medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (20. July) is the feast day of:
Aaron (Orthodox Church) (16th cent. BCE) Brother of Moses and first
Jewish high priest.
Elijah (also Orthodox) (9th cent. BCE) The prophet.
Aurelius (d. 429) Aurelius became bishop of Carthage in 392. He
ended up completely overshadowed by his friend Augustine of Hippo,
but Aurelius too was an important fighter of Donatism and Pelagianism.
Flavian (d. 512) and Elias (d. 518) Flavian became patriarch of
Antioch in 498; Elias was elected patriarch of Jerusalem in 494.
Both were zealous opponents of monophysitism and both played a
prominent role at the synod of Sidon in 512, called to denounce the
Council of Chalcedon---instead, the council ended up siding with the
pro-Chalcedonian F and E. The emperor, Anastasius I, was not amused.
Elias was exiled to Aila on the Red Sea, where he eventually died;
Flavian spent the rest of his life in Petra (Arabia).
Vulmar (d. c. 700) Vulmar was a native of Boulogne. After he was
forcefully separated from his wife (I don't know why) he became a
monk in Hainault. After a time as a hermit he was founding abbot of
Samer Abbey near Calais, and also founded the convent of
Wierre-aux-Bois.
Wilgefortis (?) Wilgefortis (aka Liberata, Kummernis, or Uncumber)
is a pious fiction. The tale tells that she was one of nine
daughters of a non-Christian Portuguese king. Her father wanted her
to marry the king of Sicily, but W. had secretly taken to
Christianity and vowed to remain a virgin. So she prayed for help in
resisting this marriage and grew a luxuriant beard, which for some
reason her suitor found off-putting. Dad was so mad that he had her
crucified. The theory is that the story was inspired by a crucifix
on which Jesus was wearing a full-length robe; an imaginative viewer
thought this had to be a crucified woman.
A modern saint: Gregory Lopez (d. 1596) Not an "official" saint,
although efforts to canonize him began in 1752 and his cult is very
popular in Mexico. Gregory was a page at the court of Philip II.
But in 1562 he went to Mexico, where he became a hermit, living among
the natives in the area of modern Mexico City.
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