medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

Today (31. January) is the feast day of:

Cyrus and John (d. c. 303)  Legend reports that Cyrus was an Alexandrian
physician turned monk and John was an Arab soldier.  They heard that four
Christian women were suffering for their faith at Canopus, so went to
encourage them.  But they drew the attention of the authorities down on
themselves, were arrested, and executed a few days after the women they had
come to help.  Their shrine at Menuthis became very popular, and apparently
included some pre-Christian customs like pilgrims sleeping there to obtain
a healing dream.  C and J's relics eventually were taken to Rome.  In an
interesting (non-medieval) side note, Menuthis kept its new name as
shrine---Abukir, which means "Father Cyrus."  It's the site of Nelson's
great victory over the French navy in 1798.

Marcella (d. 410)  Marcella was yet another of the pious women who
clustered around Jerome.  She was a Roman noblewoman, widowed soon after
her marriae, who organized a conventual-style community in her home.
Jerome became the spiritual leader of this group.  When the Goths sacked
Rome, Marcella was roughed up to make her disclose where she had hidden her
valuables, and died afterwards of the trauma.

Maedoc (Aedh, Aidan) of Ferns (d. 626)  Maedoc was a native of Connacht,
educated in Leinster and in Wales.  He then returned to Ireland to found
the monastery of Ferns (Co. Wexford) as well as several other houses.
Legend reports that Maedoc lived a highly ascetic life, and recited 500
psalms a day.

Eusebius of St. Gall (d. 884)  Eusebius was an Irishman who became a monk
at St. Gall (Switzerland) and soon after that a hermit in the nearby
mountains, where he stayed for 30 years.  He was very highly regarded, by
the Carolingian rulers among others, and in 883 the emperor founded the
Irish monastery of Raetia for E. on the site of his hermitage.  Eusebius
ended up "martyred"---one day he was denouncing a bunch of godless peasants
(thus says my source) and one got so fed up that he whacked E with a
scythe.

Nicetas of Novgorod (d. 1107)  Nicetas was a mok of the Caves monastery
near Kiev.  He became a hermit, against the recommendation of his
superiors.  Sure enough, he fell into an interesting temptation: he read so
much that he forgot to pray, and came to be so attracted by the Old
Testament that he despised the New.  Saved thanks to the prayers of his
brethren, N. overcame temptation, rejoined his community, and in 1095
became bishop of Novgorod.

Dr. Phyllis G. Jestice
[log in to unmask]

**********************************************************************
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