medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Aspren (also Asprenas; d. earlier 2d cent.?) was by all accounts Naples' first bishop. Apart from that, we really don't know anything about him. Aspren's feast on 3. August is first recorded in the earlier ninth-century Marble Calendar of Naples. His earliest circumstantial mention, in the also ninth-century initial portion of the _Chronicon episcoporum sanctae neapolitanae ecclesiae_, puts him at the head of the list and tells us that he loved the poor, that he willingly received people of all stations, and that he daily led the people to the way of salvation. Who could wish to hear anything more specific or revealing?
The Neapolitans, apparently. Their ninth-century _Vita sancti Athanasii episcopi_ (BHL 735) is the first witness to an enduring local legend whereby St. Peter himself consecrated Aspren as Naples' first bishop. The also ninth-century _Vita sancti Aspren_ (BHL 724; a sermon read on Aspren's yearly feast) tells us that Peter, passing through Naples on his way from Antioch to Rome, cured Aspren of an illness, taught him the faith, and baptized him. During Peter's short stay the city was rapidly converted to Christianity; before he left, the apostle consecrated Aspren as bishop at the request of all the people. Thus far the Vita.
In the eleventh century this Vita was polished up stylistically by the rhetorician Alberic of Montecassino (BHL 725). The _Cronaca di Santa Maria del Principio_, an ecclesiastical chronicle from the early fourteenth century, adds further details (BHL 726). In the fourteenth-century civic _Cronaca di Partenope_, whose initial chapters deal with various legendary founders of the city, Aspren gets good coverage.
The lower level of Naples' otherwise late medieval and early modern chiesa di Sant'Aspreno al Porto utilizes part of a Roman-period baths; from the stylistic evidence of its altar and surviving bits of mural painting its use as a church is thought to go back at least as far as the eighth century. Aspren was one of the early bishops whose remains were brought from the city's catacombs to the Stefania, a predecessor of today's cathedral, by the sainted bishop John IV (lo Scriba; 842-49). His chapel (now known as the cappella Tocco) in the cathedral has remains of frescoes thought to have been executed by Pietro Cavallini in 1308. For much of Naples' history Aspren has been a major patron, second only to Januarius himself. Among those named after him were the nineteenth-century medievalists Gennaro Aspreno Galante (a local archeologist of note) and Gennaro Aspreno Rocco (a literary scholar and Latin poet).
Aspren has long been invoked for assistance against migraines ("Take two Aspren and call me in the morning"?). Today (3. August) is his feast day in the archdiocese of Naples and his day of commemoration in the Roman Martyrology.
A view of the lower level of Naples' chiesa di Sant'Aspreno al Porto:
http://tinyurl.com/jvxa8ey
Two views of the cappella Tocco in Naples' cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta:
http://tinyurl.com/2mwnj4
http://tinyurl.com/2pdvgf
Aspren (at left; at center, St. Peter; at right, St. Candida of Naples) as depicted in a late fifteenth- or early sixteenth-century fresco (ca. 1476-1500 or ca. 1515-1516) in Naples' chiesa di San Pietro ad Aram:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/87272253@N08/11494823385
Best,
John Dillon
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