Prüm in the Eifel. Faro worked hard to convert people, won a reputation as a miracle worker, and cared for the poor. An early Romance work is known as the Cantilene de St Faron.
Expandable views of illuminated pages of a fourteenth-century breviary for the Use of Saint-Faron de Meaux are accessible from here:
Leodardus (in French, Léodard) (d. 7th or early 8th century) is a local saint of Soissons who first appears in the surviving record in litanies composed there during the reign of Charlemagne. He has an exiguous Vita preserved in the late medieval "ancient" breviary of Soissons that makes him an unlettered but very pious and chaste baker in the service of what then will have been the double monastery of Notre-Dame at Soissons. A layman and famous for miracles operated in his long lifetime, he was buried in that city's church of St. Martin; his relics later were translated to the abbey church of Notre Dame, where they were suitably enshrined. In about the year 1300 his head was placed in a silver reliquary. The latter was still present when the Vita was written in the form that we have it.
Hainmar (d. c731) was bishop of Auxerre, but quarreled catastrophically with the king of the Franks and was executed.
Remigius of Lyons (d. 875) was a member of the Carolingian royal family. He was first archchaplain and confidant of Emperor Lothar I and King Charles of Provence, and then in 852 was named archbishop of Lyons. Remigius is perhaps most notable for supporting the "heretic" Gottschalk in the ninth-century theological controversy over predestination.
Edsin (d. 1050) was chaplain to the king of Denmark. Thanks to Cnut's conquest of England, that put Edsin in a good position to become bishop of Winchester and then archbishop of Canterbury in 1038.
Happy reading,
Terri Morgan
--
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg1yw8D3glE&feature=share
"To highlight some of the critical work being done at the Goodman Cancer Research Centre, we gathered some of our top scientists, students, lab techs and dedicated volunteers, who turned on the music - and danced!" They get a donation every time someone hits "like" under their video. :)