medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (5. January) is the feast day of:
1) Syncletica (4th or early 5th century). According to her pseudo-Athanasian Bios (BHG 1694), S. was the wealthy and beautiful daughter of a prominent family of Macedonian origin living in Alexandria in Egypt. Rejecting all suitors, she chose to exercise a life of holy virginity. Upon the death of her parents she gave her inheritance to the poor, cut her hair, and -- along with her blind sister -- withdrew to a family tomb outside the city. Here she attracted female adherents and gave spiritual advice. In her later years this 'Desert Mother' suffered patiently from painful illnesses afflicting her voice and her face. S. died at the advanced age of eighty-four. A collection of sayings in the _Apophthegmata Patrum_ is ascribed to her.
2) Edward "the Confessor" (d. 1066). The third pre-Conquest king of England to be named Edward, today's E. is styled "the Confessor" both to distinguish him from his predecessors Edward "the Elder" (d. 924) and St. Edward "the Martyr" (d. 978) and to get around the awkwardness ensuing from the usual practice of beginning to number the Edwards with the king of this name who died in 1307. E.'s childless marriage to a much younger woman is the foundation of the belief that he was piously virginal. His rebuilding of the abbey of St. Peter at Westminster, where he was laid to rest not long after its completion, was lavish. Shortly after his death some cures were attributed to him. Attempts by the abbey to have E. recognized as a saint seem to have begun only in the twelfth century. Over time these attracted the interest of the ruling family (to which E.'s mother had belonged). In 1161 pope Alexander III, acceding to a petition supported by king Henry II and the English hi
erarchy, had E. canonized as a confessor.
Westminster Abbey has an illustrated page devoted to E.:
http://www.westminster-abbey.org/special/confessor/history/
Some visuals from the Bayeux "Tapestry" (actually an embroidery):
E. enthroned (with advisers):
http://www.udel.edu/ArtHistory/CourseGallery/pages/Btking.html
E.'s decease:
http://tinyurl.com/tzofu
Scenes of E. enthroned and E.'s decease framing a representation of his exequies:
http://homepage.mac.com/dmhart/WarArt/BayeuxTapestry/14.JPG
Flat E. receiving visitors in the museum at the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux, Bayeux (Calvados), Normandy:
http://www.travelin-tigers.com/photos/fr051616.jpg
Other visuals:
Cures at E.'s tomb (Cambridge University Library, Ms. Ee.3.59):
http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Newsletters/nl08/edward.html
The manuscript this comes from (the only known copy of an illustrated Anglo-Norman verse Life of E., written in England probably in the later 1230s or early 1240s):
http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/MSS/Ee.3.59/
Scene from another Ms., U.K. National Archives, Ms. E 36/284 (Abbreviatio of Domesday Book, ca. 1241): Edward the Confessor accuses earl Godwine of the murder of his brother, Alfred Aetheling:
http://tinyurl.com/ya563r
Two views of E.'s shrine in Westminster Abbey:
http://tinyurl.com/yg9po9
http://tinyurl.com/ydrf2q
TAN: St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church, Metairie, LA:
http://tinyurl.com/yxswh6
Best,
John Dillon
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