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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture According to his earlier eleventh-century Vita (BHL 7963) by abbot Eberwin of Trier, the polyglot Symeon (also Simeon; sometimes called "of Syracuse") was a native of Syracuse whose father was Greek and whose mother was Calabrian (as Greek-speakers were then quite numerous in the East Roman theme of Calabria, the distinction suggests that she belonged to a Romance-speaking element of its population). When he was seven he was brought by his father, who was about to go off on a military campaign, to Constantinople where he was educated for the church. At the conclusion of his studies Symeon traveled as a pilgrim to Jerusalem and then supported himself for seven years as a tour guide in the Holy Land (presumably, this is when he learned the Coptic, Syriac, and Arabic that Eberwin says he could speak in addition to Greek and Latin). Thereafter he entered religion at the monastery of the BVM in Bethlehem, where he was ordained deacon; after two years he withdrew to the famous monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai, where he saw the Unburnt Bush and in whose vicinity he then lived for some years as a solitary, prayerfully withstanding the usual diabolic temptations. Sent from the monastery to Normandy to collect from duke Richard II a promised donation, Symeon traveled part of the way with his future biographer, who was then returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When he arrived at his destination the duke was dead and the promise was not honored. Symeon soon returned to Palestine as a guide to a group of pilgrims from Trier led by its archbishop Poppo. Accompanying Poppo back to Trier, he had himself immured in a gate in the city's Roman wall. Symeon lived there as a recluse for the remainder of his life, struggling successfully with the devil and dying on this day in an unspecified year (now usually given as 1035). He was buried in his hermitage. Thus far abbot Eberwin, who goes on to describe some of Symeon's miracles (mostly healings). Archbishop Poppo procured Symeon's canonization from Rome in very short order (1035 or 1036). In 1037 a collegiate church, sanctified with Symeon's relics, was built into the gate. This lasted until 1804, when Napoleon had most of the church removed as part of a restoration effort (the gate is the famous Porta Nigra). Today is Symeon's day of commemoration in the Roman Martyrology. Some views of the Porta Nigra: 1) north side (showing an added apse): http://tinyurl.com/jgmkp2r 2) north side (with the church) in the late eighteenth century: http://tinyurl.com/hyb4kwe 3) south side (showing an added apse): http://tinyurl.com/hv4xc3x 4) south side (with the church) in the later seventeenth century: http://tinyurl.com/j95rjyj Symeon of Trier as depicted (being captured by pirates on his way to Normandy) in the later twelfth-century Weissenau Passional (ca. 1170-1200; Cologny, Bibliotheca Bodmeriana, Cod. Bodmer 127, fol. 216v): http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/fmb/cb-0127/216v/0/Sequence-865 http://tinyurl.com/jpa5lqp Best, John Dillon ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: subscribe 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: unsubscribe 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/medieval-religion