medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (8. September) is the feast day of:
Nativity of the Virgin Mary
Hadrian and Natalia (d. c. 304) Legend tells that Hadrian was yet
another of those imperial army officers who was impressed by how well
Christians suffered and ended up converting. So Hadrian was arrested
and tortured before being killed. His wife Natalia took one of H's
severed hands with her to Argyropolis---she fled there to escape the
importunities of a suitor. She died peacefully. H. is a patron of
soldiers and butchers.
Eusebius, Nestabus, Zeno, and Nestor (d. c. 362) Eusebius, Nestabus,
and Zeno were brothers who got together and destroyed a temple at
Gaza. They should have checked first who was emperor, though---it
was Julian the Apostate, and he was not about to support Christians
in their vandalism. So the brothers were flogged and imprisoned, and
nothing was done when a mob carried them off and beat them to death.
The lynch mob also got hold of Nestor, who was in prison at the time,
and finished him off, too.
Disibod (d. c. 674) Disibod would probably not be remembered today
if Hildegard of Bingen hadn't been a nun at his foundation of
Disibodenberg. D. was an Irish bishop who emigrated to Germany and
was a successful missionary.
Sergius I (d. 701) Sergius was brought up at Palermo, became a
priest in Rome, and was elected pope in 687. Sergius got embroiled
in a fight with Emperor Justinian II by refusing to sign the decrees
of the Council of Trullanum (all but one of the participating bishops
had been eastern, and acceptance would have met acquiescing to
Constantinople's claims of equality with Rome). Justinian sent
troops to arrest Sergius, but the mob protected him. Beyond that,
S's most important acts seem to have been the consecration of
Willibrord in 695 and his decree that the Agnus Dei be sung at mass.
Corbinian (d. 725) Corbinian was a Frank who, after a solitary life,
became a missionary bishop in Bavaria (he settled at Freising). He
has a rather similar legend to St. Gall's: a bear is supposed to have
killed C's pack horse, and the saint made the bear take over as beast
of burden.
Modern saints: Dominic Castellet and companions (blessed) (d. 1628)
This is a group of 21 men and 1 woman executed at Nagasaki, Japan,
during the great purge of Christians. Dominic Castellet was a
Dominican from near Barcelona, where he served as vicar-provincial.
The rest were Dominicans, Franciscans, and lay people, either burned
alive or beheaded.
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