medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
A seventh-century bishop of Benevento, Barbatus comes into focus only in the ninth century with the earliest version of his Vita (BHL 973). Dated conjecturally to ca. 840, this document identifies him as a priest who converted leading Lombards of the duchy (later, principality) of Benevento from residual paganism to Christian practice. After a brief mention of his miracles, it narrates Barbatus' conversion of the anachronistically styled prince Romuald (i.e. duke Romoald I, 662-687) and credits him with bringing about the BVM's saving of the city of Benevento from a siege by the emperor Constans II (the siege, if not Barbatus' part in its lifting, occurred during Constans' march through Lombard territory in 663). After this he is chosen bishop by popular acclaim and goes on to suppress a snake cult favored by Lombard nobles. The approximate date commonly given for Barbatus' death (ca. 682) is guesswork based in part on matter in the Vita, whose overall historical reliability has commended itself more to some than it has to others. But it may not be wide of the mark: he was alive in 680 when he subscribed the letter from the synod of Rome in that year instructing legates to the Sixth Ecumenical Council.
Late ninth-or early tenth-century frescoes depicting scenes from Barbatus' episcopacy survive in his former chapel in Benevento's cathedral where it now forms part of the diocesan museum. Two of those scenes can be descried here just left of center, illuminated by overhead lighting:
http://www.diocesidibenevento.it/includes/php/readFile.php?filemanager_id=3566
and a better view of them is available at 6:27 mins. in this brief video of a guided tour of the museum following its reopening in 2015:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ut6EleODvs
Also on display in the diocesan museum is a cast iron throne (or throne frame) with traces of damascening in silver. Traditionally called the throne of St. Barbatus, it is said by the archdiocese of Benevento to date to the seventh century (see <http://www.diocesidibenevento.it/pagina.php?codice=81 >, where grounds for this dating are not provided -- one hopes that these are somewhat stronger than the mere ascription of this object to the saint). Here's a view:
http://www.emozioninrete.com/uploads/2/7/7/2/27725671/3064518_orig.jpg
In 1124, during a rebuilding of the cathedral, relics said to be Barbatus' were found deep under the main altar with the relics of other, unidentified saints reposing somewhat higher up. Later in the same century, king William I (1154-66) gave relics of Barbatus along with those of many other saints to the abbey of Montevergine near today's Mercogliano (AV) in Campania. The archdiocese of Benevento also claims to have relics of Barbatus. Montevergine's set ordinarily is kept in the abbey church's cripta di San Guglielmo (St. William of Vercelli) but is shown here on a trip in 2009 to Cicciano (NA), one of several towns in southern Italy to have Barbatus as a patron:
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/20872721
Best,
John Dillon
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