2005/07/14 by James Grier · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · #Medieval European Literature and History #Medieval Literature and History #Augustinian Studies and Theology #SAINT #Apostle #Supper #Art #Pilgrimage #Martial arts #Art history #Cousin #Ancient history #Classics #History #Visual arts #Theology #Archaeology #Philosophy
paper · doi:10.1017/s0261127905000100
openalex publication_date 2005/07/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Late in the year 1028, Adémar de Chabannes embarked on an ambitious and audacious project to create a new liturgy for the Feast of Saint Martial that would venerate its honoree as an apostle. It is difficult to exaggerate the monstrous nature of the venture and the claim it supported. The historical Martial was well known from the works of Gregory of Tours, the sixth-century historian, as a third-century Roman missionary to Aquitaine and first bishop of Limoges. There his burial place became an important pilgrimage destination and the eventual site of a Benedictine monastery founded in Martial's memory. Adémar, with the full support of the abbot, Odolric, and monks of the abbey of Saint-Martial, and Bishop Jordan of Limoges, sought to transform the historical Martial into a first-century Jew, younger cousin of Simon Peter, an intimate of Jesus himself, whom he served at the Last Supper, Saint Peter's personal delegate to Gaul, and a saint of apostolic rank.