medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Friday, June 20, 2008, at 12:32 am, I wrote:
> Today (20. June) is the feast day of:
>
> 1) Alban of England (d. ca. 304?).
Not according to the Roman Martyology (2001, rev. 2004), which follows the usual medieval practice of celebrating A. on 22. June and which, for reasons of convenience (standardization plus the provision of more saints than are present on lists based on other calendars), ordinarily furnishes the dates of commemoration followed by this list's "saints of the day. For some reason now unclear I used another day for A. in 2007, whose "saints of the day" for 20. June then served as the base for this year's iteration.
In compensation, herewith a brief notice of another saint of 20. June:
Goban of St.-Gobain (d. later 7th cent., supposedly). According to his legendary Vita (BHL 3569) the Irishman G. (in French, Gobain) was a disciple of St. Fursey, who ordained him priest. After his ordination he cured a blind man. Somewhat later Jesus Christ appeared to him in a vision and spoke the Latin text of Matthew 25:34, which latter invitation Fursey then took to mean that he and his disciples should leave their homeland and evangelize in Gaul. When they got to the Irish shore (the Vita knows naught of Fursey's stay in Suffolk) a tempest prevented them for three days from taking ship but was finally calmed by G. as he said Mass. When the party had crossed they went first to Corbie and from there they went on to their several places of missionary endeavor.
G. elected to work in Laon, where he cured two men, one blind and the other deaf. Word of this reached the king, who granted G. a place in a nearby wilderness for a hermitage. G. erected an oratory there, dedicated to St. Peter, and there, after a period of preaching to the people, he was murdered by barbarians more savage than Vandals. He was buried in his oratory, miracles occurred, and a cult arose. Thus far the Vita.
G. is the eponym of today's Saint-Gobain (Aisne) in Picardy. Its eleventh- to thirteenth-century church was badly damaged in World War I. Several expandable views of it in its ruined state occur here:
http://cartes.bougeret.fr/Pages/Aisne.php
An expandable view of that church's crypt (taken in 1939) is here:
http://tinyurl.com/5ggkzy
A view of his modern shrine in the town's church:
http://tinyurl.com/66ee7t
Best again,
John Dillon
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