medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (9. September) is the feast day of:
Isaac the Great (d. 439) Isaac was a song of Nerses I, the
catholicos (sort of a patriarch) of Armenia. I. studied and married,
but when his wife died young he became a monk. He became catholicos
of Armenia too, in 390, and won recognition of an independent
Armenian Church. I. went on to reform religion in Armenia,
encouraging monasticism, fighting Zoroastrianism, enforcing canon
law, etc. He promoted the translation of the Bible and other
religious texts into Armenian and established a national liturgy.
Clearly a busy guy.
Ciaran of Clonmacnois (d. c. 556) Ciaran (or Kieran) was the son of
a Connacht carpenter. Legends concerning him are rich; suffice it
here to say that he founded the great monastery of Clonmacnois and
one legend tells that his fellow abbots were so envious of his
success that they collectively cursed him so he died at the
suspiciously apt age of 33. C. is accounted one of the Twelve
Apostles of Ireland.
Audomarus (Omer) (d. c. 670) Audomarus was born near Coutance. He
and his father became monks together at Luxeuil and after twenty
years A. was named bishop of Therouanne. He reformed the place,
cared for the poor, and founded the monastery of Sithiu.
A modern saint: Peter Claver (d. 1654) Peter was born near Barcelona
and studied at the university there before joining the Jesuits.
Eventually PC was sent as a missionary to New Granada in 1610 (modern
Colombia, I believe). He settled at Cartagena, a major slave trading
center, and spent the rest of his life trying to improve the
conditions of the slaves that passed daily through the city. He is
reported to have converted 300,000 of them in his 40 year
ministry---even instructing them in Christianity and feeding and
helping them in other ways. He harried plantation owners to get them
to treat their slaves decently. He was doubtless helped by a
reputation he won as a prophet, mind-reader, and miracle worker. PC
was not canonized until 1888.
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