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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture On 11/18/11, Terri Morgan sent: > Today, November 18, is the feast of: > Hesychius of Antioch (d. c303) was a Roman officer. When Emperor Maximinian began persecuting Christians, Hesychius threw away his military belt and publicly proclaimed himself a Christian. He was first dressed as a woman and then drowned in the Orontes. > For a somewhat more nuanced account, including a couple of depictions of this saint, see his notice from 2010 (no. 2 at < http://tinyurl.com/7w4ry3m >) under 29. May, the day under which he is now commemorated in the RM. > Barula (304) was a boy of seven. He confessed one God at the urging of Romanus of Antioch; he was then scourged and beheaded. Though this saint's name appears as Barula in the pre-2001 RM, in modern scholarship he is much more frequently referred to as Barulas. A traditional companion in martyrdom of St. Romanus of Antioch, his absence both from our earliest account of the latter's martyrdom (that in the longer version of Eusebius of Caesarea, _De martyribus Palaestinae_) and from the later fourth-century Syriac Martyrology (which names Romanus but not Barulas) suggests that he is legendary. He first appears, it would seem, in Eusebius of Emesa's mid-fourth-century account of Romanus' suffering at _De resurrectione_ 2. 12-16 (thought to draw on local Antiochene traditions) and is a fixture in Romanus' _Passiones_ and other hagiography. In its revision of 2001 the RM dropped Barulas from its notice of Romanus under 18. November; Orthodox churches still commemorate him along with Romanus. A black-and-white reproduction of Barulas' beheading as depicted in Bern, Burgerbibliothek, cod. 264 (an illustrated Prudentius; ca. 900) may be found in Cynthia Jean Hahn, _Portrayed on the Heart: Narrative Effect in Pictorial Lives of Saints From the Tenth Through the Thirteenth Century_ (Berkeley: University of California Press,2001), p. 83. For those with access to Google Books, here's a link: http://tinyurl.com/78l3njf > Romanus of Antioch (d. 304) was a Palestinian who served as a deacon at Antioch. When the Great Diocletianic Persecution broke out, he played a leading role in urging his fellow Christians not to give in, in particular trying to stop a group about to sacrifice to the state gods. He was arrested, of course, flogged, and sentenced to be burned. But the fire was put out in a sudden rainstorm. The emperor ordered Romanus' tongue pulled out - but he still spoke, praising God. Romanus was finally strangled in prison. We know about Romanus from Eusebius and from Prudentius (Peristephanon). > This Romanus is also known as Romanus of Caesarea. As noted above (s.v. Barula), Eusebius of Caesarea's treatment of him occurs in the _De martyribus Palaestinae_. Prudentius' makes him the subject of poem 10 of the _Peristephanon_. An aerial view of, and some illustrated, French-language accounts of, the originally eleventh-century prieuré Saint-Romain-de-Puy in Saint Just-Saint Rambert (Loire): http://www.saint-romain.org/images/p/pri/prieure.jpg http://tinyurl.com/2g49lhw http://tinyurl.com/7tqy5vt [scroll down past the first two churches covered] http://tinyurl.com/chwyekx Romanus of Antioch as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. ca. 1312 and 1321/1322) of the monastery church of the Theotokos at Gračanica in, depending on one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija: http://tinyurl.com/287hw2p Romanus of Antioch (at left; at right, St. Plato of Ancyra) as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1313 and 1318; conservation work in 1968) by the court painters Michael Astrapas and Eutychius in the church of St. George at Staro Nagoričane in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: http://tinyurl.com/3t68eyu Romanus of Antioch as depicted in earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1335 and 1350) in two different locations in the nave of the church of the Holy Ascension in the Visoki Dečani monastery near Peć in, depending upon one's view of the matter, either Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija or the Republic of Kosovo (in the first of these view's he's the saint at the left; in the second he's the saint at the right): http://tinyurl.com/3mu82rv http://tinyurl.com/3mpjtoy > Plato of Ancyra (d. c305) was a young Christian of Ancyra (Turkey) who devoted himself to good deeds. He was decapitated in the Christian persecution. Er, the Diocletianic persecution. This is Plato of Ancyra's feast day in Greek-rite churches. In the Roman rite the day of his commemoration in the RM has long been 22. July. For a somewhat different account of him, with a link to one fourteenth-century depiction of his martyrdom, see this year's notice under that date (n. 2 at < http://tinyurl.com/75gwmyd >). Plato of Ancyra as depicted in a later thirteenth-century fresco (betw. 1260 and 1263) on an arch in the nave of the church of the Holy Apostles in the Patriarchate of Peć at Pec in, depending on one's view of the matter, either Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija or the Republic of Kosovo: http://tinyurl.com/3frfhzg Plato of Ancyra as depicted in an earlier fourteenth-century fresco (1312) in the katholikon of the Vatopedi monastery on Mt. Athos: http://tinyurl.com/3ga64aa Plato of Ancyra (at right; at left, St. Romanus of Antioch) as depicted in an earlier fourteenth-century fresco (betw. 1313 and 1318; conservation work in 1968) by the court painters Michael Astrapas and Eutychius in the church of St. George at Staro Nagoričane in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: http://tinyurl.com/6xzwaxp Plato of Ancyra as depicted in an earlier fourteenth-century fresco (betw. 1335 and 1350) in the parecclesion of St. Nicholas in the church of the Holy Ascension in the Visoki Dečani monastery near Peć in, depending on one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija: http://tinyurl.com/ycvlybd > Frigdianus / Fridianus (6th century?)... A more detailed account of this saint and his cult, with many visuals, will be found in his notice from 2010 under 18. March, his day of commemoration in the revised RM of 2001 (no. 2 at < http://tinyurl.com/76v5fvy >). Frigidianus / Frediano (at right; at left, St. Paul the Apostle) as depicted in a later fifteenth-century panel painting (ca. 1483) by Filippino Lippi, now in the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena (CA): http://tinyurl.com/2549lmp > Calvus (d. 762) All we know about this saint is that the Marble Calendar of Naples calls him both Bishop and Saint and that, according to the late eighth- or early ninth-century first portion of the Chronicon episcoporum sanctae Neapolitanae ecclesiae, he erected an oratory to St. Sossus on top of, or at least high up on, an elevation not far from the city proper. > > In accordance with early medieval practice at Naples, Calvus is dated in its episcopal chronicle (a.k.a. the Gesta episcoporum Neapolitanorum) by reference to reigns of the (East) Roman emperors. His entry concludes with a brief and seemingly incomplete tale - unrelated to him except by chronology - about his contemporary emperor Constantine V slaying first a lion and then a dragon whose foul breath and blocking of an aqueduct were proving lethal to many. > This entry slightly reduces notices from 2006 and 2007 in which it was specified that 18. November was Calvus' feast day _in the (earlier ninth-century) Marble Calendar of Naples_. Those notices were silent about his current feast day and when in subsequent years I could find no indication of Calvus' being still liturgically venerated I dropped this less well known saint of the Regno from my 'saints of the day' postings. Calvus has yet to grace the pages of the RM. Though he is absent from the website of the archdiocese of Naples, his listing in 2001 as the saint of 18. November in the Campanian-based newspaper _Il denaro_ (www.denaro.it) may reflect local liturgical practice. On the other hand, several local governments in central and northern Italy offer on their websites a recent sanctoral calendar in which the saint of 20. March is Calvo di Napoli (Calvus of Naples). That too could reflect current liturgical practice somewhere. Best, 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