medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
29. December is also the feast day of:
1) The prophet David.
2) Libosus of Vaga (d. 258). This prelate of Africa Proconsularis is remembered for having declared, at the synod of Carthage in 256 and in support of the re-baptism of heretical _lapsi_ who wished to rejoin the Roman church, that Christ had said in the Gospels not "I am Custom" but instead "I am the Truth" and that, when custom (in this case, not baptizing heretics; the traditional position, endorsed by pope St. Stephen I) conflicts with evident truth, custom must yield to truth. Two years earlier, when he was already bishop of Vaga (now Beja in northern Tunisia) he had signed, along with St. Cyprian of Carthage and other African bishops, a letter condemning the bishops of Astorga and Mérida as libellatics in the time of the Decian persecution. After Cyprian's execution Libosus was martyred at Carthage together with other bishops. In the (pseudo-)Hieronymian Martyrology his name occurs under 29. December (when, identified as a bishop, he appears along with other African martyrs whom the RM in its revision of 2001 dropped from what previously had been a group commemoration) and again under 1. February (when, not so identified, a Libosus appears among a smaller but seemingly related group of martyrs of Africa).
3) Martinianus of Milan (d. 435?). Martinianus is traditionally the fifteenth bishop of Milan. He was already bishop in 431 when (with his signature transmitted in our witnesses as Martinus) he signed a doctrinal letter directed against John of Antioch and other prelates of Nestorian persuasion. In Milan, where relics said to be his repose beneath the high altar of Santo Stefano Maggiore, competition from feasts of greater moment has caused his celebration to occur on 2. January. The latter was also his day of commemoration in the RM prior to its revision of 2001 (when it was moved to today, Martinianus' _dies natalis_ according to a tradition of long standing).
4) Marcellus the Acoemete (d. ca. 482). A native of Apamea who had studied at Antioch, Marcellus was a monk of St. Mennas in Constantinople when he became a follower of Alexander the founder in the early fifth century of the Acoemetes (Akoimetoi; 'Sleepless Ones"), a community of monks who celebrated offices throughout the twenty-four-hour day. In their early years the Acoemetes were accused of heresy and were forced to leave the capital. During this exile Marcellus became their hegumen. In his roughly forty years of leadership he transformed the community into one of great respectability and perceived orthodoxy operating in numerous monasteries. In 448 he was one of twenty-two archimandrites who joined thirty-one bishops in subscribing St. Flavian of Constantinople's condemnation of Eutyches; according to Theodoret of Cyr(rh)us he was vigorous in attacking heresy at the so-called Robber Council of Ephesus. In 451 Marcellus was present at the fourth session of the Council of Chalcedon. Byzantine synaxaries record his death on this day. He seems to have received an immediately posthumous cult; his Bios, which exists in several versions (BHG 1027 etc.) is now thought to date from the late fifth or very early sixth century.
Best,
John Dillon
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