medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Aspren (late 1st / early 2d century). Today's less well known saint
from the Regno was by all accounts Naples' first bishop. Apart from
that, we really don't know anything about him. His first mention, in
the initial portion (9th-century) of the _Chronicon episcoporum sanctae
neapolitanae ecclesiae_, puts him at the head of the list and tells us
that A. loved the poor, that he willingly received people of all
stations, and that he daily led the people to the way of salvation.
Who could want to hear anything more specific or revealing?
The Neapolitans, apparently. The also 9th-century _Vita sancti
Athanasii episcopi_ (BHL 735) is the first witness to an enduring local
legend whereby St. Peter himself ordained A. as Naples' first bishop.
More detail was provided in the same century by the _Vita sancti
Aspren_ (BHL 724; a sermon read on A.'s yearly feast): this tells us
that Peter, passing through Naples on his way from Antioch to Rome,
cured A. of an illness, taught him the faith, and baptized him. During
Peter's short stay the city was rapidly converted to Christianity;
before he left, the apostle consecrated A. as bishop at the request of
all the people. In the eleventh century this Vita was polished up
stylistically by Alberic of Montecassino (BHL 725). The _Cronaca di
Santa Maria del Principio_, an ecclesiastical chronicle from the late
13th or 14th century, adds further details (BHL 726). As the first
bishop, Aspren gets good coverage in the 14th-century civic _Cronaca di
Partenope_, whose initial chapters deal with various legendary founders
of the city.
A. was one of the early bishops whose remains were brought from the
city's catacombs to the Stefania, a predecessor of today's cathedral,
by bishop John IV (lo Scriba; 842-49). His chapel in the cathedral has
remains of frescoes executed by Pietro Cavallini in 1308.
The Marble Calendar of Naples (earlier 9th-century) gives today as the
feast of A.'s laying to rest. For much of Naples' history A. has been a
major patron, second only to Januarius himself. Among those named after
him were the nineteenth-century medievalists Gennaro Aspreno Galante (a
local archeologist of note) and Gennaro Aspreno Rocco (a literary
scholar and Latin poet).
Best,
John Dillon
(last year's post, lightly revised)
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