medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (19. March) is the feast day of:
1) Joseph, foster-father of Jesus (d. 1st cent.). J.'s cult is said to have been established in Eastern Christianity in late antiquity. It certainly existed in the West in the eighth century, when it begins to appear in local martyrologies, e.g. that of Tallaght (ca. 790), a page of which is shown here:
http://tinyurl.com/36oqaj
The first Western record of a church dedicated to J. comes from Bologna in 1129. That his sanctity was then not universally recognized is apparent from this contemporary capital (1125-1130) in the nave of Basilique Saint-Andoche at Saulieu (Côte d'Or), where he appears without a halo though in the same composition the BVM and the Christ Child have theirs:
http://tinyurl.com/28rbsc
http://art-roman.net/saulieu/saulieu21x.jpg
Illustrated pages on this church are here:
http://homepage.uvt.nl/~s239062/EDIFICES/saulieu.htm
http://art-roman.net/saulieu/saulieu.htm
http://art-roman.net/saulieu/saulieu2.htm
J. has often been depicted as elderly, as in these frescoes by Giotto from the Cappella dei Scrovegni (a.k.a. the Arena Chapel) at Padua:
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/giotto/SSM-matrimonio.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/2h5m55
J.'s first Office comes from Liège in the thirteenth century. His feast on this day was adopted by some orders in the fourteenth century; it entered the Roman Calendar in the later fifteenth century under Sixtus IV. In 1726 J.'s name was added to the Litany of Saints and in 1870 Pius IX declared him patron of the universal church (it's not clear how various Christian communities not in communion with Pio Nono took this).
2) John of Parma (Blessed; d. 1289). J., whose family name is thought to have been Buralli, was educated in his native Parma and at some unknown time in the early thirteenth century entered the Order of Friars Minor. Ordained priest, he taught at Bologna and at Naples before lecturing on Peter Lombard's _Sentences_ at Paris. J. was elected minister general of his order in 1247. In 1257 he resigned his office, apparently under pressure because of his association with the Spirituals. His successor was St. Bonaventure.
J. retired to his order's hermitage at Greccio (famous for St. Francis' Nativity crèche) and later underwent a heresy trial for his alleged Joachite beliefs. Exonerated, he returned to Greccio, where he kept in touch with Spirituals (Ubertino da Casale visited him there in 1285). During his generalate J. had travelled to Nicaea to promote a union between the Greek Orthodox and Roman churches and in his great old age he undertook a similar mission when the union agreed to in 1274 was no longer acceptable in Constantinople. But he only got as far as Camerino in the Marche, where he died on this day at the local Franciscan convent. J. was beatified in 1777.
3) Mark of Montegallo (Blessed; d. 1496). M. was born at Mons Sanctae Mariae in Gallo, today's Montegallo (AP) in the Marche. He studied at Perugia and at Bologna, where he obtained degrees in law and medicine. In about 1448 he began a medical practice at Ascoli Piceno and in 1451 he married. A year later the pair separated, with the wife (whose name is said to have been Chiara) becoming a Poor Clare and M. becoming an Observant Franciscan. He became a well known preacher and promoter of _Monti di Pietà_ (low-interest pawn banks) first at various places in the Marche and later in Vicenza, where he died. A cult sprang up at his grave site, hymns were composed for his commemoration, and a canonization process was initiated. M.'s cult was confirmed in 1839.
A relatively recent conference volume on M. (also containing a collection of his writings) is advertised here:
http://www.centrostudiantoniani.it/libro_csa30.html
Best,
John Dillon
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