Bibliotheca Hagiotheca ∙ Series Colloquia

V
The Saints of Rome: Diffusion and Reception from late Antiquity to the Early Modern Period
(Bibliotheca Hagiotheca, Series Colloquia vol. 5)

Edited by: Trpimir Vedriš, Gábor Klaniczay and Dorottya Uhrin

Bibliotheca Hagiotheca ∙ Series Colloquia, vol. 5.

Series editors: Ana Marinković and Trpimir Vedriš

Publisher: Jürgen Ehgartner

First published 2021

Croatian Hagiography Society ‘Hagiotheca’, Ivana Lučića 3, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia

Leykam international d.o.o., Ilica 42, HR-10000 Zagreb, www.leykam-international.hr

Copyright © 2021 by the publisher and contributors

All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

ISBN 978-953-340-135-5

A catalog record for this book is available from the National and University Library in Zagreb
under number 001121524
 The Saints of Rome:
Diffusion and Reception fom late Antiquity
to the Early Modern Period

edited by
Trpimir Vedriš, Gábor Klaniczay
and Dorottya Uhrin

h
HAGIOTHECA · LEYKAM
ZAGREB
2021
 In memoriam
Marianne Sághy (1961–2018)
Contents
Preface v
Abbreviations ix
I. The Roman Origins: Late Antiquity
1. Queritur, inventus colitur: Damasus and the Apostles Saint Peter
and Saint Paul
Marianne Sághy 1
2. The Promotion of Saints’ Cults through Images in the Roman
Catacombs: Private and Ecclesiastical Commissions
Agnese Pergola 23
3. Relics and Reconciliation: The Papacy, the Cult of Saints, and the
Creation of Sacred Space in Late Antique Rome
Samuel Cohen 47
II. The City of Saints: Rome in the Middle Age
4. The City of Relics. The Reinvention of the Myth of Rome in the
Mirror of the Literary Sources of the Middle Ages
Alessandra Bartolomei Romagnoli 67
5. Romanus pontifex indubitanter efficitur sanctus: Between (Supposed)
Martyrdom and (Failed) Canonization Process
Roberto Rusconi 93
6. Community and Veneration in Late Medieval and Early Modern
Roman Miracles
Jenni Kuuliala 107
III. Roman Saints go West
7. Translating Saints from Rome to Romagna: Building Medieval
Ravenna's Hagiographic Landscape
Edward M. Schoolman 125
8. The Relationship of Local Apostolic Saints with Saint Peter and
Saint Clement
Edina Bozóky 147
9. Tracing the Itinerary of Saint Hermes: Iconography as an
Indicator of the Whereabouts of a Roman Saint
Eric Devos 159
IV. Roman Saints in Central Europe
10. Roman Martyr and German Emperor: St Lawrence in the
Hagiographic and Iconographic Traditions of Henry II
Iliana Kandzha 173
11. The Salvation, the Eucharist, and the Saints of Rome—Some
Aspects of the Iconography of the Hungarian Coronation Mantle
Etele Kiss 205
12. Roman Saints in the Hungarian Angevin Court
Béla Zsolt Szakács 245
V. Roman Saints in the Age of Catholic Universalism
13. Miracle Sites: A Topographical Approach to Divine
Manifestations in the Post-Tridentine Period
Nina Niedermeier 263
14. Roman Saints in Valencia? The Spiritual Legacy of the Borja
Family
Isabel Ruiz Garnelo 291
15. Catherine of Siena in Viceregal Latin American Art
Nicolette S. Trahoulia 305

Contributors 319
Preface

This volume arose from the Sixth Hagiotheca Conference held in Rome, at the
Accademia d’Ungheria in Roma, on 4-6 October 2017. It was co-organized by
the Croatian Hagiography Society Hagiotheca (represented by Ana Marinković
and Trpimir Vedriš from the University of Zagreb) and the Hungarian
Hagiography Society (represented by Gábor Klaniczay and Marianne Sághy
from the Central European University, Budapest). The publication of this
volume has been delayed primarily because of the tragic death of Marianne
Sághy, who was the principal organizer of the conference. Dedicating this
volume to her memory, it seems appropriate to start our preface with the
description of the topic contained in the call for the papers.
The saints of Rome have always been among the most venerated and
the most popular heavenly patrons in Christendom, grafting the noble air of
universality and integration into emerging Christian cultures. From the
apostles and Early Christian martyrs through the Early Modern period and
beyond, the textual and material dissemination of Roman saints significantly
impacted the rise of the cult of saints. The saints living in Rome (from
Bridget of Sweden to Catherine of Siena and from Francesca Ponziani to
Filippo Neri) were role models all over the Christian world. Post-Tridentine
Roman cults spread by the Society of Jesus and the revival of catacomb cults
brought a new wave in the worldwide cult of the saints of Rome in the early
modern period.
What strategies, mechanisms, and considerations influenced the
spread of the cult of the saints of Rome? Who were the actors: Roman
ecclesiastical hierarchy or local communities? How did these cults transform
through local reception in diverse local contexts? How did pilgrimages and
Jubilees promote the cults of Roman saints? Did “Romanness“ assure
efficacious links with the center of Christendom or possess a symbolical
meaning? In what ways did the saints of Rome impact local saints’ cults?
The conference aimed at discussing the ways in which the cults of the
saints of Rome were accepted and negotiated, defined, and redefined over the
centuries in Latin Christianity. What was the politics of the export and
import of Roman saints? To what extent did Roman saints shape and define
medieval and Early Modern Latin culture in the new Christianities of Europe,
Asia, and America? Did the export of the saints conform to individual and
regional interests or rather to the political and cultural agenda of the papacy?
Inquiries on these issues in various media (such as texts, images, and relics)
constituted the core of the conference sessions. More than thirty papers were
presented, dealing with the genesis and expansion of Roman saints‘ cults from
the fourth to the seventeenth centuries, focusing on, but not limited to, topics
such as the politics of the diffusion of Roman saints‘ cults in Latin Christianity
and beyond; impresarios of the promotion of Roman saints‘ cults; the means
of diffusion; intra- and inter-regional influences, the transfer of models of
sainthood; the transformation of Roman saints abroad and the dynamics of
territorial differences; the creation of a Roman identity for foreign saints.
The conference allowed a multifaceted contribution to the research
on the proposed topics. It was brought to the città eterna by a large group of
international scholars and organized by two Central European Hagiography
Societies, which had been founded in the previous decades partly following
the model of the Italian AISSCA (Associazione Italiana per lo Studio della Santità
dei Culti e dell’Agiografia) and renewing their close contact with them during
this conference. The two plenary lectures (printed in the present volume)
were offered by two prominent representatives of AISSCA, Alessandra
Bartolomei Romagnoli and Roberto Rusconi. While neither the conference
nor these proceedings managed to explore all the proposed topics, we hope
that the present volume still evokes both the vivacity of the scholarly
exchange experienced in Rome in the Fall of 2017 and reflects the coverage of
discussed topics. Not all the presented papers, expectedly, for diverse reasons,
made it into the volume. As editors, we miss many of them.
Croatian Hagiography Society Hagiotheca was founded in 2004 by
several (then) graduate students of the Medieval Studies Department at the
Central European University in Budapest. Since then, besides other numerous
activities, the “Hagiotheca” society has organized a series of international
conferences dealing with topics related to hagiography and the cult of saints. 1
The lasting fruit of these meetings is a series of proceedings consisting of four
volumes. 2

1
Hagiography: Historiography, Sources and Methods. I. Hagiographic conference of the Croatian
hagiographic society “Hagiotheca” and Department of History of Faculty of Arts in Zagreb
(Dubrovnik, November 20-23, 2005); Saintly Bishops and Bishops’ Saints. A symposium co-
organized by the Croatian Hagiography Society “Hagiotheca” and International Hagiography Society
(Poreč, May 27-30, 2010); Cuius patrocinio tota gaudet regio. Saints’ cults and the dynamics of
regional cohesion. 4th hagiographic conference organized by Croatian hagiography Society
„Hagiotheca“, and the members of project CULTSYMBOLS, EuroCORECODE Program, and
OTKA Saints Project (Dubrovnik, October 18-20, 2012); Church Reforms and Cult of Saints. A
symposium co-organized by the Croatian hagiography Society ‘Hagiotheca’, Centre for Medieval and
Early Modern Studies (University of Turku), Hagiographica Septentrionalia (University of
Tampere), and the University of Zadar, (University of Zadar, Zadar, September 18-21, 2014).
2
Ana Marinković and Trpimir Vedriš, Hagiologija: kultovi u kontekstu. (Zagreb: Leykam
international, 2008); Ana Marinković and Trpimir Vedriš, ed., Identity and Alterity in
Hagiography and the Cult of Saints (Zagreb: Hagiotheca, 2010); John S. Ott and Trpimir Vedriš
ed., Saintly bishops and bishops' saints (Zagreb: Hagiotheca – Humaniora, 2012); Stanislava
Kuzmová, Ana Marinković and Trpimir Vedriš ed., Cuius Patrocinio Tota Gaudet Regio. Saints'
 The Hungarian Association for Hagiographical Studies was founded
in 2016 in Budapest by the most prominent scholars dealing with
hagiography in Hungary. The association’s first president was Marianne
Sághy who held her position until her tragic death. She was followed by
Gábor Klaniczay, who is the president currently. The association concentrates
upon the Christian cult of saints from Biblical times until the present, from
the East to the West. The Hungarian Association for Hagiographical Studies
aims to boost Hungarian research on hagiography through critical editions,
translations, monographs, lectures, and conferences in cooperation with other
scientific institutions and international research groups. Since 2021 it has also
offered a yearly prize named after the founder of the society, Marianne Sághy,
for the best work in hagiography by a Hungarian junior scholar. 3

***

The editors are especially grateful to the youngest generation of the two
hagiography societies, Ines Ivić, Iliana Khandza, and Dorottya Uhrin who
took an active part in the organization of the conference and preparation of
this volume. We are also grateful to Hugh F. Doherty and Karen Stark for
their help in copyediting the texts. The publication has received financial
support from the University of Zagreb through the short-term research
project Re-defined Late Antique and Early Medieval "Romanness" in Monumental
Heritage and Written Sources on the Eastern Adriatic (4th-9th c.) being a part of
the research platform ROMAC (Romanness in Medieval Adriatic Culture –
Meaning and Manifestations). 4
Finally, our cordial thanks go to Ivan Landeka from Monogram for his
unfailing support in the final phases of the volume production.

Zagreb – Budapest, December 11, 2021

On the Feast Day of Pope Saint Damasus

Cults and the Dynamics of Regional Cohesion (Zagreb: Hagiotheca, 2014). Proceedings are
available at: https://www.leykam-international.hr/program.php?id=1&ed=17
3
The past series of lectures organized more or less monthly during the academic years, are
documented on the website of the Hungarian Association for Hagiographical Studies:
http://hagiografia.hu/en/home/).
4
https://romac.unizg.hr/
ROMAN SAINTS IN THE HUNGARIAN ANGEVIN
COURT: POLITICS AND DEVOTION
Béla Zsolt Szakács

When Saint Stephen of Hungary, crowned in 1000, turned to Western

Christianity, he also introduced the cult of the saints of the Latin Church. 1
The preferences of the Hungarian court are manifested in a well-preserved
object, the chasuble commissioned by King Stephen in 1031, in which the
saints of Rome play a dominant role. 2
Three hundred years later the ancient Hungarian dynasty of the
Árpáds died out and a strong competition started between the Přemislyd,
the Wittelsbach, and the Anjou dynasties. Finally, a member of the House
of Anjou-Sicily, Caroberto – Charles Robert, ruled as Charles I (1308-
1342), took power, and built up one of the most stable and flourishing
kingdoms of Europe. It is the Hungarian Angevin court to which one of
the most splendid fourteenth-century manuscripts can be connected: the
Hungarian Angevin Legendary. 3 On the basis of stylistic observations, the
manuscript was painted in Bologna in the second quarter of the fourteenth
century. This is a luxurious codex with fully painted, richly gilded pages;
therefore, only one side of the parchment was used, the other side
remaining empty. The manuscript contains exclusively images and very
short inscriptions but no full text of the related legends was included. This
must have been an extraordinarily extensive collection of painted legends:
even today we know of 58 legends depicted in 549 images. However, the
manuscript has been preserved in a fragmented state. The biggest portion
is kept in the Vatican Library 4 while other pages can be found in the
Pierpont Morgan Library 5 and the Metropolitan Museum in New York, 6 in
the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, 7 in the Bancroft Library in Berkeley, 8

1
Pál Engel, The Realm of Saint Stephen (London: Tauris, 1991), 27–29.; Nora Berend, József
Laszlovszky and Béla Zsolt Szakács, “The kingdom of Hungary,” in Christianization and the
Rise of Christian Monarchy, ed. Nora Berend (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2007), 319-368.
2
István Bardoly, ed., The Coronation Mantle of the Hungarian Kings (Budapest: Hungarian
National Museum, 2005); see also the paper of Etele Kiss in the present volume.
3
Béla Zsolt Szakács, The Visual World of the Hungarian Angevin Legendary (Budapest: CEU
Press, 2016), with further bibliography.
4
Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. lat. 8541.
5
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, M. 360.1–26.
6
New York, Metropolitan Museum, 1994.516.
7
Saint Petersburg, Hermitage, Nos 16930–16934.
8
Berkeley, Bancroft Library of University of California, BANC MS UCB 130: f1300: 37.
246 Béla Zsolt Szakács

and in the Louvre in Paris. 9 Even today a number of pages are missing,
being destroyed or unidentified.
The present situation is the consequence of the adventurous
history of the manuscript. Instead of going into details of the early modern
period, let us go back to the origins. The best way of identifying the
circumstances of the commission is the analysis of the program of the
legendary, first of all the selection of the saints. We must know that the
legends usually follow the texts of the Golden Legend of Jacopo da
Voragine; 10 thus, we should first ask who are the saints added to the
Angevin Legendary.
If we look at the list of represented legends, we can see that the
added saints can be found at the end of the martyrs’ group: Stanislaw,
Demetrius, and Gerard of Csanád; and further saints were added to the
confessors (Emeric, Ladislas) and saints of religious orders (Louis of
Toulouse). Classifying these legends according to the geography of their
cult, we will find that the additions are mainly saints with a special local
cult in Hungary; Stanislaw of Cracow has also a Hungarian connection;
furthermore, the wife of Charles I of Hungary was Elisabeth, daughter of
the Polish king. Finally, Louis of Toulouse, the uncle of Charles I, is the
family saint of the Angevin House. 11 Thus, the program of the legendary
clearly points to Hungary, while the lavish decoration fits well with a royal
commission.
Another accent of the program is clearly the preference of Italian,
and moreover, Roman saints. Here I regard Roman saints as those whose
important relics were kept in Rome and/or respected churches functioned
dedicated to them. Of course, the criteria are soft and many internationally
venerated saints are well-known also in Rome, while some of the saints
who suffered martyrdom in Rome may have been venerated in the world
without any special accent on their Roman origin. Thus, although St John
the Baptist and St John the Evangelist are the titular saints of the Lateran
basilica, I cannot regard them as representatives of Rome; while the
apostles Peter and Paul cannot be excluded from the group of Roman
saints although their cult might have several other motivations.
So, who are the saints in the legendary whom we should in one or
another way associate with Rome? Definitely, a group of the apostles are

9
Paris, Louvre, Département des Arts Graphiques, RF 29940.
10
First references: Louis Karl, “Notice sur un légendier historique conservé à Rome,” Revue
archéologique Ve série 21 (1925): 293-322.; Ferenc Levárdy, “Il Leggendario Ungherese
degli Angiò conservato nella Biblioteca Vaticana, nel Morgan Library e nell' Ermitage,”
Acta Historiae Artium 9 (1963): 75-138.
11
Béla Zsolt Szakács, “Domestic saints: Tombs and Miracles in the Hungarian Angevin
Legendary,” in: Ora Pro Nobis, ed. Nils Holger Petersen et al. (Copenhagen: National
Museum, 2019), 203-214.
Roman Saints 247

strongly connected to Rome, either having received martyrdom there (as

Peter and Paul), or having their original, Eastern cult centre lost, their
relics arrived to Rome and were venerated in one of the important basilicas
of the eternal city. The relics of Philip and James the Less were translated
to the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles, which was originally dedicated to
Philip and James; their feast was celebrated on the same day. Simon and
Judas are venerated together on 28 October, which possibly represents the
day of their translation to St Peter’s in Rome. The relics of Bartholomew
were supposed to have been translated to Lipara, then to Beneventum, and
finally to Rome, where the church of St Bartholomew still claims them.
Another significant group of saints associated with Rome can be
found among the martyrs. Some of them belong to the earliest saints of
Christianity, starting with Stephen the Protomartyr, whose relics were
translated first to Constantinople and then to Rome. Here we find also
Clement, one of the earliest popes and martyrs of the Christian Church.
Another martyr pope of the Roman Church was Sixtus II, who was killed
in 258 and became one of the most popular of the Roman martyrs. His
deacon, Lawrence, followed him soon after. In Rome five ancient basilicas
are dedicated to him, including the one built over his tomb, San Lorenzo
fuori le mura. A third martyr pope included in the Legendary is Fabian,
who was the victim of the persecution of Decius in 250. His relics were
translated to the basilica of St Sebastian, with whom he shares his feast.
Sebastian himself is one of the most widely venerated Roman martyrs, but
of course, his cult later incorporated many other elements. On the
contrary, Saints John and Paul, two fourth-century Roman martyrs are
much more exclusive saints; their cult flourished in Central Europe starting
from the Baroque period only. Finally, Cosmas and Damian had an early
cult in Rome in the famous basilica dedicated to them in the Forum.
The third group of saints with Roman connotations can be found
among the confessors. In fact, the group is led by Pope Sylvester, probably
both because of his importance and his feast day. He is followed by the
four Church fathers, among them Pope Gregory the Great and Jerome,
whose life and relics (translated from Bethlehem to Santa Maria Maggiore
in Rome) are strongly connected to the eternal city. Finally, Alexis of
Rome, a legendary pilgrim saint who died at home unidentified, became
one of the most widely known Roman saints of the Middle Ages. Eustace,
a martyr and member of the 14 Holy Helpers, to whom a church was
dedicated in Rome in the eighth century, has been curiously put together
with confessors having similarly exotic legends.
Thus, at first sight it is evident that saints associated with Rome
constitute a considerable portion of the Legendary. Let us turn to the
analysis of the numbers (Table 1). As I mentioned, the Hungarian
Angevin Legendary in its fragmented present form contains 58 legends
248 Béla Zsolt Szakács

depicted in 549 images. In the group of the apostles and evangelists, we

found 6 relevant legends, 8 among the martyrs, and 5 among the different
groups of confessors (including Eustace who is in fact a martyr). Anyway,
altogether the legends that can be connected to Rome numbers 19, which
is almost 33% of all the survived legends. Continuing the analysis, we can
find that the number of the survived related images is 164, which is almost
30% of the entire volume. Of course, these figures are only rough
indicators of the original reality since an unknown portion of the
manuscript is lost. Nevertheless, this high proportion unquestionably
proves the interest of the Hungarian Angevin court in the Roman saints;
although, evidently, this is probably also an international phenomenon and
related to the general liturgical traditions.
In order to understand better the original intentions of the
commissioners, we might take a look at the chronological classification of
the selected saints. Here I am presenting a table inspired by the research of
Alain Boureau discussing the Golden Legend (Table 2). 12 Following his
categories, we find that the majority of the Roman saints are in the groups
of the early saints; logically, since they are typically apostles and early
martyrs. This follows the original selection of the Golden Legend, thus it is
not specific to the Hungarian court. Turning to the more recent periods,
Boureau established two categories: one for the historical saints (between
Constantine the Great and Charlemagne) and one for the contemporary
saints, who are typically saints of the religious orders in the Golden
Legend. This last group is the smallest in the Golden Legend and the
majority of the Hungarian additions can be found here (evidently, since the
Hungarian and Polish saints date after the Christianisation of the region).
In these categories we find very few or no Roman saints at all, although
this is the part most originally elaborated by the Hungarian
commissioners. All the Roman saints have been taken over from the
Golden Legend.
If this is true, we can go further and ask how important the
depicted Roman saints were for the commissioners. The legends were
depicted in the manuscript in pictorial cycles of different lengths. After the
Christological cycle, the longest one (originally with 72 images of which 64
survived) is connected to James the Great. The shortest intact legends
(with 2 images for each) are those of Stephen and Luke. The Roman saints
are somewhere between, with very divergent numbers. Of course, Peter
and Paul are at the top; this cannot be regarded as a specialty. Lawrence,
with his original 16 images, seems to be quite respected. Cosmas and
Damian, Simon and Judas, Sebastian, Alexis, Eustace, James, and

12
Alain Boureau, La légende dorée. Le système narratif de Jacques de Voragine († 1298) (Paris:
Cerf, 1984), 36-38. Cf. Szakács, Visual World, 42.
Roman Saints 249

Bartholomew are in the middle category; as we see, 8-10 images is the

most usual length of the legends. The popes, however, are somewhat
neglected: all of them have 4-6 images, together with Philip and John and
Paul of Rome. The dishonourable position of Stephen is hardly
understandable; maybe it is the result of some sort of mistake of the
planning phase.
However, we should also take into consideration that saints with
almost no cult in Hungary, such as John and Paul of Rome, equal or
overcome other more popular Central European saints, such as Vitus (who
is well-known for his cathedral in Prague) or Paul the Hermit, the central
saint of the Hungarian Pauline Order. Therefore, our results should be
balanced taking into consideration other aspects.
First of all, the length of the original legend in the Legenda Aurea
must have been determining. Do we find the same hierarchy in the textual
version as in the depicted legendary? Of course, we do not. The following
table shows how many images have been dedicated per page of the Golden
Legend. The figures have no absolute value but they can indicate the
relative importance of the saints (Table 3).
James the Great is still on the top, and Luke is at the very end –
this does not change. However, popes such as Fabian and Sixtus, or
Apostle Philip are in the elite group. Cosmas and Damian and Sebastian
also improved their position. On the contrary, Jerome, Sylvester, and
Gregory are at the very end, which is partially the consequence of their
theologically elaborated legend-texts, which hard to depict. Thus, there is
a move but it is not dramatic, and we cannot state that either the absolute
or the relative lengths of the Roman saints are very specific to the
Hungarian Angevin Legendary. Roman saints can be found in each
category but within this grouping we might find interesting tendencies.
One of them is the role of the popes, who seem to be more or less
neglected, both by Jacobus de Voragine and the Hungarian commissioner.
Is there a visual expression of similar tendencies? Elsewhere I have
already argued that the visual program of the Hungarian Angevin
Legendary has a special accent on episcopal authority. 13 This is also
manifested in the depiction of the apostles. James the Less is consequently
represented in episcopal vestment (wearing a mitre and a chasuble),
emphasizing that he was the first bishop of Jerusalem. 14 Of course, Peter
apostle is also regarded as the head of the church, which is expressed in an
image, entitled as quando fuit adoratus in kathedra (“When he was adored on

13
Szakács, Visual World, 249-250. See also Béla Zsolt Szakács, “Le culte des saints à la cour
et le Légendaire des Anjou-Hongrie,” in L'Europe des Anjou. Exhibition catalogue,
Fontevraud, ed. Guy Massin Le Goff (Paris: Somogy, 2001), 195-201.
14
Pierpont Morgan Library, M 360.18.
250 Béla Zsolt Szakács

the bishop's throne”) 15. The scene itself refers to an event in Antioch where
the converted people built a magnificent church and erected an elevated
chair for Peter; nevertheless, the image and the inscription may evoke the
famous object called Cathedra Petri, a symbol of papal authority kept in the
San Pietro of Rome. The significance of Peter for papal legitimacy is also
manifested in the first image of the legend of St Clement. As the
inscription says, Clement was elected by St Peter. Peter is represented
accordingly, blessing Clement during his ordination. 16 This follows the text
of the Golden Legend. Otherwise, the cycle of Clement is quite laconic.
Being ordained, he lived for a while as a hermit (quomodo sedebat in heremo)
as the titulus says; in reality, he was exiled), and received martyrdom. The
image cycle of Pope Fabian is strikingly similar. After his miraculous
election, he is sitting on the papal throne, and was beheaded and buried. 17
It seems that the Hungarian Angevin Legendary has no specific message
related to the activity of the saint popes.
The legend of Gregory the Great started similarly. After the
vicissitudes of his election (which also happened in a hermitage), he is
ordained and represented sitting on the papal throne. 18 Practically this is
all that we learn about the life and deeds of the great pope. The next page
is dedicated to a relatively marginal story described briefly in the Golden
Legend (Fig. 1). 19 I quote it from the Legenda aurea:

“After blessed Gregory's death a great famine scourged the whole

region, and the poor people, for whom Gregory always provided
food, went to his successor and said: ‘Holy father, may Your
Holiness not allow us to die of hunger, since our father Gregory
used to feed us.’ These words angered the new pope, who answered:
‘Gregory, to win fame and praise, may have taken it upon himself to
provide for all peoples, but we ourselves can do nothing for you,’
and he always sent them away empty-handed. Saint Gregory
appeared to him three times and chided him gently for being so
frugal and for speaking unkindly of him, but the pope made no
move to change his conduct. So Gregory, now stern and fearsome,
appeared a fourth time and struck him a lethal blow on the head,

15
Vat. lat. 8541, fol. 10v.
16
Vat. lat. 8541, fol.58r, Quomodo fuit electus per sanctum petrum.
17
Vat. lat. 8541, fol.47r.
18
Vat. lat. 8541 fol. 73v.
19
Pierpont Morgan Library M.360.25
Roman Saints 251

which caused him a great pain and brought him to an early

death.” 20
So, the second and third pictures represent two of Gregory's appearances
and the last one shows the discovery of the bad pope's death by his clerics
after the saint's fourth visit. The first picture, representing the generosity
of Gregory, is the antipode of the avaricious pope depicted in the next
pictures. The strange elements of this story and the fact that it is
practically the only event picked up from the lengthy legend of Gregory,
urge us to find other occurrences of papal figures in the manuscript.
From this respect, the legend of Jerome is illuminating. The image
cycle consists of four pictures (Fig. 2). 21 In the first image Jerome is
working on the Holy Scripture (quomodo scribebat ewangelia, “How he wrote
gospels.”), in the last, he is buried. Between the two, there is only one story
told. According to the legend, Jerome was to be elected pope but his
enemies made it impossible with a trick. I quote:

“They used a woman's clothing to create a false impression of him.

He got up on morning to go to matins, as was his custom, and
found at his bedside a woman's gown, which, thinking it was his
own, he put on and so proceeded into the church. His adversaries, of
course, had done this order to make it look as if he had a woman in
his room.” 22

In the images, Jerome is already elected pope (quomodo fuit electus in papam,
“How he was elected pope”), and in the next, he is dressed in a rose gown.
(quomodo fuit indutus in uestem mulieris et surrexerat ad matutinas, “How he put
on woman's clothes and get up to go matins”). Interestingly, Jerome is
represented with the cardinal’s hat only once and with papal tiara all the
other images.
While in the case of Jerome the “pope” did not commit a sin only
being accused of it, in the story of Hilary of Poitiers we find the terrible
death of an unworthy pope. The sixth image of his cycle (Fig. 3) 23 is
related to the following text:

“At that time Pope Leo, led astray by the perfidy of the heretics,
convoked a council of all the bishops, and Hilary went to it though
he was not invited. The pope, hearing that he had arrived, gave

20
Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend. Readings on Saints, trans. William Granger Ryan
(Princeton: Princeton Univeristy Press, 1993), vol. 1, 181.
21
Vat. lat. 8541, fol. 76r.
22
Jacobus de Voragine, Golden Legend, vol. 2, 212.
23
Vat. lat. 8541, fol. 102r.
252 Béla Zsolt Szakács

orders that no one should rise to greet him or offer him a seat.
Hilary came in and Leo said to him: ‘Are you Hilary the cock?’ ‘I
am not a cock,’ the saint responded, ‘but I was born in Gaul and I
am a bishop from Gaul.’ Leo: ‘So you are Hilary from Gaul, and I
am Leo, apostolic bishop and judge of the see of Rome!’ Hilary:
‘You may be Leo, but not the Lion of Judah, and if you sit in
judgment, it is not the seat of majesty.’ The pope rose angrily,
saying: ‘Wait a little while until I come back, and I'll deal with you
as you deserve.’ Hilary: ‘If you don't come back, who will answer me
in your place?’ Leo: ‘I won't be long, and when I get back, I'll take
your pride down a peg!’ The pope went out to take care of a need of
nature, but was seized with dysentery and perished miserably.” 24

In fact, this is a true pair of the story of Gregory in which the saint
punishes an unworthy pope who dies dreadfully.
How can we interpret this negative attitude towards the papacy in
the Hungarian Legendary? First, we might refer to one of the very first
scientific publications related to the manuscript. Meta Harrsen argued in
1949 that the Legendary was originally ordered by the Hungarian royal
court as a gift for Pope Benedict XII (1334-1342). 25 If we recall what kind
of role the popes played in the Hungarian Legendary, this theory seems to
be unacceptable. 26
The situation might have been just the opposite. The opinion
expressed in the Legendary probably reflected the current political
situation. Thus, we must briefly summarize what the relationship was
between the Hungarian Angevin court and the papacy.
As I have already mentioned, at the beginning of his rule, Charles
I had to face a number of difficulties. In fact, it was almost exclusively the
papacy and the Hungarian prelates who supported his claim to the
Hungarian throne. After the 1310s-1320s the relationship started to
change. King Charles filled the episcopal positions with his own supporters
and often made use of the episcopal incomes. Therefore, the Hungarian
bishops started to protest and asked for the intervention of the pope.

24
Jacobus de Voragine, Golden Legend, vol. 1, 188.
25
Meta Harrsen, The Nekcsei Lipócz Bible: a Fourteenth Century Manuscript from Hungary in the
Library of Congress. Ms. Pre-Accession I (Washington: Library of Congress, 1949), 36.
26
Béla Zsolt Szakács, “The Holy Father and the Devils, or Could the Hungarian Angevin
Legendary Have Been Ordered for a Pope?” in ...The Man of Many Devices, Who Wandered
Full Many Ways... Festschrift in Honor of János M. Bak, ed. Balázs Nagy and Marcell Sebők
(Budapest: CEU Press, 1999), 52-60.
Roman Saints 253

During the last years of his rule, Charles I received polite admonitions from
the pope that had no real consequences. 27
The relationship turned out to be even less friendly during the
years after the death of Charles I. King Louis the Great was crowned in
1342 and in the same year a new pope, Clement VI, was elected in
Avignon. In the next year King Robert of Anjou died and the problem of
the Neapolitan throne emerged. As it is well-known, the Hungarian House
of Anjou rightly but hopelessly claimed the throne, and finally the son of
Charles, Andrew married the grand-daughter of King Robert of Naples,
Joanna. After the death of Robert, Joanna was crowned but Andrew
remained Duke of Calabria, which was regarded as an insult. The
Hungarian royal court energetically intervened, which resulted in the
murder of Duke Andrew. Besides Joanna and her relatives, the Hungarians
blamed the pope for not permitting the coronation of Andrew in time.
After the murder, King Louis of Hungary claimed the throne for himself
and led military campaigns twice. At the same time, he asked for support
and justice from the pope but received practically nothing. Finally, Louis
had to cancel his claims and sign a peace less favorable for him. 28
The image of the Roman popes transmitted by the Hungarian
Angevin Legendary may reflect the political situation of these years. Either
being commissioned in the late 1330s or the early 1340s, the tension
between the papacy and the Hungarian court might have inspired the idea
that even the popes are not necessarily blameless. Nevertheless, while the
representations of the papal figures are often controversial or negative, in
general the traditional devotion of the early saints of Rome is unbroken.
King Louis was famous for his religiosity. During his second
campaign in Italy, he made a pilgrimage to the city of Rome. This was the
holy year of 1350. He might have had controversial feelings towards the
actual papal politic, but his devotion towards the respectful saints of Rome
is eloquently manifested. Thus, the visual program of the Hungarian
Angevin Legendary, which dedicates lengthy cycles to the Roman saints
and expresses a critical attitude toward the unworthy popes, may have
echoed the ambivalent feelings of the Hungarian king.

27
Enikő Csukovits, Az Anjouk Magyarországon I. I. Károly és uralkodása (1301–1342)
(Budapest: MTA BTK Történettudományi Intézet, 2012); György Rácz, “Az Anjou-ház és
a Szentszék,” in Magyarország és a Szentszék kapcsolatának 1000 éve, ed. István Zombori
(Budapest: METEM, 1996), 55-81.
28
Rácz, Anjou-ház, 72-77.
254 Béla Zsolt Szakács

Number of Related to Rome:

Legends Images Legends Images
I. Jesus, Mary, John 3 118
the Baptist
II. apostles and 13 216 6 76
evangelists
III. martyrs 19 146 8 56

IV. confessors 23 204 5 32

a) popes, fathers of 7+? 56? 3 16

the Church, bishops
b) holy kings of 3 40? n/a
Hungary
c) saints of religious 6 6
orders
d) other confessors 7 48 2 16
V. women saints ? 20+
ALTOGETHER 58+? 549+ 19 164
33% 30%

Table 1. Number of legends and images in the Hungarian Angevin

Legendary
 Roman Saints 255

Saints of the Gospels:

before Christ apostle evangelist penitent martyr

John the Baptist Peter, Paul, Mark Mary Stephen

Andrew, John, Luke Magdalene
James the Greater,
Matthew, Philip,
James the Less,
Bartholomew,
Simon and Judas

Early saints:

century martyr virgin and pope / bishop hermit

martyr and martyr
1st cent. Clement

2nd cent. Sebastian

Eustace

3rd cent. Vincent Fabian Paul

George Sixtus Anthony
Vitus Blaise
Lawrence
Cosmas and
Damian
Christopher
Demetrius

4th cent. John and Paul Catherine Donatus

Nicholas
256 Béla Zsolt Szakács

Historical saints:

century bishop father of the pope abbot confessor

and Church (and
confessor bishop)
4th cent. Hilary Ambrose (b) Sylvester Alexis
Martin Jerome
Augustine (b)

5th cent. Brice

6th cent. Remy Benedict

7th cent. Gregory Giles

Contemporary saints:

century Martyr bishop and father of the confessor

martyr Church
11th Gerhard Emeric
cent. Stanislaw Ladislas

12th Thomas Becket Bernard

cent.
13th Peter of Verona Dominic
cent. Francis
Louis of Toulouse

Table 2. List of saints according to periods and types (after the table of A.
Boureau, completed with the saints of the Hungarian Angevin Legendary;
Roman saint are underlined)
Roman Saints 257

Legend Scenes Original Legenda Proportion

Preserved Size aurea
pages
James the Greater 64 72 9 8
Fabian 4 4 0.5 8
Sixtus II 6 6 1.1 5.4
Donatus 10 10 2.2 4.5
Philip 2 6? 1.5 4
Remy 8 8 2 4
John the Evangelist 17 24 6.5 3.6
Vitus 1 6? 1.7 3.5
Hilary 8 8 2.3 3.5
Blaise 8 8 2.3 3.4
Cosmas and Damian 10 10 3 3.3
Giles 8 8 2.4 3.3
Paul the Hermit 4 4 1.3 3
Brice 4 4 1.4 2.8
Sebastian 8 8 3 2.6
Thomas Becket 8 8 3.2 2.5
Vincent 8 8 3.5 2.3
George 8 12? 5.5 2.2
Christopher 6 10 4.5 2.2
Andrew 20 20 9.5 2.1
Alexis 8 8 3.7 2.1
John and Paul 2 6? 3 2
Matthew 10 10 5.5 1.8
Mary Magdalene 8 16 10 1.6
Apostle Peter 22 22 11.3 1.5
Apostle Paul 20 24 16 1.5
Anthony the Great 6 6 4 1.5
Francis of Assisi 16 16 11.6 1.4
Bartholomew 8 8 6 1.3
Eustace 4 8 6 1.3
Lawrence 8 12-16? 13 1.2?
Martin 4 12? 9.7 1.2?
Mark 4 8 6.5 1.2
Simon and Judas 7 8? 8.5 0.9
James the Less 8 8? 8.3 0.9
John the Baptist 12 12 8 + 8.5 0.7
258 Béla Zsolt Szakács

Jerome 4 4 5.6 0.7

Benedict 6 6 8.8 0.7
Bernard of Clairvaux 8 8 11 0.7
Dominic 8 12? 17.2 0.7
Sylvester 6 6 9.5 0.6
Ambrose 6 6 9.5 0.6
Gregory 6 6 12.7 0.5
The Virgin Mary 10 10 23 0.4
Stephen 2 2 6.3 0.3
protomartyr
Clement 4 4 10.5 0.3
Peter of Verona 4 4 14 0.3
Augustine 6 6 17 0.3
Luke 2 2 8.3 0.2

Table 3. The cycles of the legendary in the order of their image-text

proportion (Roman saints are in bold)
Roman Saints 259

Fig. 1. The legend of Pope Gregory the Great, III–VI. New York,
Pierpont Morgan M.360.25
260 Béla Zsolt Szakács

Fig. 2. The legend of Saint Jerome, I–IV. Vat. lat. 8541, fol. 76r.
Roman Saints 261

Fig. 3. The legend of Saint Hilary of Poitiers, V–VIII. Vat. lat. 8541, fol.
102r