medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (22. December) is the feast day of:
1) Themistocles (d. 250 or 251). According to Byzantine synaxary notices (which appear to be based on a lost Passio but which for this saint is all we have), T. was a shepherd in Lycia who during the Decian persecution declined to disclose the hiding place of St. Dioscorides, was arrested, promptly confessed his Christianity, was just as promptly condemned, and suffered a lengthy martyrdom of many tortures before being beheaded on 21. December.
2) Domenico Spadafora (Bl.; d. 1521). D. was born around 1450 at today's Randazzo (CT) in northeastern Sicily and entered the Dominican order at the convent of Santa Zita in Palermo, founded in 1428. After earning his doctorate at Padua he returned to Sicily but was soon called to Rome. In 1491 he was sent to found a house at today's Monte Cerignone (PU) in the Marche. Selecting a site at the locality of Fontebuona, D. erected there a small convent and church and settled in on the premises. Lifetime and postmortem miracles caused him to be honored as a saint. When in 1545 he was translated to the convent's church his body was found to be incorrupt. D. was formally beatified in 1921.
D.'s convent at Fontebuona was suppressed by Innocent X (1644-55). Since 1677 he has lain at the nearby church of Santa Maria in Recluso, where he is celebrated liturgically today. In the diocesan calendar of San Marino - Montefeltro D. is commemorated on 11. September. Here's a view of his resting place:
http://www.incastro.marche.it/incastro/montecerignone/foto08.gif
Randazzo's initially thirteenth-century basilica di Santa Maria has been greatly rebuilt but retains its original apses:
http://www.casaverde.biz/Randazzo/randazzo4.JPG
http://sicilyweb.com/foto/1141/1141-09-14-29-5287.jpg
http://sicilyweb.com/foto/243/243-08-24-27-9842.jpg
as well as these late medieval windows:
http://sicilyweb.com/foto/965/965-01-20-50-7617.jpg
The fourteenth-century baptismal font in Randazzo's also much rebuilt chiesa di San Nicoḷ:
http://www.beatodomenico.ofm.pl/beato/fotobig/randazzo13.jpg
http://www.beatodomenico.ofm.pl/beato/fotobig/randazzo14.jpg
A view of Randazzo's via degli Archi:
http://tinyurl.com/vxmrk
The arch in via Umberto I, a survivor from Randazzo's originally twelfth-century Palazzo Reale:
http://sicilyweb.com/foto/1141/1141-08-59-09-1590.jpg
Another medieval street (via Fisauli) in the same town:
http://tinyurl.com/sjeu9
http://sicilyweb.com/foto/ct/randazzo/g12.jpg
Detail of one of those doorways:
http://sicilyweb.com/foto/ct/randazzo/g15.jpg
Medievally, today was the feast of that well known saint of the Regno, St. Thomas the Apostle. In the RM, T. is now at 3. July. This year's notice of him is here:
http://tinyurl.com/8v3tts
Best,
John Dillon
(Domenico Spadafora lightly revised from last year's post)
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