medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Thursday, March 17, 2005, at 6:42 pm, Phyllis wrote:
> Today (18. March) is the feast day of:
> Frigidian (d. c. 588) Frigidian (or Frediano) was an Irishman,
> according to tradition the son of one of Ireland's many kings. He
> went on pilgrimage to Italy, and once there became a hermit near
> Lucca. In time F. became bishop of Lucca. After the Lombard
> invasion, F. rebuilt the cathedral and did a good job helping the
> needy. Tradition says he formed his clergy into a community and
> lived with them.
F.'s _dies natalis_ is 18. March. But his liturgical feast is 18.
November, the date of the translation of his relics to the church in
Lucca that bears his name. Probably this is a post-Vatican II calendar
change, instituted for that same reason as the change in Gregory the
Great's feast day.
Frigdianus (as he is called in the oldest mss. of the _Dialogues_ of
Gregory the Great, where he appears at Bk. 3, chap. 9) achieved great
success as a hydraulic engineer. According to the passage in Gregory,
F. was a bishop of Lucca (probably quite close to Gregory in time,
though opinions differ on this), a city then menaced by frequent
flooding from the river Ausarit (also Ausur or Auser; anciently in two
branches, one of which is today's Serchio). F. solved the problem by
taking up a small rake and then commanding the river, now miraculously
compliant, to follow a new course that he traced with the agricultural
implement that has since become his defining iconographic attribute. It
is quite likely that F.'s name was orginally Frigidianus, though
Frigianus (i.e., "Phrygian") is another possibility. Early spellings of
his name vary considerably and it took many centuries for the form
Fridianus to win out. Today he he is known all over Tuscany, where his
cult is widespread, as San Frediano (but though he has a rake it would
be wrong to think of him as Farmer Fred).
A co-patron of Lucca, F. now reposes in the church named after him
(apparently not the first on this site), the golden mosaic of whose
facade is justly famous:
http://www.knowital.com/html/lucca_-_church_of_san_frediano.html
http://www.provincia.asti.it/edu/smgoria/sfrediano.htm
And not to overlook its 12th-century baptismal font:
http://www.thais.it/scultura/sch00513.htm
http://www.thais.it/scultura/image/sch00513.htm
Best,
John Dillon
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