St. Frigidian, March 18
Kathy Rabenstein
+ Frigidian (Frediano, Frigdianus) of Lucca B (RM)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Born in Ireland; died 588; feast day formerly March 15.
In spite of the Italian name Frediano, by which he is usually called, St.
Frigidian was an Irishman, the son of King Ultach of Ulster. He was
trained in Irish monasteries and ordained a priest. His learning was
imparted by such flowers of the 6th century Irish culture as St. Enda (f.d.
March 21) and St. Colman.
St. Frigidian arrived in Italy on a pilgrimage to Rome and decided to settle
as a hermit on Mount Pisano. In 566, he was elected bishop of Lucca
and was persuaded by Pope John II him to accept the position. Even
thereafter the saint frequently left the city to spend many days in prayer
and solitude. As bishop he formed the clergy of the city into a community
of canons regular and rebuilt the cathedral after it had been destroyed
by fire by the Lombards.
His most famous miracle is certainly legendary. The River Serchio
frequently bursts its banks, causing great damage to the city of Lucca.
The citizens reputedly called on their bishop for aid. He asked for an
ordinary rake. Fortified by prayer, Frigidian commanded the Serchio to
follow his rake. He charted a new, safer course for the water, avoiding
the city walls, as well as the cultivated land outside. Miraculously, the
river followed him.
Sometimes there is confusion between St. Finnian of Moville (f.d.
September 10) and St. Frigidian. They could perhaps be the same
person but the links have never been well established. Frigidian is still
greatly venerated in Lucca (Attwater, Bentley, Encyclopedia).
In art, St. Frigidian walks in procession as the Volto Santo crucifix is
brought to Lucca on an ox cart. He may also be shown changing the
course of the Serchio River or as a bishop with a crown at his feet
(Roeder).
Other Saints Honored March 18
=================================
+ = celebrated liturgically
Blessed Fra Angelico, OP (PC)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Born in Mugello near Florence, Italy, in 1386 or 1387; died in Rome, Italy,
in 1455.
Guido da Vicchio's innate talent for art was supplemented by the natural
beauty of his native Tuscany. He studied under several master artists
when Italy was most conscious of the spirit of Giotto and Cimabue, and
their influence was always to give a certain unearthly aspect to his
paintings.
When he was still quite young, and already a recognized artist, he
entered the Dominican monastery at Fiesole with his brother Benedetto in
1407. It is a tribute to the ability and sanctity of both brothers that their
names stand out in such distinguished company, for some of the
greatest men of the order were housed in the same priory: Blesseds
John Dominici (f.d. June 10), Peter Capucci (f.d. October 21), and
Lawrence of Ripafratta (f.d. September 28), and St. Antoninus of
Florence (f.d. February 28). The latter, when he was appointed
archbishop, was to commission some of the two artists' finest work.
Few personal details are known about Brother John of the Angels, who
is known as Fra Angelico in secular history. He was a priest. His
painting in Florence was sufficiently well-known and admired to merit his
being called to Rome to decorate the Chapel of Nicholas V at the Vatican.
In 1449, he was appointed prior of San Marco, which he decorated with
his wonderful paintings, and held that office for three years.
He may have been recalled to Rome in 1454; he died there in 1455 at the
Dominican friary of La Minerva. In much the same way as St. Thomas
Aquinas (f.d. January 28) was obscured by his writings for centuries,
Fra Angelico seems to have disappeared behind his art. We know that
he was the painter par excellence of the Queen of Angels and of her
court.
St. Antoninus, who must have known him well, said: "No one could paint
like that without first having been to heaven." The sincerity of his
paintings and the depth of their theological and devotional teaching
makes this statement believable.
Fra Angelico and Fra Benedetto were both artists of skill and originality.
Perhaps God wished them to work together to make Fiesole and San
Marco treasure houses of art, where some innocence and beauty might
remain untouched by the storm of Renaissance humanism loomed on the
horizon. Benedetto painted and illuminated an exquisite set of choir
books, reputed to be the loveliest in the world. If he had lived out his
career, he might have rivalled his famous brother, but he was
accidentally killed in a street battle during one of the frequent political
upheavals in Florence, and his work was left unfinished.
Fra Angelico himself did some illumination; in fact, he probably began his
career as an illuminator. There is in his altarpieces a definite touch of the
illuminator's talent for extracting the gist of the matter and leaving out
extraneous details. His work is never cluttered, which might, of course,
be the result of a mind trained in theology, as well as of a hand trained in
illuminating.
His frescoes were done on wet plaster, with clay colors, which means
that he could not see any exact color relationship until the wall had dried,
and it was too late to touch it up. This makes it all the more remarkable
that his colors are so exquisitely blended, and that they still glow with
such unfaded loveliness after 400 years. Some of his best works are in
the convent of San Marco, which is now a state museum.
Here in Washington, D.C., we have a wonderful wood panel enamelled
by Fra Angelico, "The Madonna of Humility," which shows, much better
than the prints we are accustomed to seeing, the almost heavenly
radiance that glowed through his paintings. The figures of the Madonna
and Child have a quaint, awkward attitude; yet no one looking at them
can possibly mistake that fact that he is depicting the Queen of Heaven.
Part of the ethereal look of his Madonna comes from the fact that Fra
Angelico did not use models for his pictures. This alone was remarkable
in a time when painters were flinging themselves into the study of
anatomy, sometimes at the cost of other qualities. Perhaps he was
revolted by the practice of some of his contemporary painters who
chose beautiful women with bad reputations to pose for their Madonnas.
Perhaps it was simply that he saw, with the clear vision of a theologian,
that nothing--painting, statue, sermon, poem, or building--should obstruct
one's view of God, drawing the attention away from that vision.
Fra Angelico's greatest complete work was his "Life of Christ," a series
of 35 paintings in Fiesole. They began with the vision of the Prophet
Ezekiel and ended with the lovely "Coronation of the Virgin," which we
sometimes see reproduced in print. These pictures tell us what the
records leave unsaid: that Brother John of the Angels was a capable
theologian and a splendid Scripture scholar. He was also a devoted son
of St. Dominic, whom he dearly loved and never tired of painting.
In America, we are most familiar with his paintings of the Annunciation,
which was obviously one of his favorite subjects, since he painted it
dozens of times. Most of his subjects were chosen from the life of Our
Lord; the famous "angels," which one so often sees, are parts of much
larger altarpieces, having much more serious subjects than the colorful
and joyful angels decorating them.
Some have said that Fra Angelico in art, Dante in poetry, and St. Thomas
in the _Summa Theologica_, have each presented the same truth in three
different ways. Whether or not this is completely true, it is an indication
of the veneration in which history has held this man. His motto was: "To
paint Christ, one must live Christ." He is the best example we have of
one who preaches with a brush as eloquently as his brothers do with
voice or pen. Today he still preaches, in places where no other would
be heard. Perhaps his mission is still alive, to help bring into the fold
those who love art but know nothing of God.
The cause of Fra Angelico was resumed on the 500th anniversary of his
death and has been active since then. Although he is usually called _il
Beato Angelico_, he has never officially been beatified (Benedictines,
Dorcy).
Martyrs of Nicomedia (RM)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Died c. 300. A band of 10,000 Christians massacred, it is said, following
a fire in the imperial palace at Nicomedia (Benedictines).
Narcissus and Felix MM (RM)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Died c. 307. A bishop and his deacon honored as martyrs at Gerona in
Spanish Catalonia. This is all that is certain about them. It is said that
Deacon Felix and Bishop Narcissus of Gerona were stabbed to death at
the altar in 307. The stories of their alleged escape to and missionary
activities in Germany and Switzerland with the subsequent conversion
of St. Afra (f.d. August 5) are legendary (Benedictines).
They are sometimes illustrated with St. Matthew (dragon at his feet),
with St. Afra, or changing holy water into oil for church lamps.
Venerated in Augsburg, Switzerland, and Valencia. Invoked against
insect bites (Roeder).
+ Salvator of Horta, OFM (AC)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Born at Santa Columba, Gerona, Spain, in 1520; died in Sardinia in 1567;
canonized in 1938 (or 1940). St. Salvator was a shoemaker by trade
before he joined the Franciscans as a lay-brother in Barcelona. He
spent most of his life as cook for the friary of Horta near Tortosa;
however, he died at the friary of Cagliari in Sardinia (Attwater,
Benedictines).
In art, St. Salvator is a Franciscan with a little tree in his hands. He may
sometimes be shown walking on hot coals. He is patron of gardeners
(Roeder).
Trophimus and Eucarpius MM (RM)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Died c. 304. Trophimus and Eucarpius were soldiers sent to hunt out
Christians. Instead they were converted and burnt alive at Nicomedia
under Diocletian (Benedictines).
Sources:
========
Attwater, D. (1983). The penguin dictionary of saints, NY:
Penguin Books.
Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1947). The
book of saints: A dictionary of servants of God canonized
by the Catholic Church extracted from the Roman and other
martyrologies. NY: Macmillan.
Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1966). The
book of saints: A dictionary of persons canonized or
beatified by the Catholic Church. NY: Thomas Y. Crowell.
Bentley, J. (1986). A calendar of saints: The lives of the
principal saints of the Christian year, NY: Facts on File.
Delaney, J. J. (1983). Pocket dictionary of saints, NY:
Doubleday Image.
Dorcy, M. J., OP. (1964). Saint Dominic's family: Lives
and legends. Dubuque, IA: Priory Press.
Encyclopedia of Catholic saints, March. (1966).
Philadelphia: Chilton Books.
Roeder, H. (1956). Saints and their attributes, Chicago: Henry
Regnery.
White, K. E. (1992). Guide to the saints, NY: Ivy Books.
-----
Kathy R.
krab...@ana.org