medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
According to his late fifth-century Vita by his disciple Constantius of Lyon (BHL 3453; interpolated versions: BHL 3454, 3454b), Germanus was a Gallo-Roman from Auxerre who had studied law in Rome before being appointed governor of a Gallic province (probably Armorica). In 418 he was chosen to succeed St. Amator (1. May) in the see of Auxerre, where he sought to improve the educational level of his priests and where in the immediate vicinity of the city he founded a monastery dedicated to Sts. Cosmas and Damian. He went twice to southern Britain to combat Pelagianism there; in one of the interpolations in his Vita he is reported to have visited the shrine of St. Alban. Germanus died in 448 at the imperial capital of Ravenna; Galla Placidia and Valentinian III saw to it that his body was returned to Auxerre for burial. Thus far the Vita. Constantius doesn't say where the citizens of Auxerre laid their holy bishop to rest. Germanus' body later reposed at Auxerre in his monastery, which latter had come to be named for him. Here's a view of his empty sarcophagus in the crypt:
http://tinyurl.com/66h4fa
In the originally earlier sixth-century Vitae of St. Genovefa of Paris (BHL 3334, etc.) Germanus consecrates her to God when she is but a girl; on the following day he presents her with a coin inscribed with a cross that God had just caused him to observe lying on the ground, ordering her to wear it always in preference to other ornament.
Today (31. July) is Germanus' feast day in the diocese of Sens-Auxerre and his day of commemoration in the Roman Martyrology.
Some period-pertinent images of St. Germanus of Auxerre:
a) as depicted (at left; at right, abbot Heldric of the abbey of Saint-Germain in Auxerre) in a late tenth- or early eleventh-century copy of Haymo of Auxerre's commentary on Ezechiel (betw. 989 and 1010; Paris, BnF, ms. Latin 12302, fol. 2r):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10506542j/f7.item.zoom
b) as depicted in an early twelfth-century Office lectionary from the abbey of Saint-Pierre de la Couture in Le Mans (Le Mans, Médiathèque municipale, ms. 227, fol. 83r):
http://www.enluminures.culture.fr/Wave/savimage/enlumine/irht5/IRHT_082532-p.jpg
c) as depicted (scenes) in the earlier thirteenth-century St. Germanus of Auxerre window (ca. 1230) in the basilique cathédrale Notre-Dame in Chartres:
http://www.medievalart.org.uk/chartres/29a_pages/Chartres_Bay29a_key.htm
d) as depicted (presenting to the young St. Genovefa of Paris the coin marked with a cross; at right, St. Lupus of Troyes) in a thirteenth-century (3d quarter?) collection of texts relating to Genovefa (Paris, Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, ms. 1283, fol. 4r):
http://www.enluminures.culture.fr/Wave/savimage/enlumine/irht16/IRHT_031449-p.jpg
e) as depicted (at left, presenting the coin to St. Genovefa of Paris in what seems to be a conflation of that donation with a consecration scene; at right, St. Lupus of Troyes) in an earlier fourteenth-century copy of the _Legenda Aurea_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (betw. 1326 and 1350; Paris, BnF, ms. Français 185, fol. 191v):
http://tinyurl.com/yc6847k
f) as depicted (left-hand column; founding a martyrial church for the newly discovered remains of St. Priscus of Auxerre and his companions) in an earlier fourteenth-century copy of Vincent of Beauvais' _Speculum historiale_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (ca. 1335; Paris, BnF, ms. Arsenal 5080, fol. 203r):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b55000813g/f411.item.zoom
g) as depicted in the mid- to later fourteenth-century Breviary of Charles V (betw. 1347 and 1380; Paris, BnF, ms. Latin 1052, fol. 439r):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84525491/f887.item.zoom
h) as depicted in a mid-fourteenth-century copy, from the workshop of Richard and Jeanne de Montbaston, of the _Legenda aurea_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (1348; Paris, BnF, ms. Français 241, fol. 181r):
http://tinyurl.com/p2uzsyp
i) as depicted (right-hand-column; founding a martyrial church for the newly discovered remains of St. Priscus of Auxerre and his companions) in a later-fourteenth-century copy of Vincent of Beauvais' _Speculum historiale_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (ca. 1370-1380; Paris, BnF, ms. Nouvelle acquisition française 15941, fol. 72r):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8449688c/f151.item.zoom
j) as portrayed in a fifteenth-century polychromed wooden statue in the église Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois in Paris:
http://tinyurl.com/pf77ykm
k) as depicted in the earlier fifteenth-century Châteauroux Breviary (ca. 1414; Châteauroux, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 2, fol. 257r):
http://www.enluminures.culture.fr/Wave/savimage/enlumine/irht2/IRHT_054100-p.jpg
l) as depicted in an earlier fifteenth-century Office lectionary from the abbey of St. Magloire in Paris (before 1426; Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, ms. 399, fol. 111v):
http://www.enluminures.culture.fr/Wave/savimage/enlumine/irht17/IRHT_08202-p.jpg
m) as depicted in two scenes (at left, being rebuked by a nimbed St. Amator; at right, his consecration as bishop) in a mid-fifteenth-century copy from Bruges of the _Legenda aurea_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (ca. 1445-1460; New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.0672, fol. 357v):
http://ica.themorgan.org/manuscript/page/105/135969
n) as depicted (in the scene at left; presenting the coin to the young St. Genovefa of Paris; to Germanus' rear, St. Lupus of Troyes) in a later fifteenth-century copy from Bruges of the _Legenda aurea_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay followed by the _Festes nouvelles_ attributed to Jean Golein (ca. 1460-1470; Mâcon, Médiathèque municipale, ms. 3, fol. 248r):
http://www.enluminures.culture.fr/Wave/savimage/enlumine/irht6/IRHT_095402-p.jpg
o) as depicted (presenting the coin to the young St. Genovefa of Paris; at left, St. Lupus of Troyes) in a later fifteenth-century copy of Vincent of Beauvais' _Speculum historiale_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (1463; Paris, BnF, ms. Français 51, fol. 378r):
http://tinyurl.com/ygm2qnw
p) as depicted in a later fifteenth-century book of hours of Loire valley origin (ca. 1475; New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, MS G.1.II, fol. 272r):
http://ica.themorgan.org/manuscript/page/70/76958
q) as depicted (operating a miracle) in a later fifteenth-century copy of Vincent of Beauvais' _Speculum historiale_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (ca. 1480-1490; Paris, BnF, ms. Français 245, fol. 15r):
http://tinyurl.com/oaj7v6w
r) as depicted in a late fifteenth-century book of hours for the Use of Vannes (Rennes, Bibliothèque de Rennes Métropole, ms. 1588, fol. 149v):
http://tinyurl.com/zrvq2et
s) as depicted (presenting the coin to the young St. Genovefa of Paris; at left, St. Lupus of Troyes) in a late fifteenth-century missal for the Use of Paris (ca. 1492; Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, ms. 412, fol. 315r):
http://www.enluminures.culture.fr/Wave/savimage/enlumine/irht17/IRHT_08569-p.jpg
Best,
John Dillon
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