Black Sara
The Saint Sarah or Saint Sarah , also Sara the Black , Sara, the servant , Sara, the beggar or Sara the gypsy , even Sara-la-Kali (* 1st century in Egypt , Persia and Palestine , according to other sources in the Camargue ; † in the 1st century in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer ), was from the Middle East has come to the Camargue Christian missionary or to Christianity converted Celto - Ligurerin . Their historical existence is disputed. The Sinti and Roma have chosen them as their patron saint.
There is no reliable record of their origin . Their veneration has been attested since the 15th century. She is said to have been of simple origin and the servant of some women from around Jesus of Nazareth . According to one of the numerous legends of saints from the Middle Ages around Sarah, as a result of the persecution of Christians around the year 40 (probably 42) , she came to the south of France with the three holy women Mary Magdalene , Mary Salome of Galilee and Mary of Cleophas , where she was a Christian community founded and the Camargue and Provence missionary work . Sara is said to have provided for the group's livelihood by begging for alms . According to another story, Sara was one of a group of locals who rescued the castaways and was later baptized .
In the 6th century, Caesarius of Arles built a convent in honor of the "three Marys" and their servant Sara on the site of an older Marian shrine . The relics of the three Marys are kept in a chapel from the 10th century, while Sara's bones rest in the crypt . Whether the human remains kept there can actually be assigned to these three historically unproven women remains a matter of dispute in view of the flourishing relic trade in the Middle Ages.
The scene of the action on the coast of the Camargue has since been called Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and is a famous pilgrimage site for the Roma (French Gitans ) from all over the world. On May 24th and 25th every year, colorfully dressed statues of Sara and her fellow soldiers are ceremoniously carried to the shore in a procession and wetted with sea water . This major event, known as the gypsy pilgrimage, has now become an internationally known tourist attraction with a folk festival character . The Roma, who are mostly Catholic, worship the Black Sara as their patron saint and wear her portrait as a medallion. Sara is a common name in her culture and is also often used as a pseudonym by card readers and palm readers .
In some stories by Gitanes in the south of France , Sara is also referred to as the wise woman and inventor of the tarot . Folklorists of indigenous cultures such as Sergius Golowin assume that a pre-Christian Celto-Ligurian cult was reinterpreted in the figure of the Black Sara in the course of Christian proselytizing in southern France.
In the Catholic calendar of saints , her feast day is May 25th .
See also
- Sarah the Hermit , Egyptian, saint, 4th century
- List of protection cartridges
- List of the blessed and saints
literature
- Ekkart Sauser : SARA, St. Servant. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 8, Bautz, Herzberg 1994, ISBN 3-88309-053-0 , Sp. 1349-1350.
Web links
- Black Sara in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints
- Sergius Golowin on the pre-Christian origins of the Sara cult
- www.feste-der-religionen.de
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Black Sara |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Sara-la-Kâli; Sara the black one; Sara the servant; Sara the beggar; Sara the gypsy |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | fabulous Christian missionary |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1st century |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1st century |