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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Today (26. March) is the feast day of: 1) Castulus (d. 3d cent. ?). C. is a martyr of the Via Labicana, entered for this date in the (pseudo-)Hieronymian Martyrology. According to the legendary Acta of St. Sebastian (BHL 7543), he was a high official in the imperial palace who looked after the welfare of Christians and who converted many to the faith. C., the legend goes on to say, was denounced, tortured, and then placed in a pit and suffocated by having "sand" poured over him (probably pozzolana, the compacted volcanic ash quarried locally for use in cement). By the year 809 relics believed to be those of C. had reached the monastery at Moosburg in southern Bavaria (today's Moosburg an der Isar). Moosburg's present collegiate church of St. Castulus / Kastulus (begun 1171) was the monastery's church until the latter's closing in the early seventeenth century. The second image here shows the BVM and C. flanking Christ in the tympanum over its main entrance (ca. 1175): http://www.moosburg.org/info/tour/castulus.html The same church has a striking Castulus-altarpiece from 1514, whose central portions are shown here: http://www.moosburg.org/info/tour/alteng1.html and one of whose side-panel reliefs may be seen here in an expandable image: http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/kultdoku/kataloge/36/html/2739.htm In 1604 C.'s relics were transferred to the monastery of St. Martin (now of Sts. Martin and Castulus) at nearby Landshut, where most of them still remain in the "gothic" church of St. Martin: http://www.erzbistum-muenchen.de/EMF076/EMF007527.asp Better interior view: http://www.smertenko.de/eltern/fotos/kirchen/landshut.JPG 2) Montanus and Maxima (d. ca. 304?). M. and M., a priest and his wife, are entered for today in the (pseudo-)Hieronymian Martyrology as martyrs of Sirmium in Pannonia (today's Sremska Mitrovica in Serbia) with the added detail that Montanus was killed by being thrown into a river (presumably the Sava). Florus, followed by Ado, asserted that both had met their fate in this fashion. In this they were followed by Usuard, who, however, had them both thrown into the sea (a neat trick at landlocked Sirmium!). The RM (rev. 2001) fudges by calling the body of water in question _aequor_, a word usually denoting the sea but occasionally (when the context, if not the water, is crystal clear) denoting a river. If Shakespeare could set an action on the seacoast of Bohemia, I suppose it's all right for the RM to suggest two martyrdoms at Sirmium-on-Sea. 3) Ludger of Münster (d. 809). The Frisian L. (also Liudger) was educated at Utrecht and became a disciple of Alcuin. He conducted missions on Helgoland, in Frisia, and in Saxony. In 804/05 he became bishop of Münster in Westphalia. Here he is, in a manuscript painting dated to ca. 1100, being consecrated bishop of Münster: http://www.heiligenlexikon.de/Fotos/Liudger1.jpg That's said to be from L.'s Vita secunda. One can read a bit more about his several Lives in this brief account of the imperial abbey at Werden (modern Werden an der Ruhr, now incorporated into the city of Essen), founded by L. in about 800 and consecrated in 804: http://tinyurl.com/jv9nz: L. was buried at the abbey church at Werden. Its thirteenth-century successor is shown here: http://tinyurl.com/ytq5at http://tinyurl.com/mauy5 http://tinyurl.com/l8bhb (click on links at lower right for further views) L.'s relics (less those now in other places) are kept in this shrine in its crypt: http://tinyurl.com/ru37y L. is considered the founder of Münster, the town of his _monasterium_ at this site. It has its own Ludgerikirche in the city centre: http://enkiri.com/europe/germany/nordrhein_westfalen/munster033.html http://www.flickr.com/photos/gedankenstuecke/107286999/ http://www.eutropia.com/fotos/fotos-8181.html In 2005 L. made a rare return trip here, as documented in these photos: http://tinyurl.com/p6mgv and in this German-language synopsis: http://www.bistumsjubilaeum2005.de/index.php?myELEMENT=88508 Finally, some views of L.'s church (famous for its 17th-century organ by Arp Schnitger) in the East Frisian town of Norden, Landkreis Aurich, Nierdersachsen: http://www.nordwestreisemagazin.de/kirchtuerme/norden/ Best, John Dillon (Castulus and Ludger lightly revised from previous posts) ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html