medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (30. December) is the feast day of:
1) Felix I, pope (d. 274). F. succeeded the recently celebrated pope St. Dionysius (26. December) on 3. January 269. The _Liber Pontificalis_ says that he was a native of Rome and that his father was named Constantius. Like his predecessor, he will have dealt with the heresy of Paul of Samosata concerning the nature of Christ. Apart from that, nothing is known of F.'s pontificate. His presence in the _Depositio episcoporum_ of the Chronographer of 354 and not in the corresponding _Depositio martyrum_ refutes the assertion of the _Liber Pontificalis_ that F. died a martyr. The also fourth-century Liberian Catalogue says that he was buried in the cemetery of Callistus.
2) Rayner of Forcona (d. 1077). Today's first less well known saint of the Regno, R. (in Italian: Raniero or Ranieri) was from 1059 bishop of Forcona in what is now Abruzzo; he is credited with completing its cathedral dedicated to St. Maximus of Aveia. In 1225, prompted by the then bishop of Forcona, Honorius III asked the bishop of Penne to verfiy miracles that had been attributed to R. We are not informed about the outcome of this inquiry.
In 1257 the see of Forcona was transferred to L'Aquila; Forcona itself, probably already in decline, became just a rural outlier of the latter. But its cathedral remained in local use until 1703, when it fell victim to an earthquake. In 1413 the relics of St. Maximus and of R. were translated to the cathedral of L'Aquila. Whereas the ancient martyr Maximus stayed on as L'Aquila's patron saint, the more recent R. was soon returned to Forcona. He continued to be celebrated there, just as he is in Forcona's present-day successor, Civita di Bagno (AQ), a _frazione_ of L'Aquila. Herewith some expandable views of the remains of R.'s cathedral:
http://tinyurl.com/a5h3m7
3) Roger of Canne (d. 1129?). This less well known saint of the Regno is a twelfth-century bishop of what now is Canne della Battaglia (BAT) in Apulia. That we know practically nothing about him as a person may make him less than ideal for inclusion in potted notices of saints selected for their exemplary qualities. But the transfer of his remains in the thirteenth century from Canne to Barletta, where R. is still venerated, is not without interest. A brief account of it will be found in the Archives of this list at:
http://tinyurl.com/79789o
Surviving toponomastic evidence suggests that R. had been venerated at Canne since at least the late twelfth century. But when did he live and who was he? Though his name suggests Norman parentage, it hardly proves it (in the wake of the eleventh-century Norman-led conquest of Byzantine southern Italy "Roger" became a popular name in this region). In the absence of pertinent diocesan records, historians have settled on the Roger documented from other cities as bishop of Canne in the first two decades of the twelfth century. Under the circumstances, this is a very reasonable guess.
There is a fourteenth-century Office for R. from Canne and a 16th-century one from Barletta; the latter is the one published in the _Acta Sanctorum_ (Oct. tom. 7.). A very late and obviously unreliable Vita places him in the sixth century.
Some views of Barletta's cathedral (which in the fourteenth century inherited various items from the then already ruinous one of Canne) are here:
http://tinyurl.com/eefeh
Herewith views of the remains of two adjoining late antique basilicas at Canne, later remodeled into the tenth-/eleventh-century cathedral that R. would have known (a sarcophagus thought to have been his has been found in this complex's crypt):
http://tinyurl.com/2ytt5r
http://tinyurl.com/24epfy
http://www.itineraweb.com/foto/grandtour/canne4.jpg
4) Lawrence of Frazzanò (d. 1162). Like Nicholas Politi (17. August), Sylvester of Troina (2. January), and Conus or Cono of Naso (Conon or Cono of Nesi; 28. March), L. is a poorly documented Greek saint from insular Sicily during its period of Norman and Swabian rule. The account that follows is derived from his very legendary late medieval Acta.
L. was born at Acri, a Greek designation for today's Frazzanò (ME) in northern Sicily. He entered religion at the monastery of St. Michael the Archangel at Troina but at about age 29 left with his abbot's blessing to become a hermit on the slopes of Mt. Etna. L. remained there for six years, growing in spiritual virtue and successfully resisting diabolic temptation. L. then returned to his monastery at Troina. Later he moved on to the monastery of St. Philip at Agira and finally, in about 1155, to that of St. Philip at Fragalà. Called in 1158 to preach in Calabria, L. performed various miracles there, especially at Reggio, where he healed people afflicted with the "plague" and where upon his departure he was acclaimed by notables and by a great crowd of ordinary folk.
A later trip to the mainland allowed L. to preach at Stilo in extreme southern Calabria. Returning to Frazzanò, he oversaw the construction of a new church and died shortly afterwards. His relics repose in Frazzanò's early modern church dedicated to him. Today is L.'s _dies natalis_ and the day of his commemoration in the RM (to whose august company he was only recently admitted). In the diocese of Patti L. is celebrated liturgically on 22. October.
Some views of San Filippo di Fragalà are here (those in the first set are expandable):
http://tinyurl.com/3seh3
http://www.capri-leone.it/files/arte/perusini.htm
http://members.fortunecity.it/terradisicilia/insolitofrazzano.htm
Some views of the also restored eleventh-century cattolica (principal church) at Stilo (RC) in Calabria, one of several Greek churches in the vicinity that jointly are a candidate for designation by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site:
http://tinyurl.com/89cjuz
http://tinyurl.com/88vxgy
http://www.hotelnettunosoverato.it/images/esc/Foto12G.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/99vf8o
http://www.calabriaintour.it/images/stilo07.jpg
http://www.liceofermics.it/imag/stilo2.jpg
Best,
John Dillon
(Rayner of Forcona, Roger of Canne, and Lawrence of Frazzanò lightly revised from last year's post)
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