medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (19. May) is also the feast day of:
Agostino Novello (Augustine of Tarano; blessed; d. 1308 or 1309).
Today's less well known holy person from the Regno, an early luminary
and prior general of the Augustinian Hermits, was born either in Tarano
(RI) near the east central Italian homeland of his order or else, though
other candidates have also been suggested, in today's Termini Imerese
(PA) on the island of Sicily. According to both of his early Lives
(which divide on the matter of his birthplace), he pursued a legal
education at Bologna, becoming a doctor of both canon and civil law, and
served as a high curial official in the kingdom of Sicily in the reign
of Manfred (1258-66). During Charles of Anjou's conquest of the kingdom
he fled either to Apulia or to insular Sicily (again the early Lives
differ), became seriously ill, and determined to enter into religion
should he recover. The tradition of his order is that his intent was to
become a Dominican but divine providence sent him Augustinian Hermits as
guides instead, whereupon he became an Augustinian lay brother with the
name of Agostino (his baptismal name was Matteo), serving first in the
kingdom and later in Tuscany near Siena.
After many years A.'s legal training came to the fore during an
ecclesiastical dispute in the early 1280s. Sent to Rome on behalf of
his order, he assisted Clement of Osimo in revising the order's rule and
was ordained into the priesthood. Quickly rising to prominence, A.
served Nicholas IV, Celestine V (happy Peter Celestine's day to all!),
and Boniface VIII as penitentiary in the Roman curia. Elected prior
general against his will (it is said) in 1298, he assumed this office
under pressure from Boniface. Two years later, before the expected
expiry of his term, he summoned a general chapter of his order at Naples
and resigned, much to the regret (it is said) of both the general
chapter and Charles of Anjou. He retired to the hermitage of San
Leonardo al Lago at Lecceto but remained active in the order's affairs
in southern Tuscany; upon his death he was laid to rest in the church of
Sant'Agostino in Siena, where a cult in his honor quickly developed. A.
(whose byname Novello descends from the tribute 'novus Augustinus'
accorded him in his early Lives) was beatified in 1759; his cult was
confirmed in 1770.
An outstanding visual testimony of the early devotion paid to A. is
Simone Martini's altarpiece in his honor (dated to 1324). A page with
several expandable .jpgs devoted to this masterpiece is here:
http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/s/simone/4altars/5agostin/
(the accompanying notes at times leave something to be desired, e.g.,
the bizarre characterization of Manfred as "the son of Ludwig II").
Best,
John Dillon
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