medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear Gerallt,
In Jim's message below, 'Christian' is surely a typo for 'Christina': an attempted drowning while weighted with a millstone is one of the torments said to have been endured by Christina of Bolsena (a.k.a. Christina of Tyre). Looking through my 'saints of the day' notices for the others, I also find mention of being weighted down with a millstone for today's Quirinus of Siscia (of course), Florian of Lorch (whose reported fate is very similar to Q.'s), and Hallvard (in H.'s case, his so-weighted corpse was, it is said, thrown into a lake in order to conceal it but both the body and the millstone floated miraculously to the surface). I'm also quite willing to believe that accounts of the unspecified various tortures referred to in these notices for Vincent of Zaragoza, Crispin and Crispinian, Victor of Marseille, and Domnius (Domnio, Domninus) of Salona include the saint's being weighted down with a millstone.
On a very different note, St. Piran is said legendarily to have come across the Irish Sea to Cornwall on a millstone.
Best again,
John Dillon
----- Original Message -----
From: jbugslag <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, June 4, 2009 3:12 pm
Subject: Re: [M-R] Saints and mills
To: [log in to unmask]
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Dear Gerallt,
> According to the Lexikon der christliche Ikonographie, the millstone
> is an attribute of Quirinus
> of Siscia, Vincent of Zaragoza, Christian of Bolsena, Crispin and
> Crispinian, Florian of Lorch,
> Halvard, Victor of Marseille and Domninus of Salona. Presumably, at
> least some of them
> besides Quirinus acquired this attribute through their martyrdom.
> Cheers,
> Jim
>
> On 4 Jun 2009 at 15:52, Gerallt Nash wrote:
>
> > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
> > culture
> >
> > Today's 'Saints of the day' included Quirinus of Siscia (d. 308) who
> > is said to have been thrown off a bridge into a river with a handmill
> > tied around his neck. This made me wonder how many other saints were
> > linked in any way with mills, millstones or milling? St Christopher,
> > for instance, is often shown with a mill (usually windmill)
> > symbolising the shape of the cross. Who is/are the patron saint/s of
> > millers, millwrights, fullers, weavers etc.?
> >
> > Any help greatly appreciated.
> >
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