medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (29. November) is the feast day of:
Demetrius and Blasius (1st century, supposedly). The bodies of these hitherto unknown saints were discovered in 1193 beneath the crypt of the cathedral at Veroli in today's Lazio, then in the papal state just north of its border with the kingdom of Sicily. Whereas it might at that that time have been possible to think of D. and B. as late antique Christians venerated as saints, their true identity was revealed in 1209, when the body of the disciple St. Mary Salome (24. April) was miraculously discovered in or near the same town. Clearly, D. and B. were this saint's companions who had accompanied her to Italy shortly before her death. In some versions of the story they are said to have been martyrs. Their relics are kept in the crypt of Veroli's Basilica di Santa Salome, an early fifteenth-century replacement (with significant early modern additions) for a church dedicated to S. that had been badly damaged in the earthquake of 1350.
About two kilometers outside of Veroli is the chiesetta della Madonna degli Angeli, built on the spot where according to tradition Salome (accompanied of course by D. and B.) met the first pagan she was to convert to Christianity, a young man named Maurus who afterwards buried her. This church has frescoes attributed to Antoniazzo Romano (1430-ca. 1508) depicting the principal figures of the legend. On the right wall are Maurus and D. (depicted as a pilgrim):
http://tinyurl.com/yjjgb6
and on the left are B. (similarly depicted) and Salome:
http://tinyurl.com/ykhybm
Some spoilsports wish us to believe that the loculi in which D. and B. were said to have been found originally contained relics believed to have been those of identically named well-known Eastern saints.
Best,
John Dillon
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