medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today, March 24 is the feast of:
Gabriel the Archangel - - patron of postal, telegraph and telephone workers,
and of telecommunications.
Callinicus and Basilissa (d. 250 or 251) We know about Callinicus and
Basilissa from Byzantine synaxary accounts, including one in the so-called
Menologium of Basil II. In these Callinicus sometimes appears erroneously
under the feminine name form Callinica; the latter was used in these saints'
entry in the RM until the latter's revision of 2001, when its commemoration
of them was also moved from March 24 to March 22. Basilissa is said to have
been a wealthy woman who through donations distributed by Callinicus
subvened Christians imprisoned during the Decian persecution; Callinicus'
arrest and confession led to their joint martyrdom (in Galatia, according to
the tradition followed by the RM; at Rome, according to a tradition followed
by many Orthodox churches).
Irenaeus of Sirmium (d. 304) Irenaeus was bishop of Sirmium (Mitrovica,
Serbia), martyred under Diocletian. An early account of his martyrdom
survives, telling of how, when he was tortured, his wife, children, and even
mother gathered around urging him to sacrifice and save his life. After a
period of imprisonment, Irenaeus was beheaded and his body thrown into the
river.
Timolaus, Dionysius, Paesis, Romulus, Alexander, another Alexander, Agapius,
and another Dionysius (d. 305). We know about this group of martyrs of
Caesarea in Palestine from Eusebius, _De martyribus Palaestinae_, 3. 3. The
first six were young men from various places: Timolaus from Pontus,
Dionysius from Tripoli in Phoenicia, Romulus from Diospolis where he was
subdeacon, Paesis (the name is a trisyllable and is accented on the 'a') and
the first Alexander from Egypt, and the second Alexander from Gaza. These
bound their hands as though they were prisoners and, at the outset of a game
in which recently condemned criminals were to be exposed to beasts, ran
towards the provincial governor shouting that they were Christians and were
not afraid of what the animals might do to them. Declining to let these six
influence the course of his spectacle, the governor simply jailed them and a
few days later (24. March), presumably -- though we are not told this -
after they were given the formality of a trial -, had them executed by
decapitation along with Agapius, who had already suffered many horrific
tortures (and who is to be distinguished from another Agapius, arrested in
the same year, also frequently tortured, martyred at Caesarea in 306, and
celebrated on 21. November), and with the other Dionysius, who had been
aiding the others while they were imprisoned.
Pigmenius (d. 362) was a priest in the city of Rome; during Julian the
Apostate's reign, when Christians were no longer being protected by imperial
favor, a non-Christian mob caught Pigmenius and martyred him rather
ignominiously by throwing him in the Tiber.
Caimin/Cammin of Inniskeltra (d. 653) A member of the royal family of
Connacht and a notable scholar, Caimin was a hermit on Inniskeltra (an
island in Lough Derg, Ireland). He attracted many disciples and ended up
founding a monastery on the Island of Seven Churches. Part of a psalter he
copied out still survives.
Hildelith/Hildelid/Hildelitha/in Latin, Hildelita/in French, Hildelite/in
German, Hildelit (fl. c700) was the second abbess of the double monastery at
Barking in Essex, founded in the seventh century by St. Erkenwald
(Earconwald). St. Aldhelm's prose De virginitate is dedicated to her and to
the sisters there. It is possible to infer from Aldhelm's work that not a
few members of the community were wealthy noblewomen who had divorced their
husbands in order to become brides of Christ. That description may also fit
Hildelith; certainly she was well educated. Hildelith knew St. Boniface well
enough to have communicated to him details of a vision of heaven and hell
seen by a monk of Wenlock in what is now Shropshire.
John of Tynemouth's _Sanctilogium_ has a Vita of Hildelith drawn chiefly
from Bede's matter on Barking at Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, 4.
6-11 but also including now unprovable assertions that Hildelith was
venerated in the tenth century. Post-Conquest Barking commemorated her
deposition on this date. Goscelin of Canterbury (d. in or after 1107) wrote
lections for her Office at Barking, where in the early fifteenth century she
was celebrated both today and on the octave. According to Bede, Hildelith
was an energetic abbess who ruled for many years and who maintained strict
discipline.
Hildelith seems never to have graced the pages of the RM. She is
commemorated in the Order of St. Benedict, in the sanctoral calendar of the
Carmelites of France, and in the Eglise Orthodoxe de France.
Aldemar (d. c1080) was a native of Capua who became a monk at Monte Cassino.
He was appointed director of the nobly founded the monastery of San Lorenzo
at Capua, and while there performed miracles and got the soubriquet "the
Wise." He also served as chaplain to a nunnery at Capua but worked so many
miracles that it was embarrassing, so he was recalled to the monastery. He
escaped a feud over him between Monte Cassino and princess Aloara of Capua,
and fled to Bocchignano in Abruzzo, where he founded a monastery; while
there, bees made a hive in his cupboard, and he would not allow them to be
disturbed. He founded several other communities also.
William of Norwich (d. 1144) William has a notorious place in Christian
history as the first supposed victim of Jewish ritual murder. He was 12
years old, killed on Holy Saturday. And the story developed that he had been
slaughtered by the Jews of the town, as part of a great international
conspiracy to kill one Christian child a year during holy week, in contempt
of Christ. William's cult was very popular for over a century, but died out
by the middle of the fourteenth century.
John of the Staff/Giovanni dal Bastone (Blessed) (d. 1290) John was an early
Silvestrine Benedictine in the Marche. Our information about him comes
primarily from a Vita ascribed to his contemporary, Andreas Jacobus of
Fabriano, the author of the oldest Vita of the congregation's founder St.
Silvestro Guzzolini. A native of the Paterno near Fabriano, John studied
with Silvestro at Bologna. After an injury that left him lame he returned to
Fabriano and opened a grammar school that became a local success. At the age
of thirty he became a Silvestrine monk. Ordained priest by the bishop of
Camerino shortly thereafter, he spent the remainder of his active life as a
preacher. Today is his dies natalis. John was buried in the church of San
Benedetto in Fabriano. Miracles took place at his tomb, a cult arose, and he
was soon honored with an altar in the church. In 1586 the church was rebuilt
and John was translated to a place of honor in the crypt, where the staff he
used in life is said to be preserved next to his elevated tomb. He was
beatified in 1772. Popularly considered a saint, he entered the RM in 2001
as sanctus.
Katherine of Sweden/Katarina av Vadstena/Katerina Ulfsdotter (1381)
Katharine was the fourth child of Ulph Gudmarsson, prince of Nierck, in
Sweden, and S. Bridget (Birgitta Birgersdotter of Finsta). At the age of
thirteen she was married to a young nobleman, Eggard Lydersson; their union
was never consummated (later it was said that both had taken a vow of
chastity). When after a few years her father died and with her husband's
permission, Katharine undertook a pilgrimage with her mother to various holy
places, spending 25 years at her mother's side and finally came to Rome,
where S. Bridget died in 1373. Katharine returned to Sweden with her
mother's remains and became abbess of Vatzen, in the diocese of Lincopen, on
March 24th, 1381. She spent the remainder of her life there and at Rome,
working for her mother's canonization and directing the nascent Order of the
Most Holy Savior (the Bridgettines). Her own cult was confirmed in 1484 with
a feast day of March 22. The Bridgettines now celebrate her today.
Simon of Trent (d. 1475) Simon was a 2-1/2 year old boy who died under
mysterious circumstances. The local Jewish community was accused of having
crucified him; a number of Jews were killed, the synagogue destroyed, etc.
In 1478 Simon's canonization was considered, but rejected. In 1588, however,
the cult was approved, especially because of the number of miracles that had
been worked at Simon's tomb. Simon was removed from the Roman martyrology in
1965 and his veneration forbidden.
Happy reading,
Terri Morgan
--
"An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much
you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you know and what
you don't."
Anatole France
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