Agapitus of Praeneste

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Agapitus kneeling in front of the Salvator mundi on a seal of the Kremsmünster monastery

Agapitus von Praeneste was a saint and martyr in the 3rd century. He is the patron saint of sick children and pregnant women and a helper for stomach aches.

Lore

Martyrologium Hieronianum and Martyrologium Romanum

The old calendars and martyrologies consistently show August 18 as the day of death; the year and other details such as age, family name etc. are not mentioned. This can perhaps be deduced from the Martyrologium Romanum , which offers the following report:

Praeneste natalis Sancti Agapiti martyris, qui cum esset annorum quindecim et amore Christi ferveret, iussu Aureliani Imperatoris tentus ac primo nervis crudis diutissime caesus, deinde sub Antiocho praefecto graviora supplicia passus, exinde gladaic ex praeistribuset minatoris laandesonus percutitur.

Praeneste, the birthplace of the holy martyr Agapitus, who loved Christ fervently at the age of fifteen, was captured on the orders of the Emperor Aurelian and was first flogged for a long time. Then he suffered more severe tortures under the Prefect Antiochus, whereupon he was thrown to the lions at the behest of the emperor. Unharmed, he achieved the crown of martyrdom by the sword of the servants.

If Agapitus was actually martyred under Emperor Aurelian, then - according to Kellner - the year 274 is most likely to come into question. As the mention of a city prefect Antiochus, who is nowhere documented, shows, however, this note too is questionable with regard to its historical credibility.

Passio Sancti Agapiti

The Passio Sancti Agapiti , the legendary tale of his martyrdom, was not written before the 7th century. There are two main reviews, both from the 11th century: one is based in Besançon in Burgundy , where the head of the saint is venerated, and the other in Montecassino .

In the Passio Sancti Agapiti , the account of his martyrdom is further embellished: He was first scourged and then locked in prison for four days without eating or drinking. Agapitus was strewn with glowing coals on his head and was then hung by his torturers with his feet over a burning pile of wood. Then he was whipped and poured boiling water over him. After his jaws were broken, Agapitus was thrown to the lions to eat. However, these only cuddled up to him and left him unmolested. Agapitus was then beheaded.

Grave and relics

A small church was built over his grave in the 4th century . Pope Leo III. restored and rediscovered in 1864 between residential buildings. Relics of St. Agapitus are kept in Palestrina (part of the cranium in a head relic ), Besançon (main), Bologna and Kremsmünster (Upper Austria; most of the bones). A scientific investigation of these relics and their possible association is pending.

Adoration

To this day, Agapitus is the house saint of Kremsmünster Abbey and the city patron of Palestrina , where a major festival is celebrated on August 18, the day of his commemoration.

According to Kellner, the relics are said to have come to Kremsmünster Abbey as a gift from Emperor Arnulf of Carinthia at the end of the 9th century (but there is no evidence of this). At the latest since the consecration of the monastery church by Bishop Altmann von Passau (1082), the previous Salvator monastery (also) understood itself as monasterium S. Agapiti (monastery of St. Agapitus).

Other hypotheses (most recently Froschauer, according to which it could be the relics of the Roman martyr and deacon Agapitus of the same name, who had come to Kremsmünster from Niederaltaich at the time of Bishop Altmann ), have so far found little resonance (at least in Kremsmünster).

In the right side apse of the Kremsmünster collegiate church is the altar, which is dedicated to the saint and where his relics are kept. His representation can also be found on the seal of the monastery and the monastery high school.

In art, Agapitus is represented as a boy or a young man (often in deacon robes), his attributes are palm, crown and lion. Often his martyrdom is also depicted. Representations of him can be found, for example, on a fresco from the 8th century in the Church of San Crisogono in Rome or in a manuscript in the Kremsmünster Abbey Library from 1465: Duke Tassilo III. kneels in front of St. Agapitus and hands him the model of the collegiate church.

literature

  • Acta Sanctorum mensis Augusti, Vol. 36, 524-545
  • Orazio Marucchi: Breve compendio degli atti e delle memorie del Martire S. Agapito Prenestino . Roma 1898
  • Orazio Marucchi: Guida archeologica della città di Palestrina . Rome 1932, 126-147
  • Altman Kellner : Saint Agapitus von Praeneste, patron of the Kremsmünster Abbey . In: Studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches / ed. Bavarian Benedictine Academy; 48: 404-432 (1930)
  • Rupert Froschauer: Agapitus von Praeneste. On the metamorphosis of a saint . In: Public Stiftsgymnasium Kremsmünster - annual report ; 137 (1994), pp. 36-45
  • Erhard Gorys : Lexicon of the saints . Munich 2004, p. 21
  • Ekkart Sauser :  AGAPITUS by Praeneste. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 16, Bautz, Herzberg 1999, ISBN 3-88309-079-4 , Sp. 11-12.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )

Web links

Commons : Agapitus von Praeneste  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martyrologium Hieronianum, 448, ad diem: “In civitate Praenestina miliario XXIII Agapiti” - cf. (also on the following): Altman Kellner: Saint Agapitus von Praeneste, patron of the Kremsmünster monastery . In: Studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches / ed. Bavarian Benedictine Academy  ; 48 (1930), pp. 405ff.
  2. ^ Martyrologium Romanum . Rome 1922, 195
  3. ↑ Altman Kellner: Saint Agapitus von Praeneste, patron of the Kremsmünster Abbey . In: Studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches / ed. Bavarian Benedictine Academy; 48 (1930), pp. 408-409
  4. ↑ See Rupert Froschauer: Agapitus von Praeneste. On the metamorphosis of a saint . In: Public Stiftsgymnasium Kremsmünster - annual report  ; 137 (1994), p. 40. - Sources: AASS Aug., Vol. 36, p. 524 ff.
  5. ↑ Orazio Marucchi: Breve compendio degli atti e delle memorie del Martire S. Agapito Prenestino . Roma 1898, pp. 19-20.
  6. ↑ Kellner, Altman: The holy Agapitus von Praeneste, patron of the Kremsmünster Abbey. In: Studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches / ed. Bavarian Benedictine Academy; 48: 414-415 (1930)
  7. ↑ Berchtold von Kremsmünster reports: Huius tempore idem Altmannus episcopus nostrum monasterium iam tertio consecravit anno domini prenotato, precipue in honore Salvatoris et sancti Agapit martyris necnon sancti Blasii. Et deinde festum sancti Agapiti cepit sollempnius celebrari et festum Salvatoris mediocriter agi cepit (At this time the said Bishop Altmann consecrated our monastery for the third time in the said year, primarily in honor of the Savior, the holy martyr Agapitus and also of Saint Blaise the feast of St. Agapitus was celebrated more solemnly and the feast of the Savior was neglected) . In: Georg Waitz u. a. (Ed.): Scriptores (in Folio) 25: Gesta saec. XIII .. Hanover 1880, p. 670 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )
  8. ^ Rupert Froschauer: Agapitus von Praeneste. On the metamorphosis of a saint . In: Public Stiftsgymnasium Kremsmünster - annual report ; 137 (1994), pp. 36-45
  9. ↑ Codex Cremifanensis 359, Psalterium of Abbot Ulrich Schoppenzaun
personal data
SURNAME Agapitus of Praeneste
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman saint and martyr
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd century
DATE OF DEATH 3rd century