medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (16. April) is also the feast day of:
Cyriac of Buonvicino (d. 11th cent., supposedly). During the tenth- and
eleventh-century expansion of Greek monasticism in today's northern
Calabria a monastery dedicated to the Theotokos appears to have arisen
on the mountain spur overlooking the valley of the Corvino that today
supports the inhabited centre of Buonvicino (CS). By 1327 the monastery
was known as the abbey of Saint C., its name presumably honoring that of
its founder, and its town was called Bonovicino. Today the latter is
Buonvicino (CS) and C. is both its patron saint and a fixture in the
cultic apparatus of the local diocese of San Marco Argentano -- Scalea.
The abbey survived into the early modern period (when it was latinized
is not clear), bringing with it a tradition that C., today's less well
known saint of the Regno, was a native of the area who once lived
eremitically in a nearby grotto and who later entered an also nearby
Greek monastery (both of which are described as being in the historic
territory of Buonvicino), in time becoming its abbot. His fame caused
him to be called to Constantinople, where he cured the emperor's
daughter of demonic possession (a narrative element probably lifted from
the legendary Acta of the Cyriac of 8. August, where however the emperor is
Diocletian) and whence he returned laden with imperial grants for his
monastery of various lands and churches. Whereas C. is said to have
died on 19. September 1030, the tradition in the form currently purveyed
both in the _Bibliotheca Sanctorum_ and on the "Santi Beati" site makes
the the emperor in question Michael IV (ruled 1034-1041). Some who have
seem to have observed this discrepancy place C.'s death instead in the
year 1037. He is said to have been buried in abbey's church, which
after the abbey's closing continued to be called Santa Maria del Padre
(the Padre being of course C.; compare Santa Maria del Patir at Rossano).
Though C. is also commemorated on 19. September (during a five-day
patronalia), his chief liturgical celebration is instead usually today,
celebrating the seventeenth-century discovery of his relics in Santa
Maria del Padre and their placing in a new tomb in his church (this
year, 16. April being Easter, C.'s invention/translation feast has
surely been postponed). Two other bodies, said to have been those of
monks named Cyprian and Basil, were found along with C.; possibly this
is why the church was also once known as Santa Maria dei Padri (plural)
rather than S. M. del Padre (singular). Here's a view of its successor,
today's San Ciriaco Abate:
http://tinyurl.com/syjgs
C. seems never to have had a place in the Roman Martyrology. The
cultural association of the diocese of San Marco Argentano -- Scalea is
named for him and in 1998 he was included in a series of paintings of
diocesan saints that now adorns San Marco Argentano's cathedral. A much
earlier testimony to C.'s cult is his sanctuary at the grotto in the
Corvino valley identified as the one in which he once lived. Whereas
the present _chiesetta_ is a twentieth-century building, it incorporates
columns and carvings from a sixteenth-century predecessor. A distance
view of the approach to the grotto is here:
http://tinyurl.com/lfhmh
A view of the entrance proper is here:
http://insouthitaly.co.uk/regioni/calabria/img/Grotta-S-Ciriaco.jpg
and another view of the place is here:
http://www.festasanciriaco.buonvicino.net/img/17/18.jpg
Note that that statue is of a young C. A huge statue of C. as a mitred
abbot overlooks Buonvicino; though this is modern, and thus completely
off-topic, it would be unfair not to share a few views of it.
Two distance views:
http://tinyurl.com/g8d4j
http://tinyurl.com/mthox
Two closer ones:
http://www.fxguidry.com/italy2003/Calabria/40.jpg
http://utenti.lycos.it/farsa2000/img6.jpg
Happy Easter to all,
John Dillon
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