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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Herewith an earlier 'Saints of the day' for 31. March (including St. Balbina; St. Agilolf of Köln; St. Stephen the Sabaite; St. Guy of Pomposa): http://tinyurl.com/6plhbz8 Further to Balbina: In that earlier post's notice of this saint, clicking on the first of the links to individual views of Rome's chiesa di Santa Balbina produces a schematic outline of the building. Click on that to see the photograph. Further to Guy (Guido) of Pomposa: In that earlier post's notice of this saint, the fourth link to the views of the atrium of the abbey church at Pomposa no longer functions. Use this instead: http://tinyurl.com/7v2rm6b In the same notice, the link to the second view of the abbey's Palazzo della Ragione no longer functions. In the same notice, the statement that Italia nell'Arte Medievale is off-line is happily no longer valid. Today (31. March) is also the feast day of: Benjamin the Deacon (d. ca. 423). We know about this reported victim of Persian anti-Christian persecution under Bahram (Vararanes) V from an account of his suffering in Theodoret of Cyr(rh)us, _Historia ecclesiastica_, 5. 39. 12-24, and from a similar account in Armenian (BHO 7). According to Theodoret, who seems to have been drawing on a source in Syriac, Benjamin was a prominent and eloquent preacher who, after having been beaten and then held in prison for a year, was released at the request of the Roman emperor of the East (this will have been Theodosius II, who had won a string of military victories against Bahram) on condition that he remain silent about matters of religion. But Benjamin returned immediately to his preaching, whereupon he was arrested. After a trial in which he defended himself by appealing to the concept of loyalty (in his case, to the god of the Christians) he was sentenced to have sharp reeds inserted under his nails and in other especially soft parts of his body. When that punishment had been visited upon him more than once Benjamin was finished off painfully by being disemboweled with a knotted stake. Thus far Theodoret. Benjamin as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1313 and 1318; conservation work in 1968) by Michael Astrapas and Eutychios in the church of St. George at Staro Nagorièane in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: http://tinyurl.com/7y29s7k Benjamin (at right; at left, a St. Niphon) as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. ca. 1312 and 1321/1322) in the monastery church of the Theotokos at Graèanica in, depending upon one's view of the matter, either Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija or the Republic of Kosovo: http://tinyurl.com/bsywd4h 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