medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (3. November) is the feast day of:
Berard, bp. of the Marsi (ca. 1079-1130). Today's less well known saint of the Regno was a son of Berard IV, count of the Marsi, and thus belonged to a family that had furnished not only several bishops of the Marsi but also at least two abbots of Montecassino as well as Atto, bp. of Chieti and his somewhat famous brother Transmundus, abt. of San Clemente di Casauria and bp. of Valva. B. studied at Montecassino during the abbacy of his kinsman Oderisius I and was called to Rome by Paschal II, under whom he filled various offices. One of these, an ecclesiastical governorship with the rank of count, led to his being briefly held prisoner in a well at Palestrina by a local lord who felt threatened by him. Paschal made him bishop of the Marsi (today's diocese of Avezzano) in about 1110. B. was a notable reformer and at the same time celebrated for his sanctity. He was canonized in 1802.
B.'s cathedral was the now ruined Santa Sabina in the _civitas Marsorum/Marsicana_, today's San Benedetto dei Marsi (AQ) in Abruzzo, shown and discussed (in Italian) here:
http://www.radicchio.it/sanbenedettodeimarsi/page4.html
and here (with a view of the church prior to the earthquake of 1915):
http://tinyurl.com/cmf5r
Thumbnail of the portal here:
http://www.diocesiavezzano.it/
In 1580 the episcopal seat of the diocese of the Marsi was transferred provisionally to the newly rebuilt church of Santa Maria delle Grazie at Pescina (AQ), an arrangement made permanent, with royal consent, in 1630. B.'s relics were transferred hither in 1631. An Italian-language page on this church is here:
http://www.sezione10.terremarsicane.it/chiesemonu/cattedralesmdg.htm
and a clearer exterior view is here:
http://www.caroabruzzo.net/images/aquila/foto529.jpg
B.'s relics are in the reliquary bust at the center of the back wall of this chapel (also the final resting place of other bishops of the Marsi):
http://tinyurl.com/b65mt
This church too was badly damaged by the earthquake of 1915. Restored in the 1930s, it was damaged again by Allied bombing World War II. Much of what one sees is therefore restoration work.
Our chief source for B. is his Life (BHL 1176) by his younger contemporary and friend, John of Segni. For a discussion of the _Acta Sanctorum_'s edition of this text, its manuscript sources, and other witnesses as well as a considered study of B.'s ecclesiastical career, see Sofia Boesch Gajano, "Berardo vescovo dei Marsi tra agiografia e storia," in Gennaro Luongo, ed., _La Terra dei Marsi: cristianesimo, cultura, istituzioni. Atti del Convegno di Avezzano 24-26 settembre 1998_ (Roma: Viella, 2002), pp. 339-64.
Best,
John Dillon
(last years's post, lightly revised)
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