medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

Graham,
According to Ewa Kuryluk, Veronica & her Cloth (Blackwell, 1991), p. 5, 
the legend of Berenice was subsumed in that of Veronica.  She, in fact, 
makes the surprising (to me) statement that the name Veronica is not, as 
I had assumed, derived from "vera icon", true image, referring to the 
achieropoietic image of Christ that she received on her cloth, but is 
rather the Latin form of Berenice.  But, she says, the popularity of 
Veronica and her vernicle was certainly increased by the false etymology.
Cheers,
Jim

On 04/02/2011 9:18 AM, Graham Jones wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Dear All
>
> The composite figure of Veronica (whose feast day in the East is July 12) may be 'purely legendary', but what does current scholarship say about the woman healed of her chronic hemorrhage, called Bernice (Berenike, Latinised as Veronica) in the mid-fourth century but whose name was either not known to, or was ignored by Eusebius, writing c. 325? He had seen the house in Caesaria Philippi locally said to have been hers, and described a pair of statues at its gate: one of a kneeling woman, her hands outstretched as in prayer, and another of a standing man, extending his hand towards her. 'They say that this statue is an image of Jesus.' Beside it grew a 'strange' plant treated as 'a remedy for all kings of diseases'. (Historia Ecclesiastica, 7:18.) Julian had the statue dragged through the streets but fragments were gathered up and deposited in a church of the city, according to Sozomen (Ecclesiastical History, 5:31).
>
> To this intriguingly circumstantial account might be added the observations that the account of the healing appears in Mark, though not in 'Q', and that Luke's version involves Peter, traditionally one of the Marcan author's sources; and that Caesaria lay only 25 miles north of Capernaum, in whose district the healing happened during a period when people were flocking to hear Jesus preach and in hope of a cure. Jesus himself spent time in the area around Caesaria with his disciples, though perhaps not in the city itself.
>
> Bernice/Berenike is the name given to the woman in the confection known as the Acts of Pilate, so is far from secure. That said, names can change and come and go - as the members of this list know only too well. The tradition at Caesaria in the fourth-century may look like local legend - but 'pure legend'? Can we be sure?
>
> Graham
>
> ________________________________________
> From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Terri Morgan [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 04 February 2011 06:05
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [M-R] Feasts and Saints of February 4
>
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Today, February 4, is the Feast Day of:
>
> Veronica (?) Most likely a purely legendary figure, Veronica (whose name
> means "true image") is supposed to have wiped Christ's face as he went to be
> crucified - and his image remained miraculously imprinted on her cloth. The
> legend seems to have first appeared in the fourth century, originally with a
> miraculous picture of Christ that healed King Abgar of Edessa. By the sixth
> century the picture had become a cloth. At some point Veronica was linked to
> the woman suffering from a flow of blood, whom Jesus healed in the gospels.
>
> Phileas, martyr (304) - an account of his trial in Alexandria is in the
> history of Eusebius. Phileas became a Christian as an adult, and became
> bishop of his city of Thmuis (Egypt). Soon after his consecration he was
> arrested, and imprisoned for several years before his martyrdom. He was
> tortured and then beheaded during the Great Persecution. Part of a letter
> from Phileas to his community is still extant, telling of the tortures
> suffered by the imprisoned Christians.
>
> Theophilus the Penitent (d. c. 538) According to legend, Theophilus was
> archdeacon of Adana in Cilicia. He was unjustly deposed, and was so furious
> that he made a pact with the devil. But he repented and after forty days'
> penance he was able to confess his sin, which was pardoned by his bishop and
> everyone else in the church, and the Virgin Mary appeared and returned the
> document he had signed for Satan. This is the basis of the story of Faust.
>
> Aldate (6th cent.?) There are churches dedicated to Aldate at Oxford&
> Gloucester and colourful legend says that he was a Briton fighting Saxon
> invaders... or perhaps a he was bishop of Gloucester. Actually, there's a
> suspicion that the name is a place not a person - Aldate = "old gate."
>
> Hrabanus Maurus, archbishop of Mainz (856) - Born in Mainz c780 and given to
> the Church as a child, after studies at the monastic school of Fulda and
> then at Tours (under Alcuin), he returned to Fulda to become the headmaster
> of the monastery school and became abbot (822-42), then abdicated and
> devoted himself to theological writing, before his appointment to the Mainz
> archbishopric in 847 - due to his obedience to the Holy See, he was
> nicknamed 'the Pope's slave'.  He proved to be an unpopular rigorist.
> Perhaps his most lasting work is the hymn Veni creator Spiritus.
>
>   Nicholas Studites, abbot (863) - Born on Crete c.795, Nikolaos entered the
> famous Studion monastery in Constantinople at the age of ten. He was
> imprisoned from 813-820, caught up in the Iconoclast Controversy. Later
> Nikolaos became abbot of Studion. He voluntarily abdicated twice but was
> serving as abbot again at the time of his death - while still under strict
> imprisonment.
>
> Gilbert of Sempringham (d. 1189) The long-lived Gilbert was born in
> Sempringham (England) in c.1090 of Norman knightly family, but handicapped
> so he couldn't pursue a career in arms. So instead he studied in France and
> on his return to England founded a school for boys and girls. He became a
> priest in 1123 and clerk to the bishop of Lincoln. His father gave him a
> parish church on his lands and his parishioners at Sempringham included
> seven very pious women who wished to live a communal life: he built a house
> for them next to the church - which then grew. He asked the Cistercians to
> take over, but they wouldn't, so ended up founding his own "Gilbertine"
> order of nuns. It became the mother house of the Gilbertine order, the only
> order founded by an Englishman. Gilbert was first head of the order,
> retiring when he went blind. 22 double monasteries were founded in Gilbert's
> lifetime. his cult existed immediately after his death; he was canonized in
> 1202.
>
> Obitius of Nardo (blessed) (d. 1204) Obitius, a knight and count of Brescia
> (N. Italy) was badly wounded in battle after falling into a river and nearly
> drowning.  Shocked by a vision of damnation he had at that time, Obitius
> immediately entered the monastery of S. Giulia in Brescia and committed
> himself to a life of penance.
>
> Andrea Corsini, bishop of Fiesole (1373) - a Florentine by birth, after a
> wayward youth, he joined the Carmelite convent of Florence when he was 16;
> he then studied in Paris then became prior of his community in Florence,
> where he won a reputation as a preacher and healer before joining an uncle,
> who was a cardinal in Avignon; when he was elected to the Fiesole bishopric
> in 1360, he tried to avoid this office by hiding in the Carthusian convent
> of Enna (Sicily), but he was discovered; as bishop, he was renowned for his
> diplomacy, charity and asceticism. He was canonized in 1629.
>
> Jeanne de France/de Valois, (1505) - founded the Annonciades de Bourges.
> Jeanne was daughter of King Louis XI of France and Charlotte of Savoy,
> physically deformed (hunched backed&  pock-marked). She was married off to
> the duke of Orleans (who became Louis XII) when she was 12, but her husband
> got the marriage nullified on the grounds of constraint as soon as he became
> King. She then retired to a castle at Bourges, where in 1500 she founded the
> order of nuns of the Annunciation, with an emphasis on active charity and
> not living in a community. She was professed in 1504. Huguenots destroyed
> Jeanne's tomb in 1562; she was still beatified in 1742 and canonized in
> 1950.
>     For those into trivia, Louis XII was particularly concerned with getting
> out of this marriage so that he could marry the widowed Duchess of Brittany,
> Anne; otherwise France would have lost the duchy. When Anne died without
> producing a viable son and heir, Louis took Mary of York, who was less than
> thrilled with the old king. When Louis died, and after the requisite period
> of time to determine that Mary wasn't carrying a future king of France, Mary
> was returned to the English court and her brother, Henry VIII. This opened
> the way for Francis I.
>
>
>
>
>
> happy reading,
> Terri Morgan
>
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