Baudonivia, in her Life of *Radegund (former queen and monastic founder, ob. 587, S00182), describes how a finger of *Mamas (presumably the martyr of Caesarea in Cappadocia, S00436) was obtained by the patriarch of Jerusalem for Radegund's monastery at Poitiers (western Gaul). Written in Latin at Poitiers, 587/613.
E08221
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives
The Second Book on the Life of Holy Radegund (De uita sanctae Radegundis liber II, BHL 7049, CPL 1053)
14.
[...] Peruenit tandem ad eam de domno Mammete martyre, quod Hierusolima sua sancta requiescerent membra. Haec audiens auida ac sitibunda potabat: uelut ydrops, qui quantum fontem trait, tantum sitis addita crescit, ista de rore Dei plus madefact calet. Transmisit uirum uenerabilem Reoualem presbiterum, qui tunc saecularis erat et adhuc superstes est corpore, ad patriarcham Hierosolimitanum, poscens de beati Mammetis pignore. Quod uir Dei benigne suscipiens, rogationes populo indixit, uoluntatem Dei inquirens. Tertio die, missa caelebrata, beati martyris sepulchrum cum omni populo adiit, alta uoce, plena fide huiusmodi protestatur, dicens: 'Peto te, confessor et martyr Christi, si uera est ancilla Dei beata Radegundis, innotescat in gentibus potentia tua; permitte, ut de pignore tuo mens fidelis accipiat quod poscit.' Oratione completa, ubi omnis populus 'Amen' respondit, uenit ad sanctum sepulchrum, semper beatae fidem pronuncians, tangebat membra, quale beatissimus ad petitionem dominae Radegundis dare iuberet. Tetigit in manu dextera singulos digitos; ubi ad minorem uenit digitum, se suaui tactu de propria manu tulit, ut beatae reginae desiderium satisfaceret et eius uoluntatem impleret. Quem digitum uir apostolicus cum digno honore beatae Radegundi direxit; de Hierusolima usque Pictauis in eius honore semper laud Dei personuit. Quid putas, quam ardenti animo, quam fideli deuotione tanti pignoris caeleste accepisse cum omni alacritate gauderet, tota ebdomada cum omni congregatione se in psallentium uigiliis et ieiuniis aptauit, Dominum benedicens, se tale munus accipere meruisse [...]
'… After some time, a report reached her concerning the martyr Lord Mamas: that his holy body lay at rest in Jerusalem. She heard this – and greedy, unquenchable, she drank it up. Just as the thirst of dropsy grows all the more as it draws from its source, so was she inflamed as she became more drenched with the dew of God. She dispatched to the patriarch of Jerusalem the priest Reovalis (back then a layman), a venerable man who lives in the flesh to this day, to seek a relic of the blessed Mamas. When the man of God had kindly received him, he made known his requests to the people, inquiring as to the will of God. On the third day, after the celebration of mass, he went to the tomb of the blessed martyr with all the people, and raising his voice, full of faith, he testified in this way, saying: 'I beseech you, confessor and martyr of Christ, if the blessed Radegund is a true handmaiden of God, let it be known to the people by your power: give leave, that a faithful mind might receive what it seeks from your relics.' He finished his prayer, and when all the people had responded 'Amen,' he approached the holy tomb, continually proclaiming his faith in the saint. He felt the body in such a way that the most blessed one might indicate what to grant to the Lady Radegund’s request. He touched individually the fingers of the right hand, and when he came to the little finger, he pulled it from its hand with the slightest touch, so that he might satisfy the blessed queen’s desire and fulfil her wish. The apostolic man sent this to blessed Radegund with the dignity that was due: from Jerusalem to Poitiers, prayers to God were continually sung out in His honour. With what ardour of mind, what faithful devotion do you think she committed herself to abstinence as she awaited the reward of so great a relic? But when the blessed queen had received this gift from heaven she rejoiced in all eagerness, and applied herself and her congregation to a whole week of fasts and vigils of psalm-singing, blessing the Lord, that she had deserved to receive such a gift…'
Text: Krusch 1888, 386-7.
Translation: B. Savill.
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Cult building - monastic
Non Liturgical ActivityComposing and translating saint-related texts
Visiting graves and shrines
Prayer/supplication/invocation
MiraclesSaint aiding or preventing the translation of relics
RelicsBodily relic - entire body
Bodily relic - arm/hand/finger
Transfer, translation and deposition of relics
Transfer/presence of relics from distant countries
Division of relics
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Monarchs and their family
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Crowds
Source
Baudonivia appears to have been a member of Radegund's monastery for women at Poitiers. Her Life of Radegund acknowledges Venantius Fortunatus' account of the same saint (probably written in 587 or shortly thereafter: E06486), and almost certainly dates to no later than 613, since it makes a positive reference to the protection of Queen Brunhild, deposed and brutally executed that year. Baudonivia's text also shows a familiarity with the Life of Caesarius of Arles (E06283): in fact, we know from Gregory of Tours (Histories, 9.40) that Radegund had connections with Arles, and instituted Caesarius' Rule for Virgins at her monastery.For an overview of the Life, see E06487.
Discussion
This remarkable story, of how Radegund gained the corporeal relic of a major saint of the East, finds some support in a roughly contemporary (and probably reliable) account by Evagrius Scholasticus of how the head of *Symeon the Elder (Stylite, ob. 459, S00343) was occasionally exposed in its shrine in Antioch, and how some teeth had been extracted from it for the benefit of devotees (see E04490).There is, however, a major puzzle (and problem) with the story of the little finger of Mamas. Baudonivia sets the story in Jerusalem, with the patriarch as a central protagonist, while Mamas was a martyr of Caesarea of Cappadocia in Asia Minor, where his body was buried (see, for instance, E07926). No martyr with a name like 'Mamas' is known from Jerusalem and its wider region.
The familiarity of Radegund's intermediary Reovalis with the East is also noted by Gregory of Tours, in a completely different context, in which he tells how Reovalis had been in Constantinople, where he witnessed a doctor perform a castration (Histories, 10.15).
Bibliography
EditionKrusch, MGH, scr. mer. II (1888), 377-95.
Further reading
Berschin, W., Biographie und Epochenstil im lateinischen Mittelalter, 5 vols (Stuttgart 1988), ii. 14-19.
Coates, S., 'Regendering Radegund? Fortunatus, Baudonivia and the Problem of Female Sanctity in Merovingian Gaul,' Studies in Church History, 34 (1998), 37-50.
Heinzelmann, M., 'L'hagiographie mérovingienne: panorama des documents potentiels', in: M. Goullet, M. Heinzelmann, and C. Veyrard-Cosme (eds.), L'hagiographie mérovingienne à travers ses réécritures (Beihefte der Francia 71; Ostfildern, 2010), 27-82.
Labande-Mailfert, Y., et al., Histoire de l’abbaye de Sainte-Croix de Poitiers (Poitiers, 1986).
Pietri, L. and M. Heijmans, Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire, 4 Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne (314-614), 2 vols (Paris 2013), ii. 1569-84, 'Radegundis'.
Whatley, E.G., 'An Early Literary Quotation from the Inventio S. Crucis. A Note on Baudonivia's Vita S. Radegundis (BHL 7049),' Analecta Bollandiana, 111 (1993) 81-91.
Benjamin Savill
01/11/2021
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00182 | Radegund, former queen of the Franks and monastic founder, ob. 587 | Radegundis | Certain | S00436 | Mamas, martyr of Kaisareia/Caesarea of Cappadocia | Mammes | Uncertain |
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