medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
At 06:39 PM 6/13/2003 -0700, Phyllis wrote:
>Today (13. June) is the feast day of:
>
>Peregrinus of Aquila (d. c. 600) bishop of Aquila in southern Italy,
>Peregrinus tried to convince the Arian Lombards to show mercy to a
>condemned prisoner. They then drowned P. in a nearby river, so apparently
>he didn't succeed.
"bishop of Aquila" would be a neat trick, if it were true. The modern city
of L'Aquila (note the presence of the definite article, standard for this
toponym), capital of today's Abruzzo, became an episcopal see only in
1257. When there came to be a L'Aquila is unclear (the traditional view of
its founding by Frederick II relies on a diploma now thought to be a
forgery), but the chief Roman town in the vicinity was Amiternum (whose
site has been discovered at nearby San Vittorino). Peregrinus, then, if
there is any historical truth to his Passio (described in the _Bibliotheca
sanctorum_, vol. 3, p. 1163, as "molto favolosa"), will have been bishop of
Amiternum.
In case anyone is wondering how a saint whose name begins with the letter P
gets treated in an early volume of the _Bibliotheca sanctorum_, the answer
is that according to his Passio this martyr bishop, though called
Peregrinus, was really named was Cetheus. And so, though the modern _Roman
Martyrology_ prefers Peregrinus, one will find him under this other name in
such scholarly compilations as the _Bibliotheca sanctorum_ and Carnandet's
editio novissima of the _Acta Sanctorum_ (Junii tomus tertius, pp.
181-87). Peregrinus, we are told at the end, is his cult name in Zara,
whither his corpse was miraculously translated after his martyrdom. So
this Passio is of Dalmatian, not Abruzzese, origin; in the form given in
the _Acta Sanctorum_ it also seems to be early modern rather than medieval.
Best,
John Dillon
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