medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (30. October) is also the feast day of:
Gerard of Potenza (d. 1122?). Like Roger of Canne (30 December), Gerard is
a twelfth-century bishop-saint from southern Italy about whom we are very
poorly informed. Unlike Roger, though, he does have a medieval Life
(Roger's dates from the late 15th or early 16th century). This is written
in the persona of Gerard's otherwise undocumented successor Manfred, who
claims to have been a partial eyewitness to the actions and events
recounted. Unfortunately, these latter are for the most part reported in
very general terms, though we _are_ told that G. came from a noble family
of Piacenza (in the Italian north), that he was elected bishop of Potenza
late in life and served only eight years, and that his canonization _viva
voce_ by Calixtus II (d. 13 or 14 Dec. 1124) was announced in Potenza by
several bishops (one of whom was not yet in office at the start of the
first Lateran council, 18 March 1123). Local tradition has G. dying in
1119 but, if he is correctly recorded as having signed a bull of Calixtus'
issued at Catanzaro in 1121, he was still alive in the latter
year. Whereas Filippo Caraffa ("Gerardo, vescovo di Potenza", _Bibliotheca
Sanctorum_, vol. 6, col. 189) is sceptical about this Life's historic
value, recent ecclesiastical historians (Walther Holtzmann, Norbert Kamp,
Giancarlo Andenna, Hubert Houben) treat it as factual. G. will have been
not atypical in being a north Italian appointed to a southern see probably
in consequence of renewed papal activity and interest in the region, and
the tireless preaching which he is reported to have performed will be
symptomatic of the spread here of papally promoted ecclesiastical
reform. His cult is attested from 1250, when his remains were moved to a
place of honor in Potenza's cathedral (which is now named after him); a
public spectacle of disputed origin, the "Sfilata dei Turchi" ("Parade of
the Turks") occurs annually on 29 May, the date of this translation, and is
clearly connected to his role as patron of the city. Thanks to the first
of the few miracles specifically recorded in his Life, G. is also
considered a patron of cripples and the paralytic.
Manfred's Life of Gerard, which takes the form of a floridly written
sermon, will be found in Carnandet's editio novissima of the _Acta
Sanctorum_ at Octobris tom. XIII., 467-70. Surrounding matter (pp. 464-67,
470-72) includes the usual historical introduction, hymns and other verse
from an apparently late-medieval office honoring Gerard, and a Neo-Latin
hymn to him said to be used in the cathedral "today."
Best,
John Dillon
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