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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture On 04/06/12, I wrote: > Catherine of Pallanza (Bl.; d. 1478). ... A member of a seemingly prominent family of Pallanza in today's Verbania (VB) in northern Lombardy, Catherine (in modern Italian, Caterina; in contemporary references, also Catelina) became an hermit in the vicinity of an already existing Marian pilgrimage church on the Monte Sacro of Varese in about 1466 when she was a little less than twenty years old. Er, in about 1456 (this is calculated back from the ca. sixteen years of her residency on Varese's Monte Sacro reported by the duke of Milan in a letter of late 1472). Apologies for the typo. 6. April is also the feast day of: 1. Irenaeus of Sirmium (d. 303?). Irenaeus, bishop of Sirmium (a predecessor of today's Sremska Mitrovica in Serbia) is entered under this date in the both the originally later fourth-century Syriac Martyrology and in the (pseudo-)Hieronymian Martyrology. His Passiones in Latin (BHL 4466), in Greek (BHG 948-951), and in Old Church Slavonic make him a victim of the Great Persecution who after he had been imprisoned and tortured resolutely refused to offer sacrifice to false gods and who then was executed by decapitation with his body being cast into the city's river (now the Sava). The seemingly rather legendary nature of these texts makes it difficult to place much credence in their construction of Irenaeus as a very young man, married and with children (his parents, his wife, and his kids are all said to have pleaded tearfully with him in prison to obey the imperial edicts). Orthodox and other Eastern-rite churches celebrate Irenaeus of Sirmium on 26. March. Although most larger medieval martyrologies of the Roman Rite follow the (ps.-)HM in entering this saint under 6. April, the early RM followed one that, exceptionally, has him under 25. March (i.e. with an erroneous _VIII. Kal. Apr._ instead of _VIII. Id. Apr._); he remained there until the RM's revision of 2001. 2. Ælfstan / Elstan (d. 981). The very little that is known about this bishop of Wiltshire (from 970 onward) comes from Wulfstan of Winchester's (Wulfstan Cantor's) prose Vita of St. Æthelwold (BHL 2647) and from such twelfth-century sources as John of Worcester's _Chronicon ex chronicis_ and the cartulary chronicle of Abingdon abbey. He may have been the priest Ælfstanus who witnessed donations to that house in 942 or 944. Wulfstan recounts a miracle tale (later versions are in the Abingdon chronicle's treatment of Æthelwold's abbacy and at William of Malmesbury, _Gesta pontificum Anglorum_, 2. 83) in which Æthelwold found Ælfstan, who had charge of the abbey's kitchen, busying himself there rather than delegating the work to an assistant. Seemingly as a way of memorably indicating to Ælfstan that he should not be engaged in menial tasks, the abbot instructed him to put his hand into a vessel of boiling water and to fetch from it a bit of food. Ælfstan, who had a reputation for being very obedient, did as he was told and suffered no harm to his hand. Wulfstan adds that Ælfstan subsequently became abbot (if Abingdon is meant its charters do not bear this out; Michael Lapidge suggests that Ælfstan was abbot of the Old Minster itself) and later was elevated to the see of Wiltshire. Medieval records of Ælfstan's having received a cultus are lacking; his feast day on 6. April is first recorded in Wilson's _Martyrologe_ (1608). Ælfstan has yet to grace the pages of the RM. 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