medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (11. August) is the feast day of:
1) Digna of Todi (??). D. is a local saint of Todi in Umbria whose putative remains were translated in 1301 along with those of St. Romana (23. February) to that city's newly constructed church of St. Fortunatus, begun in 1292. Her connection with Romana (dubiously said to have been a virgin hermit if the early fourth century) has led to the supposition that she too was a virgin hermit of late antiquity. Todi's statutes of 1335 made D.'s feast day a public holiday. D.'s cult was once widespread in Umbria. One visible remainder of it is the thirteenth-century apse of a church dedicated to her (Santa Degna) at today's Montignano di Massa Martana (PG).
Herewith some views of Todi's Tempio di San Fortunato:
http://www.todi.net/fortunato.htm
http://www.moveaboutitaly.com/umbria/todi_san_Fortunato_it.html
http://tinyurl.com/kl6uj
Interior:
http://tinyurl.com/onxkt
http://www.thais.it/architettura/Gotica/HR/345.htm
http://www.thais.it/architettura/Gotica/HR/346.htm
Details (architectural and pictorial):
http://www.abiyoyo.com/italia/umbria/Todi2/Todi.htm
2) Cassian of Benevento (4th cent., supposedly). This less well known saint of the Regno is the traditional fourth bishop of Benevento. He is also said to have been buried in that city's eighth-century monastic church of Santa Sofia. In the twelfth century one of Santa Sofia's dependencies was a now vanished parish church dedicated to C. Elsewhere in Campania C. is the probable eponym of an also now vanished monastery at today's San Cassiano di San Potito Sannitico (CE). Though today is C.'s day of commemoration in the RM, his traditional _dies natalis_ and feast day is tomorrow, 12. August. The proximity of that date to the feast of the better known St. Cassian of Imola (13. August) has led some to suppose that today's C. is really the latter re-imagined for local purposes as an early bishop.
Some views of Santa Sofia (completed, 762):
http://tinyurl.com/yrtne8
http://colloca1.interfree.it/vistalaterale.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/22j6er
http://www.giannonebn.it/storiacitta/foto/interno.jpg
3) Equitius of Valeria (d. by 571). All we know about this less well known saint of the Regno comes from St. Gregory the Great's _Dialogues_ (1. 4). A contemporary of St. Benedict of Nursia and of Montecassino, he was active as a founder and supervisor of monasteries in the Roman province of Valeria (parts of today's Lazio and Abruzzo) and was himself abbot at a place that seems to have been near ancient Amiternum. One may read about his exorcisms and miracles here:
http://tinyurl.com/2sgutt
According to Gregory, E. was buried at an oratory of St. Lawrence. A monastery dedicated to L. at today's Marruci di Pizzoli (AQ), not far from the remains of Amiternum, was in existence by the ninth century; E.'s putative remains were venerated in in the crypt of its church, now Pizzoli's much rebuilt chiesa di San Lorenzo. Some views of the church and of its Cripta Equiziana:
http://tinyurl.com/27w7h5
http://www.marruci.it/7.htm15.jpg
http://www.marruci.it/3.htm5.jpg
http://www.marruci.it/3.htm7.jpg
http://www.marruci.it/3.htm6.jpg
http://www.marruci.it/3.htm8.jpg
Quarters of the nearby city of L'Aquila were settled from outlying towns in the late twelfth or early thirteenth century and had churches dedicated to those towns' patron saints, including Marruci's St. Lawrence. Over time these churches reclaimed from the towns of origin what were now also these quarters' patron saints. E.'s turn came in 1461, when his relics were "discovered" at San Lorenzo in Marruci and translated to the homonymous church in L'Aquila. In the eighteenth century these were removed to their present location, L'Aquila's Chiesa di Santa Margherita della Forcella. Herewith two views of E.'s present resting place in that church's chapel dedicated to him:
http://www.cappellaunivaq.it/foto%20S.%20Margherita/42b.jpg
http://santiebeati.it/immagini/Original/91219/91219.JPG
At L'Aquila, where he is one of the city's patron saints, and at Marruci di Pizzoli E. has been celebrated on 12. August since at least the fifteenth century. Today is his day of commemoration in the new RM (2001, rev. 2004). This very weekend a scholarly conference devoted to E. is taking place in Pizzoli:
http://www.ilcapoluogo.it/content.php?article.4547
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
|