medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Herewith a revised and expanded notice of Thyrsus, Leucius, and Callinicus to replace its at times garbled and less informative predecessor from a few days ago.
14. December is also the feast day of:
Thyrsus, Leucius, and Callinicus (d. 250 or 251, supposedly). According to their legendary joint Passio, which exists in several versions of differing elaboration (BHG 1844z and its metaphrastic re-working BHG 1845; BHL 8277-8281), these saints were martyrs of northwestern Asia Minor during the Decian persecution. Leucius (in Latin, also Lucius, Lencius, Leontius, etc.) a prominent citizen of Caesarea in Bithynia, was martyred there by torture and decapitation after he had confessed his faith and had reproached a persecuting official for his actions. Thyrsus (in Latin, also Tyrsus or Tirsus), a famous athlete and a pagan, was so impressed by Leucius' courage and by his fortitude in meeting his fate that he became a Christian and, when the official was leaving town, attempted to engage him in a colloquy over the superiority of Christianity.
The official would have none of this. He had Thyrsus arrested and brought with him to Apollonia in Phrygia. There he and another persecuting official engaged in a series of grisly execution attempts from each of which Thyrsus, who had been baptized by angels and who at times was visibly assisted by them, emerged unscathed. The two persecuting officials were in turn struck down with fatal illnesses. But another official took over and continued to proceed against Thyrsus in the same mode and with the same lack of success. Finally, when Thyrsus either was still at Apollonia or else had been brought to Miletus, an attempt was made to kill him by placing him in a wooden coffin and by then sawing both it and him in two. Miraculously, the saw would not budge, whereupon Thyrsus gave up his life without injury.
Callinicus (in medieval Latin texts, usually Calenicus or Galenicus), was a pagan priest who was moved by Thyrsus' example to convert to Christianity and who was executed by decapitation shortly before Thyrsus' own death. Fifteen other priests are said to have converted and to have shared his fate. Punishing angels tormented the third persecutor; with the governor's permission Thyrsus was granted honorable burial.
Thus far the Passio. Late in the fourth century remains believed to be those Thyrsus were translated from Apollonia to Constantinople. The cult flourished there: more than one church in the city was dedicated to Thyrsus and he and the others were commemorated in Byzantine synaxaries under 14. December and 17. January. In the Latin west Thyrsus, Leucius, and Callinicus appear in the (pseudo-)Hieronymian Martyrology under six different days in January. Most of these appear to be copying errors but their entry under 27. January places their martyrdom at Apollonia and is presumed to reflect their actual commemoration on that day. The ninth-century martyrologists Florus of Lyon, St. Ado of Vienne, and Usuard of Saint-Germain all entered them under 28. January as martyrs of Apollonia. The RM followed suit until its revision of 2001 when it moved them to 14. December. This latter is also their customary feast day in Orthodox and other eastern-rite churches.
Thyrsus and Leucius as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century mosaics (betw. 1315 and 1321) in the exonarthex of the Chora church in Istanbul:
T.:
http://tinyurl.com/c5rav4f
L.:
http://tinyurl.com/dxeul3n
In the Latin west Thyrsus' cult was especially vigorous on both sides of the Pyrenees in the Visigothic kingdom and its successors. Dedications to him (in Spanish and in Portuguese he's Tiso as well as Tirso) are attested there from at least the seventh century onward. Sometimes said to have been a native of Toledo who had gone to Asia Minor, he has a Mozarabic Office with a Mozarabic hymn (_Exulta nimium, turba fidelium_; _AH_ 27. 249). Herewith views of some originally medieval churches dedicated to Thyrsus in Iberia:
a) Three illustrated, Spanish-language pages on the originally ninth-century iglesia de San Tirso in Ovideo, a part of whose chevet is still pre-romanesque:
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iglesia_de_San_Tirso_%28Oviedo%29
http://tinyurl.com/7tey87e
http://tinyurl.com/7v8twfm
b) An illustrated, Spanish-language page on the originally twelfth-century iglesia de San Tirso de Oseiro at Arteixo (A Coruña) in Galicia:
http://www.celtiberia.net/verlugar.asp?id=767
Other views:
http://tinyurl.com/78lg4f9
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/44006890 [Use the menu of thumbnails at upper right.]
c) Three illustrated, Spanish-language pages on the originally twelfth-century iglesia de San Tirso at Sahagún de Campos (León) in Castilla y León:
http://tinyurl.com/czy5es2
http://tinyurl.com/c3spd8n (http://tinyurl.com/c4tqp4c)
http://tinyurl.com/c4tqp4c
d) Views of the surviving portal (now serving as the entrance to a cemetery) of the originally twelfth-century iglesia de San Tirso at Vega de Bur (Palencia) in Castilla y León:
http://tinyurl.com/6sqw68u
http://tinyurl.com/742ollp
http://tinyurl.com/c4tqp4c
e) Views of the seemingly originally early thirteenth-century iglesia de San Tirso at Cembrero, a locality of Villameriel (Palencia) in Castilla y León:
http://tinyurl.com/bsvfql4 [click on these for original locations with accompanying text]
Other, expandable views of the portal and of the thirteenth-century baptismal font:
http://tinyurl.com/7zu2vd3
http://tinyurl.com/6r3pz7z
Two dedications in France to this Thyrsus (others of this name have also been venerated in Francophone Europe):
a) Views of the originally twelfth-century église Saint-Thyrse in Châteauponsac (Haute-Vienne):
http://tinyurl.com/bn6xsvd
http://tinyurl.com/cvu4t33
http://tinyurl.com/d9e2mxk
http://tinyurl.com/cgkk2se
b) Views of the originally later twelfth- and earlier thirteenth-century cathédrale de Notre-Dame et Saint-Thyrse in Sisteron (Alpes-Maritimes):
Exterior:
http://tinyurl.com/76sezvx
http://tinyurl.com/6oohq25
http://tinyurl.com/72rnlm2
http://tinyurl.com/7phel6e
http://tinyurl.com/cahzl7j
http://tinyurl.com/d79tjj8
http://tinyurl.com/dyw92js
http://tinyurl.com/c7ygrgp
Interior:
http://tinyurl.com/bpnfgsz
http://tinyurl.com/7wvsdg9
http://tinyurl.com/7lmgopl
http://tinyurl.com/89t255e
Multiple views:
http://dignois.fr/Sisteron-cathedrale/
http://dignois.fr/Sisteron-cathedrale2/
Best,
John Dillon
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