medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (28. October) is the feast day of:
1) Simon and Jude, apostles (d. 1st cent.). S. (Simon the Zealot; Simon Cananaeus) and J. (Jude Thaddaeus, Jude of James) occur next to each other in lists of the Twelve Apostles (Mt 10:3, 4; Mk 3:18; Lk 6:15; Acts 1:13). It is not certain that J. is the author of the Epistle that bears his hardly unique name. The two have a legendary, originally late antique Passio (BHL 7749-7750a) that calls S. 'S. Chananaeus' and J. 'J. Zelotes' and that narrates their evangelizing and martyrdoms on this day in what would appear to be Parthia. In Eastern churches S. is celebrated on 1. July and J. is celebrated on 19. June.
An illustrated page on the originally twelfth-century church of St Simon and St Jude, Bramdean (Hants):
http://www.upperitchen.org/index.php?id=54
Two illustrated pages on the mostly fourteenth-century former church of St Simon and St Jude in Norwich (whose interior was drastically altered in 1952):
http://tinyurl.com/5wj9az
http://tinyurl.com/5hfzw6
Another view:
http://tinyurl.com/6d376q
2) Fidelis of Como (d. ca. 304, supposedly). F.'s cult is at least as old as the sixth century, when he is mentioned by Ennodius. He and his companions (the latter now celebrated on 7. August) are said in a number of medieval texts of uncertain date (BHL 2922, etc.) to have been Christian soldiers who slipped away from the Roman army during the persecution of Maximian. They were, according to these accounts, pursued, caught up with at different locations in the vicinity of Como, and put to death at their places of capture. F. is said to have gotten as far as today's Novate Mezzola (SO) in Lombardy. There, on the shore of the Lago di Mezzola (just north of the Lago di Como), he was clubbed, crucified, and decapitated. A great storm then arose, accompanied by lightning and terrifying the martyr's killers. One of the latter buried F. at the site of his execution. Thus far his Passio.
An English-language translation of BHL 2922 is here:
http://www.ucc.ie/milmart/Fidelis.html
And various views of the originally late tenth- or very early eleventh-century chapel of San Fedelino (restructured in 1905; restored in 1992/93) at the supposed locale of F.'s martyrdom are here:
http://www.viaspluga.com/ita/guidebook/fedelino/index.php?photo_num=02
http://tinyurl.com/3xep5q
Further views:
http://flickr.com/photos/28721991@N08/sets/72157608394224482/
Some closer views of the chapel's eleventh- and twelfth-century frescoes:
http://www.viaspluga.com/ita/guidebook/fedelino/index.php?photo_num=01
http://www.gruppoartecultura.it/Percorsi/sanfedelino.htm
In 964 F.'s relics were translated to Como and deposited in a church formerly dedicated to St. Euphemia but now rededicated to him (BHL 2925). Como's present basilica di San Fedele is of the twelfth century with later medieval additions and with early twentieth-century restorations (belltower, 1906; facade and interior of the apse, 1914).
Views of the facade in differing light are here:
http://tinyurl.com/9cdfx
http://www.inviaggionelmondo.it/Como/Como_SanFedele.JPG
http://digilander.libero.it/felice/Como/Chiese4.jpg
http://www.mondimedievali.net/Edifici/Lombardia/como01.jpg
The rear portal is noteworthy, especially for its reliefs:
http://tinyurl.com/ap5ds
http://www.mondimedievali.net/Edifici/Lombardia/como23.jpg
Two exterior views of the apse:
http://digilander.libero.it/sys76/Resources/sfedele2.gif
http://tinyurl.com/d6db6
The interior contains this font for holy water; carved from a Roman-period capital, it is said to be of the eighth century:
http://www.mondimedievali.net/Edifici/Lombardia/como18.jpg
The damaged sculpture beneath it shows a human figure bestriding a lion.
There are also some fourteenth-century frescoes, e.g.:
http://www.mondimedievali.net/Edifici/Lombardia/como22.jpg
http://www.mondimedievali.net/Edifici/Lombardia/como08.jpg
A ground plan:
http://www.gacom.it/como/luoghi/pianta.jpg
A multi-page, illustrated, Italian-language discussion:
http://www.mondimedievali.net/Edifici/Lombardia/Como.htm
The Italia nell'Arte Medievale page on this church is here (at this writing the entire site is still offline):
http://tinyurl.com/2leqbv
3) Vincent, Sabina, and Christeta (d. 306, supposedly). V., S., and C. are martyrs of Ávila (today's Ávila de los Caballeros). The earliest testimony to their existence, the seemingly pre-conquest Mozarabic hymn _Huc vos gratifice, plebs pia, convocat_ (_AH_, XXVII, 179), tells us nothing about them.
These saints have a legendary Passio (BHL 8619; earliest witness is of the tenth century) whose narrative part is thought to be of the late eighth century and that makes them a brother and two sisters, originally of today's Talavera de la Reina, who are martyred with great cruelty at Ávila on 27. October in some year during the Great persecution, and whose remains, exposed to the elements outside the city, are protected by great snake. According to this text, the snake attacks a Jew who had come to despoil the bodies and wraps itself violently around him. Recognizing in this an evident miracle, the Jew then converts to Christianity and builds on the site a church dedicated to the martyrs.
The present-day successor to the church indicated in the Passio is Ávila's originally twelfth-century Basilica de San Vicente. An illustrated, English-language page on it is here:
http://tinyurl.com/6ynxs3
Illustrated, Spanish-language accounts:
http://olmo.pntic.mec.es/~mdem0011/sanvicente.htm
http://tinyurl.com/5v24xj
http://tinyurl.com/5fqqba
Other views:
http://tinyurl.com/5dqmrx
http://www.pbase.com/amlobcas/image/74627468
http://z.about.com/d/gospain/1/0/_/7/-/-/P1050163.JPG
http://www.pbase.com/amlobcas/image/74667707
http://tinyurl.com/68hn43
4) Faro (d. 7th cent.). We know about F. (in French, Faron) chiefly from his own not very reliable ninth-century Vita by bishop Hildegar of Meaux (BHL 2825). F., who is thought to have been the brother of St. Fara or Burgondofara, is said to have grown up in the court of Theudebert II of Austrasia and to have passed from there to that of Chlotar II and the latter's successor Dagobert I, whom he served as chancellor. He and his wife decided to enter religion and, once they had separated, F. became a cleric of Meaux. In about 626 F. became that city's bishop. He is said to have wrought various miracles. Late in life F. founded the monastery at Meaux that bore his name. In his day it was Columbanian but within a century it had become Benedictine. In 762 it became the mother house of the re-founded abbey of Prüm in the Eifel. In the twelfth century it was connected with the legendary Ogier le Danois, whose tomb was in its church.
Expandable views of illuminated pages of a fourteenth-century breviary for the Use of Saint-Faron de Meaux are accessible from here:
http://tinyurl.com/6hb7z2
Best,
John Dillon
(Fidelis of Como lightly revised from last year's post)
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