medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today, January 18, is the feast day of:
Andreas of Peschiera (d. 1485) became a Dominican friar in c1440. He
worked for nearly 45 years as a preacher in the region of Veltlin in
northern Italy, and was regarded as a miracle worker. His cult won formal
approval in 1820.
Beatrice d'Este II da Ferrara (Blessed) (d. 1262) Not to be confused with
her aunt, the earlier Bl. Beatrice d'Este (d. 1226), this member of
Ferrara's ruling family is known chiefly from a nearly contemporary account
by a monk of Padua, by a sketch in the Chronica parva Ferrariensis, and by a
seemingly fourteenth-century account from the pen of a nun of her community
in Ferrara. A daughter of Azzo VII of Ferrara, she had been betrothed in
1249 to a noble who was podestà of Vicenza but was soon released from that
obligation by the latter's death in battle. Retiring with some other women
of the court to Ferrara's island of San Lorenzo, Beatrice founded there a
small religious community that accepted the rule of St. Benedict in 1254 and
that in 1257 moved into the very nearby monastery of Santo Stefano della
Rotta. She was only about thirty-six when she died.
Today is Beatrice's dies natalis. A cult arose very quickly. The water
used to wash her body was said to have caused miracles and until its
dissolution in 1512 the sisters would repeat the washing as needed in order
to have a supply of the wonder-working liquid. A new tomb in the monastery
cloister became a pilgrimage destination; condensation from it continues to
be collected several times a year for distribution to the faithful.
Beatrice's cult was approved papally, at the level of Beata, in 1774.
Christina of Aquila (blessed) (d. 1543) was born in Colle di Lucoli (Italy)
in 1480. She became an Augustinian nun in L'Aquila in 1505, and eventually
abbess. She was noted for her numerous visions and ecstasies. Her cult was
approved in 1841.
Deicolus/Desle, abbot (c. 625) was the elder brother of St. Gall, and one of
Columbanus' companions when he went to Francia in 576. Too old to travel
with Columbanus when he was exiled from Luxeuil, Deicolus stayed behind and
became a hermit. His hermitage became the core of the city of Lure. Once, St
Columban, was struck by how cheerful Desle always was, and asked him, 'Why
are you always smiling? His reply was, 'Because no one can take God from
me'.
Fazzio of Verona (d. 1272) was a goldsmith. In Cremona he founded the Order
of the Holy Spirit, a charitable society.
Liberata and Faustina (d. 580/581) These sisters were from the region of
Piacenza. They fled together to avoid marriage and founded a convent in
Como that became an important center for female religious.
Margaret of Hungary (d. 1270)
St Peter's Chair at Rome - honoured throughout the West since the sixth and
seventh centuries (the first record of the feast is in the Auxerre redaction
of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum); the actual chair is purported to be a
modest portable one, kept in a bronze casing designed by Bernini over the
apsidal altar of St Peter's basilica.
Wolfred/Ulfrid (d. 1028) was a missionary from England to Sweden in c1000.
He enjoyed considerable success until he annoyed a crowd by taking an axe to
a statue of Thor. The crowd lynched Wolfred and threw his body into a marsh.
Terri Morgan
--
"When science discovers the center of the universe, a lot of people will be
disappointed to find they are not it." [log in to unmask]
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