medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (25. March) is the feast day of:
Good Friday, by western Christian reckoning. Of course not a feast
day, but I felt I ought to mention it.
The Annunciation, which feels strange to celebrate on Good Friday. I
assume that Good Friday trumps the Annunciation. Is the A. moved to
another day in years like this one?
Dismas (d. c. 29) Dismas is the name given to the Good Thief
crucified with Jesus. An Infancy gospel includes the story, popular
in the Middle Ages, that Dismas and Gestas (the Bad Thief) were
highwaymen and robbed the holy family on the way to Egypt. Gestas
wanted to kill them; Dismas bought him off with 40 drachmae; the
infant Jesus then predicted that the two would be crucified with him
and that D. would go to paradise.
Barontius (d. c. 695) Barontius a pleasure-loving sort of guy who
decided to become a monk at Lonray in Francia. He gave his wealth to
the poor---but secretly kept some back for a rainy day. He soon fell
severely ill and had a series of visions of several saints, hell and
purgatory. After that he gave away the last of his possessions, made
a pilgrimage to Rome, and then settled down as a hermit near Pistoia.
Hermenland (d. c. 720) Hermenland was born near Noyon. He became a
courtier at the Merovingian court, but convinced his father to let
him become a monk at Fontenelle. H. later led a group of 12 monks to
establish a monastery in the Loire estuary and evangelize the area
around Nantes. H. was a famous miracle-worker, and was also
recognized as a prophet.
A modern saint: Margaret Clitherow (d. 1586) Margaret was the
daughter of a prosperous candlemaker, who married the butcher John
Clitherow in 1571. A few years after the marriage, M. converted to
Catholicism. She was notorious. Her husband was repeatedly fined
because Margaret wouldn't attend the services of the Church of
England; she was even imprisoned for two years, and on her release
set up a Catholic school. She even sent her oldest son to Douai to
study, for which she was put under house arrest for over a year. M
was also a prominent hider of fugitive priests. In 1586 her house
was searched, and a missal and mass vessels were discovered. She was
found guilty of hiding priests and executed at York by being pressed
to death. M. was canonized in 1970 as one of the 40 Martyrs of
England and Wales.
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