medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
It's a bit hard to figure what it is to which you're saying "Au contraire": Zachary's bringing to Rome a relic _believed_ be to of G. or the existence now in San Giorgio al Velabro of a _purported_ relic of G.'s cranium (emphases mine). Neither of these is contradicted or disproved in any way by the existence of some other cranial relic also believed to be G.'s. Clearly there can be multiple purported heads of a single individual, each with its own _ousia_, just as there have been several objects believed to be the Holy Lance. It not as though anyone is being asked to believe that these are all manifestations of one physical reality. Put another way, polycephalism in martyrs is a phenomenon of a rather different order from polydactylism in cats.
Setton's entertaining article, of which the search for the relic at Murano was but a small part, was his Presidential Address at the Mediaeval Academy of America's annual meeting in 1972. It's in _Speculum_ 48 (1973), 1-12 (in JSTOR, for those with access to JSTOR). The title is: "Saint George's Head".
Best,
John Dillon
On Wednesday, April 23, 2008 11:56 am, Diana Wright wrote:
> John Dillon wrote:
> > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> >
> > Today (23. April) is the feast day of:
> >
> > 1) George of Lydda (?). We know nothing about the historical
> George.
> > The church's dedication to G. begins in the eighth century, when
> pope St. Zachary brought to it from Cappadocia a relic believed be of
> G. Here's a view of the purported relic of G.'s cranium venerated
> there now:
> > http://www.stgeorge.org.mt/images/july_2003/Picture1.jpg
> >
>
> Au contraire, the Venetians brought the head to Venice, from the
> island
> of Aigina, in the 15thC, to S. Giorgio Maggiore where it can sometimes
>
> be located in a cabinet. Kenneth Setton wrote a very funny article
> about searching for the head at S. Giorgio, & the casualness of the
> monks there. I'm sorry to say I have lost the reference. There are
> dragon bones from Aigina in S. Donato on Murano, but no one claims
> they
> came from THE dragon.
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