medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Voir le récent ouvrage de :
Claude Passet, Sainte Dévote, Images d'Histoire, histoire d'images, Monaco,
Editions EGC, 2005
jldeuffic
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Dillon" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2005 10:05 PM
Subject: Re: [M-R] saints of the day 27. January
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Today (27. January) is also the feast day of:
>
> Devota (d. 303, supposedly). According to her Acta of uncertain date
> (BHL 2156; published by the historian of Lerins, Vincent Barralis, in
> 1613 from an old manuscript of the monastery of St.-Pontius at Nice;
> text in the Acta Sanctorum seems not to have undergone humanist
> revision), D. was a Corsican serving girl of Christian upbringing who
> during the Diocletianic persecution refused to sacrifice to the Roman
> gods. So the ruthless official sent to implement the persecution (his
> name is consistently printed as _Barbarus Praeses_, i.e. "Governor
> Barbarian"; whether he's that or merely but still routinely "the
> barbarian governor", we're clearly in the world of stock characters
> here) had her employer, the honorable Euticius Senator ("Senator
> Goodfortune"), secretly poisoned and the still recalcitrant D. tortured
> on an _equuleus_ (a sort of rack) until she gave up the ghost (which
> latter was seen to depart her mouth in the form orf a dove). To avoid
> cremation of the martyr's remains, two priests spiced her corpse with
> preservatives and set off with her in a not very seaworthy boat, headed
> for Africa. Winds and waves came close to sinking their vessel but D.,
> appearing to the pilot in a dream, told him to change course for Monaco
> by following the dove he would see leaving her mouth. He did and their
> boat, which then sank, arrived at the entrance to Monaco's Gaumates
> valley, where she now reposes in a church dedicated to her.
>
> Since some of the names in this account are significant, it should be
> noted that _devota _ signifies in Latin a female who has willingly
> sacrificed her life for a higher cause. In Barralis' text D. is
> consistently called Deivota ("Vowed of God"); otherwise she is always
> Devota (or other-language versions thereof). Her Acta are an instance
> of the not uncommon story of the virgin martyr whose remains have more
> or less miraculously come from across the sea; they have specific points
> of contact with Julia of Corsica and Tuscany and with the Translation of
> St. Mark to Venice.
>
> Like Julia, D. is a post-medieval patroness of Corsica. She is also
> patroness of the Principality of Monaco. Her originally
> eleventh-century church near where her body is said to have come ashore
> is shown here:
> http://www.visitmonaco.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageID=166
>
> TinyURL for this: http://tinyurl.com/3t2ob
> http://f1rejects.com/centrale/monaco/small/stdevote.jpg
> http://www.consulatfrance.mc/presence/stdevote.jpg
>
> The "Orthodox Europe" site has a somewhat censorious view of modern
Monaco:
> http://www.orthodoxengland.btinternet.co.uk/oemonaco.htm
>
> But today we are all monegasques.
>
> Best,
> John Dillon
>
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