Ars Adriatica, No. 4, 2014.
Pregledni rad
The Origin and Early Cult of St Chrysogonus, the Patron Saint of Zadar
Trpimir Vedriš
orcid.org/0000-0002-5986-0713
; Odsjek za povijest Filozofskof fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu
Sažetak
The article focuses on the unresolved issue of the historicity of St Chrysogonus (San Crisogono), an Aquileian martyr and the late medieval patron saint of Zadar. It explores the circumstances surrounding the emergence of his cult and the influence this had on the shaping of the hagiography pertaining to this saint. In an attempt to establish the chronological and geographical framework of how the cult of St Chrysogonus came to be and developed, the author assesses key primary sources and provides an overview of the scholarly literature on the cult of this saint in the Aquileian region between the early fourth and the mid-seventh century. Accepting the hypothesis that the earliest centre of the cult of St Chrysogonus was the Roman settlement Ad Aquas Gradatas (present day San Canzian d’Isonzo) in the immediate vicinity of Aquileia, the author examines the archaeological and epigraphic evidence with the aim of contextualizing the early cult of St Chrysogonus. The cult spread rapidly throughout northern Italy and, as a result, this Aquileian saint entered the canon of the Mass in the churches of Ravenna and Milan. In Rome, his cult and the associated hagiography emerged as a combination of the local tradition connected to the titulus Chrysogoni and the import of the cult from Aquileia. The introduction of the cult to Rome was commonly dated to c. 500, but recent hypotheses which argue for an earlier date of the compilation of the Passio S. Anastasiae might shed new light on the matter. The article also attempts to detect how the cult of St Chrysogonus was disseminated during the late antiquity and the early middle ages, and in doing so the author discusses the historicity of the local Zadar account according to which the relics were brought to Zadar from Grado in the mid-seventh century. Referring to the analogy between the earliest well-attested evidence of the cult of St Chrysogonus in Byzantine Zadar and in the neighbouring Croatian principality in the late ninth century, the paper examines the role of San Canzian d’Isonzo in the early medieval dissemination of the cult. In this context, the names of the Croatian princes and their attendants which were recorded in the so-called Cividale Gospels between the mid-ninth and late ninth century are interpreted as a reflection of, possibly, the earliest connection between the cult of St Chrysogonus and the newly formed Croatian elites.
Ključne riječi
St Chrysogonus; San Canzian d’Isonzo; Martyrologium Hieronymianum; Passio S. Anastasiae; Passio Cantianorum
Hrčak ID:
130704
URI
Datum izdavanja:
19.12.2014.
Posjeta: 2.462 *