medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (9. June) is the feast day of:
Primus and Felician (d. c. 297) Elderly Roman patrician brothers (Primus
was reputed to be 80 at the time of their martyrdom) who showed their faith
by visiting imprisoned Christians. When they were arrested, the judge
tried to convince each that the other had apostacized. Then he tried
torture. Finally both were beheaded (although in art Felician is shown
nailed to a tree, and Primus having molten lead poured down his throat).
The translation of their relics to inside the walls of Rome in 640 is the
first known case of such a process.
Pelagia of Antioch (d. c. 311?) Six saints for the price of one--there are
six saints named Pelagia, most of whom seem to have been pious fictions.
Here are two versions: Pelagia I was a notorious dancing girl of Antioch
who repented after hearing a sermon, was baptized, and went to Jerusalem
disguised as a man. There she became a hermit in a cave on the Mt. of
Olives under the name Pelagius; her sex wasn't discovered until after her
death. Pelagia II, perhaps a rather more historical figure, was a disciple
of St. Lucian of Antioch. When soldiers came to arrest her, she asked for
permission to change her clothes first, went upstairs, and threw herself
off the roof. John Chrysostom says that her act was divinely inspired;
other theologians have questioned the propriety of her suicide.
Ephraem the Syrian (d. 373) Ephraem was a native of Nisibis in
Mesopotamia. He was baptized when about 18 and in time became head of the
cathedral school there. E. became a monk after Persians captured Nisibis
in 363. While living in a cave near Edessa he wrote hymns and exegetical
works of great importance. E. was declared a doctor of the church in 1920.
Maximian of Syracuse (d. 594) Maximian was a Sicilian. He became a monk
under Gregory the Great at St. Andrew's in Rome. Like his abbot, though, M
was sucked into papal service. He served as ambassador to Constantinople
for both Pelagius and Gregory, and in 591 Gregory appointed M. bishop of
Syracuse. (I'm curious about this; why did Greg. have the right of
appointment there?)
Columba (Colum Cille) (d. 597) One of the greatest Irish saints. Columba
was a monk at Moville and clonard, and then set out on his own career as a
monastic founder. He founded several monasteries in Ireland, but in 565 he
and twelve companions left Ireland for Iona (an island off
Scotland)---according to legend this was penance for his role in causing a
very bloody battle. Columba did some missionary work in Scotland; his
followers and successors did much more, winning C. perhaps unjustly the
title "apostle of Scotland." Adomnan in his Life of C. depicts the saint
very much as a Christ-imitating holy man of miraculous power.
Dr. Phyllis G. Jestice
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