medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (19. October) is the feast day of:
Ptolemaeus and Lucius (d. c. 161) Ptolomaeus was denounced as a
Christian by a man whose wife had left him after Pt. converted her.
When Pt. was sentenced to death, a bystander named Lucius
protested-and was sentenced to death, too.
Varus (4th cent.) Varus was a Roman soldier in Upper Egypt. One of
the seven monks he was guarding preparatory to their execution as
Christians died, and V. offered himself in the guy's place. So V.
was tortured and then martyred.
Cleopatra (4th cent.) Cleopatra was a Palestinian widow who
recovered the body of St. Varus (see above), shipped it home, and
built a shrine. Her son died at the dedication of the church, which
turned her rather against her pet saint, but V. is supposed to have
appeared in a dream and to have told C. that her son was in good
hands. C. was eventually buried in the same church that housed V's
relics, and their tombs became an important pilgrimage center.
Aquilinus (d. c. 695) Aquilinus was a Frankish soldier. He and his
wife eventually settled in Evreux and took to serving the poor. In
c. 670 A. became bishop of Evreux, but spent as much of his time as
possible living as a hermit in a cell near his cathedral.
Frideswide (d. c. 735) I expect that the only reason why anyone has
ever heard of Frideswide is that her shrine was at a little place
called Oxford. Legend tells that F. was a daughter of a local king,
requested as a bride by a neighboring prince. She fled to escape
marriage, and the importunate prince was stricken blind (but got
better). F. then built a hermitage in Thornbury wood and lived there
until her death. She is credited with founding a convent at Oxford.
Modern saints: Isaac Jogues and companions (d. 1646) Isaac Jogues
was a native of Orleans, where he became a Jesuit. He was sent to
Quebec, where he was a very successful missionary among the Hurons
until he was captured with several Jesuit companions by raiding
Iroquois. Several were killed; IJ spent a year being tortured and
mutilated before he escaped. He was sent back to France, but
requested permission to return to Quebec as soon as he had recovered.
Two years later IJ and his companion Jean de Lalande were on their
way to evangelize Iroquois when they were captured by a Mohawk war
band and were beheaded. They are part of a job lot of Jesuit martyrs
canonized in 1930 as the Martyrs of North America.
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