medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Wed, 04 Feb 2004 18:07:32 -0800 Phyllis Jestice wrote:
>Today (5. February) is the feast day of:
>Agatha (?) One of the great virgin martyrs, Agatha met her end in Catania
>(Sicily). Legend tells that she was killed off quite gruesomely, including
>having her breasts hacked off by the executioners.
Somewhat later Greek and Latin versions of Agatha's legendary Acta permit the supposition that the latter's lost 6th(?) original already located her martyrdom in the Decian persecution; the two most commonly given dates arising out of this tradition are ca. 250 and, more precisely, 251.
A noteworthy _medieval_ work of art associated with Agatha is her reliquary bust at Catania. Commissioned in 1373 by a bishop of Catania who hailed from Limoges, and executed by the Sienese master Giovanni di Bartolo, it was completed in 1376. The base is early modern and most of the jewelry with which the bust is bedecked is also post-medieval adornment.
Photographs of this bust are here:
http://www.goldsmith.it/us/culturale/storia/sagata/sagata.html
(with English-language text)
http://www.cataniaperte.com/santagata/reliquie/reliquie.htm#busto
(better photographs; also has photos of some of the reliquaries for particular body parts of Agatha)
http://www.comune.catania.it/conoscerect/sagata/le_foto.htm
(many photos; again includes several of A.'s seven other reliquaries, most if not all of which are early modern).
Best,
John Dillon
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