medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (11. October) is the feast day of:
1) Nicasius, Quirinus, Scubiculus, and Pientia (?). N., Q., and S. (in French,
Nicaise, Quirin, and Scuvicule or Egobille) are shadowy saints of the Norman
Vexin who were treated as martyrs when in 872 they were the subjects of
an inventio at Rouen contemporary with that of St. Audoenus (Ouen, etc.).
In the also later ninth-century Martyrology of Usuard Pientia (in French, Pience)
replaced S. as one of N.'s companions. Later she was to join them in a
sequence of legendary Passiones (BHL 6082, etc.; not attested before the
eleventh century) that makes them missionaries sent to the region by pope
St. Clement I and martyred there under Domitian. In these accounts, clearly
based on Hilduin's Passio of St. Dionysius (Denys) of Paris, N. is a bishop,
Q. is a priest, and S. a deacon.
At some point during the years 1079-1110 N. was added, in first position, to
the catalogue of Rouen's bishops. Most of Q.'s presumed relics had already
traveled to Malmedy in today's East Cantons of Belgium), where in 1042 they
were accorded a formal elevation. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries N.'s
cult spread fairly widely, while the others had more limited veneration. P. was
connected legendarily with St. Clarus (Clair) of today's Saint-Clair-sur-Epte
(Val-d'Oise) and shared his cult.
A view of a thirteenth-century scene of N.'s martyrdom by decapitation now
in the Louvre and said to have come from a chapel window of the cathedral
of Soissons:
http://tinyurl.com/3xk52j
Here's a view of N.'s early fourteenth-century statue in the église collégiale
Notre-Dame at Ecouis (Eure), showing him as a partial cephalophore:
http://www.collegiale-ecouis.asso.fr/photos/nicaise.JPG
An illustrated, French-language guide to the church itself:
http://www.collegiale-ecouis.asso.fr/htm/B_la_collegiale.htm
And here's an illustrated, French-language guide to the thirteenth- to
sixteenth-century église St.-Nicaise at Rouen (expandable views at the foot
of the page):
http://tinyurl.com/2pd4pc
This set of views of the frescoes of the église du Béguinage at Saint-Trond
includes one of its sixteenth-century fresco of Q. "of Malmedy":
http://tinyurl.com/3bu2t6
This page offers two smallish views of the originally twelfth-century église
St.-Denis at Saint-Escobille (Essonne), now the only town in France to be
named for S.:
http://catholique.dourdan.free.fr/villages/v-stescobille/page.html
2) Firminus of Uzès (d. after 552). F. (Firmin) was an early bishop of
Ucetia in the Narbonensis, today's Uzès (Gard) in southern France between
the Gardon and the Cévennes. A friend of St. Caesarius of Arles, he took
part in the councils of Orléans of 541 and 549 and in that of Paris in
552. He was also a contributor to St. Cyprian of Toulon's Life of
Caesarius. In or slightly before 544 the Roman subdeacon Arator praised
F. in his _Historia apostolica_ (a.k.a. _De actibus apostolorum_) as
someone whose fame extended even unto Italy. The year of his death
is unknown. Usuard gives today as his _dies natalis_. A cult at his
tomb (presumably in the then cathedral of Uzès) is attested from the
ninth century onwards.
In 1090 work commenced at Uzès on a new cathedral, dedicated to St.
Theodoritus (who now became the town's patron). Badly damaged in the
sixteenth century, it was replaced in the seventeenth by the present
cathedral, which still houses F.'s relics (most of them, at least).
Views of the cathedral's twelfth-century belltower, the Tour
Fenestrelle, are here:
http://tinyurl.com/e66cp
http://www.sics.se/~humble/images/france/uzes/IMG_0268.jpg
http://www.armchairfrance.com/images/Snowflakes.jpg
http://www.levieuxmas.co.uk/uzes.jpg
The parish church at Saint-Germain (Gard) possesses relics said to be of
F. F. is the patron saint of Gordes (Vaucluse) in the Luberon, whose
early eighteenth-century church is dedicated to him. Its medieval
predecessor had been dedicated to the BVM.
Best,
John Dillon
(Firmin of Uzès lightly revised from last year's post)
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