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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Today (10. July) is the feast day of: 1) Felix and Philip; Martial, Vitalis, and Alexander; Silanus; Januarius (?). These martyrs are entered under today in the _Depositio martyrum_ of the Chronographer of 354 as saints of various Roman cemeteries: Felix and Philip in the cemetery of Priscilla; Martial, Vitalis, and Alexander in the cemetery of the Jordani; Silanus in the cemetery of Maximus (but _Novati_ -- possibly Novatianists -- have stolen his body); Januarius in the cemetery of Praetextatus. Beyond that we know nothing about them. In the (pseudo-)Hieronymian Martyrology they appear, characterized as brothers, among the Roman saints of this day. A widely copied brief, legendary Passio (BHL 2853; earliest witnesses are of the ninth century) made them not only seven brothers but also the sons of St. Felicity of Rome (23. November; like Januarius a saint of the cemetery of Maximus). This text, in which Januarius comes first and Silanus is called Silvanus, has them jointly tried before the prefect Publius and martyred in different ways at his command under an emperor Antoninus whom many, seemingly forgetful of the fact the Severans also called themselves by that name, have supposed to indicate either Antoninus Pius or Marcus Aurelius. The ninth-century martyrologies of Wandalbert of Prüm, St. Ado of Vienne, and Usuard of Saint-Germain also present these saints as Felicity's seven sons; the latter two also follow the Passio in having Januarius come first and in calling Silanus Silvanus. The trial of the Seven Brothers and Felicity of Rome as depicted in an earlier fourteenth-century copy (1348) of the _Legenda aurea_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (Paris, BnF, ms. Français 241, fol. 157v): http://tinyurl.com/ybdavag The martyrdom of the Seven Brothers and Felicity of Rome as depicted in a later fifteenth-century copy (1463) of Vincent of Beauvais' _Speculum historiale_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (Paris, BnF, ms. Français 50, fol. 388v): http://tinyurl.com/y9ntrq9 Felicity of Rome and her seven sons as depicted in the Beloit College copy of Hartmann Schedel's _Nuremberg Chronicle_ (1493) at fol. CXIIIIr: http://tinyurl.com/y8kenyp 2) Rufina and Secunda (d. 257?). Absent from the _Depositio martyrum_ of the Chronographer of 354, Rufina (also Ruffina) and Secunda are named together among the Roman martyrs of this day in the (pseudo-)Hieronymian Martyrology. They have a widely copied legendary Passio (BHL 7359; earliest witnesses are of the ninth century) that presents them as sisters who refuse arranged marriages after their intendeds had apostasized during what is called the persecution of Valerius and Gallienus and who instead take a vow of virginity. After failing to force them abandon their vows the rejected marriage partners denounce them as Christians. Brought before the prefect Junius Donatus, Rufina and Secunda resolutely refuse to abjure their faith by sacrificing to idols, are beaten and then miraculously emerge unscathed from several execution attempts, and at last are martyred outside the city, one being decapitated and the other being beaten to death. Although this text seems late antique in origin, one of the lists brought together by the Chronographer of 354 records a Junius Donatus as city prefect under Valerian in 257 (he's also attested, again from a non-narrative source [the Roman _Fasti_], as consul in 260). The usual assumption is that his appearance in the Passio of Rufina and Secunda derives from earlier tradition rather than from learned or lucky verisimilitude in a Passio all of whose characters are supplied with proper names and, consequently, that these saints really were victims of the Valerianic persecution. Still according to their Passio, Rufina and Secunda were executed at place called Buxus in a wood on the Via Cornelia (a probable misnomer for the Via Aurelia); their bodies, left for beasts to consume, were given honorable burial by a matron named Plautilla to whom they had appeared in a vision. Their martyrial church at the tenth milestone from the city on the Via Cornelia is a fixture in the seventh-century guidebooks for pilgrims to Rome. When the now vanished church was founded is unknown. It was the seat of the suburbicarian diocese of Silva Candida, which latter (though not the church itself) is attested as early as 501. The diocese was united with that of Porto in about 1119 as that of Porto and Santa Rufina. Anastasius IV (1153-1154) is said to have translated the bodies of Rufina and Secunda to a newly built altar in their honor in the Lateran. An illustrated, Italian-language page on the originally twelfth-century chiesa di Sant Rufina in Cesano, a _frazione_ of Valle Castellana (TE) in northern Abruzzo (a former dependency of the abbey of Farfa, this church was rebuilt in the thirteenth century and again in the twentieth after being badly damaged by the earthquake of 1943): http://www.seripubbli.it/Paesi/SantaRufina.htm 3) Anatolia and Victoria (?). A notice of these saints from a post of 31. July 2010 (but for today's date) is here: http://tinyurl.com/7rejkmk In the first paragraph of that earlier notice, for the link to Anatolia and Victoria as depicted in the mid-sixth-century mosaics of Ravenna's basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo please substitute this (photograph courtesy of Genevra Kornbluth; Anatolia at left and Victoria at center): http://www.kornbluthphoto.com/images/ApNNorth3.jpg 4) Athanasius of Pentaschino (d. 6th cent.?). This poorly documented Cypriot saint (also Athananasius of Pentaschoinon; in Greek, Athanasios Pentaschoinites) is first attested from two of his miracles as recounted the seventh-century _Narrationes_ of St. Anastasius the Sinaite. In the first of these, when Athanasius was about twenty he was accused by his stepmother of wasting the household's provisions through acts of hospitality; at his request his father examined the store and found all -- wine, oil, and wheat -- miraculously reconstituted. Not long after this the charitable young man died. Appearing to sailors caught in a storm, when asked who he was he identified himself to them by name and then guided the vessel to safety near Pentaschoinon, the coastal town in which he had been born. Proceeding to that place, the sailors asked one of the locals (who, unbeknownst to them, was Athanasius' father) where the church of St. Athanasius could be found. He responded that there was no such church but when the sailors described the saint he recognized him as his son, brought them to Athanasius' grave, and asked him if he had saved these seamen. From the grave Athanasius responded that indeed he had. Later still, a metropolitan of Damascus paid a visit to the saint's grave. Thus far Anastasius the Sinaite. Athanasius' medieval cult is attested to by images in churches on Cyprus where he is depicted as a young deacon (which does not mean that he was one; the ascetic St. John Lampadistes, not known to have been a cleric, is also so depicted). The fifteenth-century chronicler Leontios Macheras characterizes him as a worker of healing miracles. Athanasius' own church at Pentaschoinon / Pentaschino fell victim to an earthquake in 1491. In recent centuries his cult had fallen into desuetude but in 2000 it was restored at today's village of Agios Theodoros in Basiliko (Larnaka prefecture), some six kilometers distant from the ruins of his church. Athanasius has yet to grace the pages of the RM. Athanasius of Pentaschino as depicted in a probably earlier thirteenth-century fresco (1201-1225; restored in a campaign lasting from 1969 to early 1972) in the church of the Panagia Amasgou at Monagri (Limassol prefecture) in the Republic of Cyprus: http://tinyurl.com/83qs4vx The remains of Athanasius' church at Pentaschino: http://tinyurl.com/7epo8kv Excavation in 2004 and 2005 in what's left of the crypt resulted in what has been interpreted as the site of Athanasius' tomb. 5) Knud the King (d. 1086). Here's what Phyllis Jestice had to say about this saint in a 'Saints of the day' post for 19. January 2004: "Knut (Canute) was a bastard son of King Sweyn III of Denmark. When he became king he zealously set about establishing the church in Denmark in accordance with canon law and sending missionaries to the Balts. In his spare time he tried to invade England twice. His introduction and enforcement of tithing helped encourage a revolution by his brother, which led to K's death at Odense. He was regarded as a martyr and canonized in 1101, but his cult was demoted to local status in 1969." One could add that Knud was the father of Bl. Charles the Good (2. March), count of Flanders, and an uncle of St. Knud Lavard (7. January; St. Knud the Duke). Today is his _dies natalis_. Prior to its revision of 2001 the RM commemorated him under 19. January, his traditional feast day in Odense. Knut's relics on display in the crypt of his cathedral in Odense: http://tinyurl.com/7ere3lb http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexpriest/3934915384/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stknutsbones.jpg The relics on their way to be CT-scanned in 2008: http://tinyurl.com/7ytp9yp An illustrated, Danish-language account of that project: http://tinyurl.com/7pg9lkv Some views of the present, mostly thirteenth-century St. Knut's cathedral in Odense, consecrated in 1499 (the tower is late sixteenth-century): http://www.flickr.com/photos/26603050@N02/2864490140/lightbox/ http://tinyurl.com/2xpd7k http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/fniAuIkrYBYkb50Xp6ExVg http://tinyurl.com/ys8y7m The altarpiece by Klaus Berg (1521): http://www.flickr.com/photos/26603050@N02/2864517752/lightbox/ 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