Agnellus of Ravenna, writing in 830/846 in his Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiae Ravennatis (50), recounts, quoting its dedicatory inscription, that Bishop Peter II (494-520) built a monasterium by the episcopal palace of Ravenna (northern Italy); Agnellus records its dedication as being to *Andrew (the Apostle, S00288). [This building, now termed the Cappella Arcivescovile, survives]. Written in Latin at Ravenna.
Evidence ID
E05772
Type of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Major author/Major anonymous work
Agnellus of Ravenna
Agnellus of Ravenna, Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiae Ravennatis 50
Fecit que non longe ab eadem domo monasterium sancti Andreae apostoli; sua que effigies super ualuas eiusdem monasterii est inferius tessellis depicta.
‘And not far from that house [the episcopal palace called ‘Tricollis’] he [Peter II, bishop of Ravenna, 494-520] built the monasterium of St Andrew the apostle, and his image is depicted inside this monasterium, over the doors.’
Agnellus then quotes a long dedicatory inscription in the chapel, which is now lost, identifying Bishop Peter as the founder and referring repeatedly to Christ, but not to any saints.
Text: Deliyannis 2006.
Translation: Deliyannis 2004.
Cult PlacesCult building - dependent (chapel, baptistery, etc.)
Non Liturgical ActivityConstruction of cult buildings
Cult building - dependent (chapel, baptistery, etc.)
Cult building - monastic
Descriptions of cult places
Non Liturgical ActivityConstruction of cult buildings
Renovation and embellishment of cult buildings
Source
Agnellus of Ravenna (ob. c. 846) was a deacon of the cathedral in Ravenna and – by hereditary right – abbot of two monasteries in Ravenna. He wrote his Liber Pontificalis Ecclessiae Ravennatis between 830 and 846, following the model of the Roman Liber Pontificalis. This work provides biographies of all the bishops of Ravenna from the legendary founder bishop Apollinaris to those active in Agnellus’ own day, and was originally composed to be delivered orally, most likely to clerics of Ravenna. This text is preserved in two manuscripts: one from the 15th c. (Bibliotec Estense Cod. Lat. 371 X.P.4.9.) and a fragmentary manuscript from the 16th c. (MS Vat. Lat. 5834). Agnellus bases his account of the lives of late antique bishops on documents preserved in Ravenna, stories which had been transmitted orally, and his own experience of the architectural landscape of 9th c. Ravenna.Agnellus' work contains invaluable architectural and art historical information about Ravenna: Agnellus refers to several religious buildings in Ravenna and the neighbouring settlements of Caeserea and Classe. He describes their decoration and preserves several inscriptions, many of which are now lost to us. It must be remembered this is a 9th c. work. Agnellus’ descriptions of buildings and their fixtures is based on his 9th c. experience, and not late antique reality. Indeed, his accounts of the events of earlier years are often riddled with inaccuracies. Yet it is likely that his descriptions of the churches of Ravenna are more trustworthy. As Deborah Mauskopf Deliyannis argues, a comparison of surviving late antique mosaics with Agnellus’ account suggests that his descriptions were largely accurate. This is limited to what he does tell us – for example Arian foundations are often ignored whilst orthodox foundations are emphasised. Yet, overall, this text provides invaluable information about the cult of saints in late antique Ravenna.
Discussion
This monasterium still exists today, now known as the 'Cappella Arcivescovile', with much of its 6th c. mosaic decoration intact (see $E05950). J. M. Stansterre and E. Morini have both convincingly shown that, throughout Agnellus’ account, monasterium can be used to mean any foundation – for example a chapel or church – dedicated to a saint. It does not necessarily refer to a monastery.Agnellus gained his information about the founder of the chapel from the dedicatory inscription (now lost) which he quotes in full, while the image he refers to, also now lost, presumably represented Peter II as the donor.
Whether the chapel was dedicated to Andrew at the time of its foundation is, however, not so clear, since the apostle is not named in the dedicatory inscription. It is possible that it acquired this dedication subsequently.
A plan of the chapel and a map showing the likely locations of foundations in Classe and Ravenna is attached to this record.
Bibliography
Text:Deliyannis, Deborah Mauskopf, Agnelli Ravennatis Liber pontificalis ecclesiae Ravennatis (Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis 199; Turnhout, 2006).
Translation:
Deliyannis, Deborah Mauskopf, The Book of Pontiffs of the Church of Ravenna (Washington D.C., 2004).
Further Reading:
Deichmann, Friedrich Wilhelm, Ravenna, Hauptstadt des spätantiken Abendlandes, vol. 1-3, (Wiesbaden, 1958-89).
Deliyannis, Deborah Mauskopf, Ravenna in Late Antiquity (Cambridge, 2010).
Mackie, Gillian, Early Christian Chapels in the West: Decoration, Function and Patronage (Toronto, 2003).
Moffat, Ann, "Sixth Century Ravenna from the Perspective of Abbot Agnellus," in: P. Allen and E.M. Jeffreys (eds,), The Sixth Century – End or Beginning? (Brisbane, 1996), 236-246.
Morini, E., "Le strutture monastische a Ravenna," in: Storia di Ravenna, 2.2, Dall’età bizantia all’ età ottania, ed. A. Carile (Ravenna, 1992), 305-312.
Schoolman, Edward, Rediscovering Sainthood in Italy: Hagiography and the Late Antique Past in Medieval Ravenna (Basingstoke, 2016).
Stansterre, J. M., "Monaci e monastery greci a Ravenna," in: Storia di Ravenna, 2.1, Dall’età bizantia all’ età ottania, ed. A. Carile (Ravenna, 1992), 323-329.
Verhoeven, Mariëtte, The Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna: Transformations and Memory (Turnhout, 2011).
Record Created By
Frances Trzeciak
Date of Entry
13/07/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00288 | Andrew, the Apostle | Andreas | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Frances Trzeciak, Cult of Saints, E05772 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E05772