medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (10. September) is the feast day of:
1. Pulcheria (d. 453). Aelia Pulcheria was a daughter of the emperor
Arcadius and an elder sister of the emperor Theodosius II, who in 408
succeeded to the purple when he was seven and she was thirteen. Six
years later, she was granted the title Augusta. Personally very pious,
she took a vow of virginity and urged her two sisters to do the same
(thus reducing the risk that an ambitious husband might do away with T.
and attempt to succeed by virtue of his marriage). P. gets the credit
for the aggressively pro-Christian tone of T.'s legislation, which
throughout his reign sought to make things difficult for pagans and,
especially, for Jews. In the controversy between the patriarchs
Nestorius (of Constantinople) and Cyril (of Alexandria) she sided with
the latter and pressured T. to exile Nestorius after he (N.) had been
condemned by the Council of Ephesus. After T.'s death in 450 she was
married to his militarily chosen successor Marcian, maintaining (her
supporters said) her virginity nonetheless. In 451 the two of them
called the Council of Chalcedon. P.'s support of what became
Chalcedonian orthodoxy probably had at least as much to do with her
recognition as a saint by the churches of Rome and of Constantinople as
did her extensive works of Christian charity. Nestorians and
Monophysites did not think well of her.
Many portraits of P. on coins may be accessed here:
http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/pulcheria/i.html
Brief accounts of P. and of T. (the latter including consideration of
P.'s regency) by modern scholars contributing to the _De imperatoribus
Romanis_ site are here:
http://www.roman-emperors.org/pulcheria.htm
http://www.roman-emperors.org/theo2.htm
P.'s entry in the _Suda_ incorporates a Nestorian assessment:
http://tinyurl.com/j22y3
2. Oglerius (Ogerius, Ogier) of Trino (or of Lucedio; blessed; d.
1214). Born in today's Trino (VC) in Piedmonst, O. entered religion,
probably as an oblate, at the nearby Cistercian abbey of Locedio
(today's Lucedio), founded from La Ferte' in 1124. Together with his
abbot, Peter II, he was employed as a papal emissary during the crusade
preparations of Celestine III and Innocent III. When Peter (who was
later archbishop of Thessaloniki and Latin patriarch of Antioch) became
abbot of La Ferte' in 1205, O. succeeded him as abbot at Locedio.
O. is best known for his two surviving sermon collections, the
_Tractatus de laudibus Sanctae Dei Genetricis_ ('Treatise of Praises of
the Holy Mother of God'; before 1205) and the _Expositio super
Evangelium in Coena Domini_ or _Super Evangelium in Ultima
Cena_('Exposition on the Lord's/Last Supper'; 1205-1214). The first,
addressed to nuns, is an effective piece of spiritual writing in
dialogue form, with the Virgin narrating events of her life in her own
voice. One section of it, separately transmitted as Mary's _Planctus_
('Lament'; there are varying fuller forms of this title), was soon
attributed to St. Bernard, as was also the _Expositio_ (re-attributed to
O. only in 1653). O.'s remains are in the parish church of San
Bartolomeo at Trino. His cult was confirmed in 1875.
A distance view of the former abbey of Locedio (now a rice farm) is here:
http://www.vercellink.com/fotografie/lucedio-abbazia.php
After various early modern rebuildings there is little left that's
medieval other than this thirteenth-century octagonal belltower:
http://web.tiscali.it/teses/places/vc/lucedio/smaria/lucedio11.jpg
http://web.tiscali.it/teses/places/vc/lucedio/smaria/campanile.jpg
Best,
John Dillon
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