medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Vitalis and Agricola are martyrs of Bologna (persecution unknown) whose bodies were unearthed in a former Jewish cemetery there in the year 392. That great discoverer of martyrs' remains, St. Ambrose of Milan, was present; thanks to him, late antique interest in this pair became widespread in Italy and in Gaul. According to Ambrose (_De exhortatione virginitatis_, cap. 1), Vitalis was Agricola's servant and was martyred first, undergoing so many tortures before expiring that his body was completely covered in wounds. Agricola, on the other hand, was of such gentle demeanor that even his enemies loved him; consequently they postponed his execution in the hope of sparing him. When Agricola protested he was crucified. This account served as the base for a widely copied Passio falsely attributed to Ambrose (BHL 8691-8693).
Vitalis and Agricola appear in the (pseudo-)Hieronymian Martyrology on 3. November and again on 3. December. Their association with other saints named Vitalis (some of whom, e.g. Vitalis of Ravenna, may be today's V. under new identities after a transfer of relics and the passage of time) has led at times to their being commemorated on 28. April and/or on 27. November. In Bologna they have been celebrated today (4. November) since at least the Carolingian period. Today is also their day of commemoration in the Roman Martyrology.
Some period-pertinent images of Sts. Vitalis and Agricola of Bologna:
a) as portrayed (flanking Christ, Agricola at left and Vitalis at right) on an eleventh(?)-century relief mounted on the nineteenth-century facade of the several times rebuilt basilica dei Santi Vitale e Agricola in Bologna's Santo Stefano complex:
http://tinyurl.com/gpmgt3c
b) as depicted (martyrdom) 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. 59v):
http://tinyurl.com/2e6wjpj
c) as depicted in a late fifteenth-century Roman Breviary of French origin (after 1482; Clermont-Ferrand, Bibliothèque du patrimoine, ms. 69, fol. 596v):
http://tinyurl.com/b5hx3va
Best,
John Dillon
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