medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

Today, February 18, is the feast day of:

Simeon (d. c107) appears in Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3. Tradition makes him
first cousin of Jesus, son of Joseph’s brother Cleopas. Various legends make
him the bridegroom at the marriage at Cana or identical with Simon the
Zealot. He succeeded James as bishop of Jerusalem. Legend further tells that
Simeon received divine warning that Jerusalem would be destroyed by the
Romans and led the Christian community to safety.  *Further* legend tells
that he was arrested during Trajan's persecution of Christians, was
tortured, and then was crucified when he was 120. His symbol is a fish and
his cult was reduced to local calendars in 1969.

Leo and Paragorius (d. c260) These friends were natives of Lycia. Paragorius
was executed, after which Leo refused to go to the temple to sacrifice to
Serapis, preferring to visit his friend's tomb.  When he found that nobody
wanted to martyr him (apparently respecting his great age), he went to the
temple of Fortuna and trampled on the lamps. Still, the governor was willing
to let him simply acknowledge the gods without making sacrifice, but he
refused. So he was scourged, then killed, and his body thrown into a pit.

Flavian (d. 449) Flavian became patriarch of Constantinople in 447. His
stand against monophysitism (that Christ had only one nature) inspired Leo
the Great's "Tome." He immediately got into trouble with the emperor,
refusing to make traditional gifts and condemning a court favorite, Abbot
Eutyches, as a heretic. In 449 at the council of Ephesus the emperor
demanded F's deposition and exile, reinforcing his demands with soldiers and
the Eutychian faction. F. was beaten so viciously during the council that he
died of his injuries three days later. His cause was vindicated at Chalcedon
in 451. The empress herself had his remains translated to the church of the
Apostles in Constantinople. He is regarded as a martyr.

Helladius of Toledo (d. 633?). According to St. Ildefonsus of Toledo,
Helladius was a high official of the Visigothic court who in his private
life conducted a virtually monastic existence. He started helping out with
the manual labor at the monastery of Agalai, and soon became a monk himself
and was elected abbot. And in 615, old and already infirm, was elected
bishop of Toledo, exhibiting in the eighteen years in which he served in
that capacity even greater specimens of virtue than those he had shown as a
monk and being particularly noteworthy for his generosity in almsgiving
although tradition says that it is he who convinced King Sisebut to expel
the Jews from Spain.

Colman of Lindisfarne (d. 676) Colman was a native of Connacht who became a
monk of Iona and then went on to be the third bishop/abbot of Lindisfarne in
the years 661-664. He was the main spokesman in favor of Irish practices at
the Synod of Whitby. When he lost and Northumbria accepted the Roman dating
of Easter, he gave up his see and returned to Iona, moving from there back
to Ireland.  He founded a monastery on Inishbofin, as well as a house at
Mayo for his Saxon followers after a disagreement divided the community.
Bede forgave Colman's 'strange practices' regarding the date of Easter, and
said of him and his priests: 'The whole care of those teachers was to serve
God, not the world, to feed the soul rather than pamper the belly.'

Angilbert of Centula (d. 814) was a Frank of noble parentage who was
educated at the royal court, where his tutors included Peter of Pisa and
Paulinus not-yet-of Aquileia.  He was a lifelong friend of the slightly
older Charlemagne. An early appointment was as primicerius palatiae for
Charlemagne's son Pepin, king of Italy.  Later Angilbert was head of the
place school at Aachen and, along with Alcuin of York and Theodulf of
Orléans, a leading court poet. There he was known as “Homer”. He was
especially close with Charlemagne's unmarried daughter Bertha, by whom he
had two children (one being the historian Nithard). After a “nasty
experience with some Vikings” he turned to religion, Bertha became a nun at
the same time. In about 789 Charlemagne made Angilbert abbot of the great
monastery at Centula, later St.-Riquier and now St.-Riquier-sur-Somme
(Somme) in Picardy.  Angilbert endowed this house with buildings and with
books and instituted the laus perennis (continuous choir service where the
praise of God would not cease, day or night). He also continued to serve
Charles as a diplomatic emissary in ecclesiastical matters, making four
trips to Rome on behalf of his monarch.
   He was buried in the abbey church.  In 842 he was given what appears to
have been an elevatio, at which time, according to his son Nithard (who was
also a monk of this house and who later became its abbot), his body was
found to be incorrupt. Angilbert has a brief Vita by the abbey's late
eleventh-century chronicler Hariulf (BHL 469) and an expanded one (BHL 470)
by its abbot Anscher (r., 1096-1136).  He was canonized by Paschal II in
1100.

Theotonius (d. 1162 or 1166).  Our primary source for T. is a closely
posthumous Vita (BHL 8127). Born to a family of Galicia just north of what
would become the northern boundary of the kingdom of Portugal, Theotonius
was a nephew of the abbot of a Benedictine monastery at nearby Tuy and was
educated by him there and later at Coimbra, where by April 1092 the uncle
was now bishop. Probably on the latter's death Theotonius went on to Viseu,
where another uncle was prior of the cathedral chapter. There Theotonius was
made priest and there, in 1112, he became prior of the cathedral church of
Santa Maria, then under the direct jurisdiction of the bishop of Coimbra. In
his more than thirty years at Viseu (with time off for two pilgrimages to
the Holy Land) Theotonius gained a reputation both as a contemplative and as
a gifted preacher and had repeated interactions with count Henriques of
Portugal, who used the title of king, and with his queen, Teresa. When about
to celebrate mass at the palace of the Count of Portugal, he received a note
from the queen, asking him if he would mind abbreviating the mass that day,
as she was very busy; he said that he was serving a greater sovereign than
herself, and that she was free to leave at any time; the queen, penitent,
remained for the entire service, and then asked his forgiveness.
   In the early 1130s Theotonius was one of the founders of the monastery of
Santa Cruz at Coimbra, a house of canons regular of which Theotonius was
soon made prior and that in his time followed the practices of the
Augustinian house of St. Ruf at Avignon. Theotonius was remembered for being
punctilious in observing at the proper times the prayers of the Divine
Office. His reputation for sanctity extended beyond the walls of his
monastery, which he seldom left, and impressed his younger contemporary
Afonso Henriques, the first king of independent Portugal. Theotonius
resigned his priorship for reasons of health about ten years before his
death, which latter according to his Vita occurred on Friday, February 18,
of what seems to have been 1162. But in that year February 18 fell on a
Sunday. Those who think that the Vita errs in the day of the week accept
1162 as the year of Theotonius' death; those who think the error lies rather
in the indication of the year prefer 1166.
   Theotonius was canonized by a provincial council held at Coimbra on the
first anniversary of his death. Pope Alexander III is said to have confirmed
this canonization orally. Theotonius' cult was immediate in Portugal; later
chroniclers of the early years of the kingdom added legendary exploits to
their accounts of this national saint. His cult was confirmed for all
Latin-Rite churches by Benedict XIV.
   Here's a view of a fifteenth-century portrait of Theotonius, sometimes
attributed to Nuño Gonçalves, in Lisbon's Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga:
http://tinyurl.com/anj3e7

John of Fiesole (Bl.; d. 1455) John, whose early name in the world was Guido
di Piero (a Tuscan equivalent of Guy son of Peter), was born at today's
Vicchio in the Mugello. He entered the Order of Preachers at Fiesole while
yet a boy and completed his novitiate at Cortona. In his early twenties
Guido (as he then was) made his monastic profession at Florence, taking the
name John. Trained as a painter, he worked at Fiesole, Florence, and Rome.
Despite his being favoured with papal patronage he is said to have been
personally very humble. John died at the Dominican convent in Rome and was
buried there in his order's church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. He is known
popularly as Fra Angelico or, after his beatification in 1982, as Beato
Angelico.
   Two views of John's sepulchral monument in Santa Maria sopra Minerva:
http://tinyurl.com/358tut ,
http://santiebeati.it/immagini/Original/41575/41575E.JPG

William Harrington, martyr (1594) – An Englishman and Jesuit priest, after
his martyrdom (or not, depending on your faith) his reputation was smeared
by being accused by an apostate Catholic woman of (among other things)
having had a child by her before he was ordained.





happy reading,
Terri
--
"Where the way is hardest, there go thou:
follow your own path, and let people talk."
- Dante Alighieri

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