Francine Nicholson wrote:
>
> > From: CA Muessig [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> >
> > Today, 24 June, is the feast of ...
> >
> > * the birthday of John the Baptist - it's a holiday in Quebec; salut la
> > bas!
> >
> > In relation to the feast Butler writes:
> > St Augustine remarking that the Church celebrates the festivals of
> > saints on the day of their death, which in the true estimate of things
> > is their great birthday, their birthday of eternal life, adds that the
> > birthday of St John the Baptist forms an exception because he was
> > sanctified in his mother's womb, so that he came into the world
> > sinless.
> >
> Is it known when this feast was first celebrated or established? And
> was it intentionally linked to the solstice?
>
> Francine Nicholson
When the feast of St. John the Baptist was first celebrated or
established: I don't know, but we can infer from the preface to
Chronicon Paschale (PG 92 col. 87-89) that by 630 A.D. the feast was not
only celebrated, but object os some controversy, linked to those about
the celebration of Easter (Victor of Aquitaine, or "Roman" celebration
vs. Dionysius Exiguus, or "Greek" observance). The author of Chronicon
remarks that some people, while agreeing with the Chruch in the
observance of Easter, verum quo ad alias festivitates quae in ea
{=Ecclesia] celebrantur plurimum aberrant". One of these other feasts is
St. John: "praeterea in nativitate sancti Ioannis precursoris et
Baptistae, quam recte Dei Ecclesia xxiv mensis iuxta Romanos iunii
celebrat." The feast is, then, a "Roman". i.e. western observance.This
is confirmed by a tract in the ms Ambr. H 150 inf., published, but not
integrally, in PL 129, a sort of encyclopedia on computus. The
compiler(s) draws from various sources and, writing in 809-810 with
older texts at hand, strives to mantain a balanced approach among
followers of Victorius, Dionysius, the Irish Easter observance, etc. For
him, it seems, all this is history. He mentions St. John the Baptists
several times, indeed in connection with the solstice: see PL 129 col.
1297, 1291, 1369. In the calendar (PL 129.1340) the day viii kal. iulii
(24th of June) has the notation: S. Johan. Baptistae. Solstitium.
PL 129.1291: Solstitia duo sunt. Primum hyemale viii kal. jan., quod sol
stat, et crescunt dies, et est ipsa die in Bethleem Nativitatis Domini
nostri Iesu Christi secundum carnem. Alterum aestivale viii kal. iul.,
quod sol stat, et crescunt noctes, et est ipsa die in provincia
Palestinae civitate natale sancti Iohannis Baptistae, et in Epheso
sancti Iohannis evangelistae [could this be an Irish touch? Ambr. H 150
inf. comes from Bobbio].
PL 129.1369: the author says that he found his information about the
birth of St. John the Baptist on June 24 "in commentariis Victorini"
(Victor of Aquitaine): "Iohannes Baptista nascitur viii kal. iul. et
circumciditur kal. iul. [this was news to me, but it's perfectly
logical]. Ad Mariam vero locutus est Angelus viii kal. apr. sexto iam
conceptionis mense Elisabeth habere dicens."
--Pl 129.1297 gives the theological context for the association of
solstices/aequinoces/main feasts of Jesus, Mary, and John the Baptist.
The assimilation Jesus - sun was commonplace in late antiquity. MGH
SSRMerov. has a photo from the Bamberg codex Mscr. Patr. 61 f. 79 with
Jesus and Mary portrayed with the attributes of the sun (radiate crown)
and the moon (crescent). The context, need I say, is astronomical.
Luciana
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Luciana Cuppo Csaki
Societas internationalis pro Vivario
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
http://www.geocities.com/athens/aegean/9891/
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