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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Today (9. Dec.) is the feast day, in at least the diocese of Pavia and in the archdiocese of Milan, of St. Syrus of Pavia (d. later 4th cent.?); it is also his day of commemoration in the Roman Martyrology. By all medieval accounts, none of which is either very early or particularly credible, Syrus (also Sirus) was the first bishop of Pavia. The traditional third bishop, St. Inventius / Eventius, is attested from the end of the fourth century. If Inventius / Eventius really was the third bishop, then his predecessor but one was presumably in office sometime earlier in the second half of that century. A tomb in Pavia's basilica dei Santi Gervasio e Protasio, where remains believed to have been those of Syrus are known to have reposed for centuries prior to their translation to the cathedral, is inscribed SVRVS EPC, i.e. Syrus episcopus: http://tinyurl.com/5t8ool It is thought that Syrus was laid to rest in this since much rebuilt church and that the inscription (whose EPC portion seems to be a later addition) may go back to a time when he was not yet considered a saint. Herewith some views of his putative relics on display in Pavia's cathedral: http://tinyurl.com/bywwkys http://tinyurl.com/odtogha The first we hear of _saint_ Syrus is in a Vita dated to the eighth or ninth century (BHL 7976) whose purpose is pretty clearly to claim apostolic foundation for the diocese of Pavia and to establish that the latter was really the original bishopric for the large swath of northern Italy that historically belonged to the archdiocese of Milan. This is done by making Syrus a disciple of St. Hermagoras of Aquileia (who supposedly was consecrated by St. Mark the apostle) and the apostle not only of Pavia but also of Verona, Brescia, Lodi, and Milan itself, the legendary foundation of whose church by the apostle Barnabas seems to be a response to such posturing. A later medieval Vita and a separate translation account provide other, sometimes contradictory details but reaffirm the antiquity of Pavia's diocese vis-a-vis that of Milan (of which Pavia was a suffragan from at least the early eighth century onward). Milan adopted Syrus as a saint of the archdiocese and spread his cult throughout its territory. Further afield, the Syrus venerated at Padua as an early bishop seems in origin to have been today's Syrus, the putative protobishop of Pavia. Opinions differ on whether that is also the case with the supposedly fourth-century St. Syrus of Genoa. Some period-pertinent images of Syrus of Pavia: a) Syrus of Pavia (at right, flanking St. Hermagoras of Aquileia; at left, St. Fortunatus of Aquileia) as depicted in a twelfth-century fresco in the crypt of the formerly patriarchal basilica di Santa Maria Assunta in Aquileia: http://tinyurl.com/j7j5wf4 b) Syrus of Pavia as portrayed in a relief in Pavia's basilica dei Santi Gervasio e Protasio saved from that church's twelfth-century facade when the latter was replaced in the eighteenth century: http://ticino.diocesi.pavia.it/pavia/allegati/24051/SAM_1466.JPG Detail view: http://www.diocesi.pavia.it/pavia/allegati/24039/ssiro.jpg c) Syrus of Pavia as portrayed in relief on a later thirteenth- or early fourteenth-century grosso issued by Pavia during its communal period (1250-1339): http://tinyurl.com/oma47v3 d) Syrus of Pavia as portrayed in relief on a later fourteenth-century grosso da 18 denari from Pavia issued during the overlordship of Galeazzo II of Milan (1359-1378): http://static.deamoneta.com/auctions/5/img/891R.jpg e) Syrus of Pavia (at right; central figure in lower register) as depicted in a fifteenth-century fresco in the chiesa dei Santi Primo e Feliciano (previously dedicated to San Siro) at Leggiuno (VA) in Lombardy: http://www.prolocoleggiuno.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/9.jpg f) as depicted (at upper left) by Master Parotus in a panel of the central portion of his dismembered mid-fifteenth-century San Siro altarpiece (1447; from the pieve di San Siro in Cemmo, a _frazione_ of Capo di Ponte [BS] in Lombardy) in the collection of the Fondazione CAB (Fondazione Banca Credito Agrario Bresciano) in Brescia: http://www.fondazionecab.it/uploads/Image/maestro-paroto%5B1%5D.jpg Detail view (Syrus): http://i0.wp.com/storiedellarte.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/paroto-dett6.jpg g) Syrus of Pavia as depicted in a mid-fifteenth-century panel painting (ca. 1455) by Vincenzo Foppa in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts: http://tinyurl.com/alrq2dq h) Syrus of Pavia as depicted in the probably later fifteenth-century frescoes (restored in 1984) of the chiesa di San Siro in Lasino (TN) in Trentino-Alto Adige: http://tinyurl.com/bdoh2n3 i) Syrus of Pavia as depicted in a late fifteenth- or early sixteenth-century fresco, protected by a wooden portico, at the south entrance to the chiesa di San Siro in Mairengo (Canton Ticino): https://www.flickr.com/photos/renzodionigi/4651549313 TAN: Not altogether syriously, herewith a few images of the modern rum-soaked chocolate pastry confections (the base is the sort of sponge cake familiar from tiramisu) called "sansirini" that appear all over Pavia on this day: http://tinyurl.com/pmx9gvu http://tinyurl.com/jf7eoca http://www.paviainunclick.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/SanSirini.jpg Best, John Dillon ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: subscribe 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: unsubscribe 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/medieval-religion