Liber Pontificalis
The Liber Pontificalis is a book of biographies of popes from Saint Peter until the 15th century. The original publication of the Liber Pontificalis stopped with Pope Adrian II or Pope Stephen V, but it was supplemented in a different style until Pope Eugene IV and Pope Pius II. Although quoted uncritically from the 8th to 18th century, the Liber Pontificalis has undergone intense modern scholarly scrutiny; the work of the French priest Louis Duchesne, of others has highlighted some of the underlying redactional motivations of different sections, though such interests are so disparate and varied as to render improbable one popularizer's claim that it is an "unofficial instrument of pontifical propaganda."The title Liber Pontificalis goes back to the 12th century, although it only became current in the 15th century, the canonical title of the work since the edition of Duchesne in the 19th century. In the earliest extant manuscripts it is referred to as Liber episcopalis in quo continentur acta beatorum pontificum Urbis Romae and the Gesta or Chronica pontificum.
During the Middle Ages, Saint Jerome was considered the author of all the biographies up until those of Pope Damasus I, based on an apocryphal letter between Saint Jerome and Pope Damasus published as a preface to the Medieval manuscripts. The attribution originated with Rabanus Maurus and is repeated by Martin of Opava, who extended the work into the 13th century. Other sources attribute the early work to Hegesippus and Irenaeus, having been continued by Eusebius of Caesarea. In the 16th century, Onofrio Panvinio attributed the biographies after Damasus until Pope Nicholas I to Anastasius Bibliothecarius; the modern interpretation, following that of Louis Duchesne, is that the Liber Pontificalis was and unsystematically compiled, that the authorship is impossible to determine, with a few exceptions. Duchesne and others have viewed the beginning of the Liber Pontificalis up until the biographies of Pope Felix III as the work of a single author, a contemporary of Pope Anastasius II, relying on Catalogus Liberianus, which in turn draws from the papal catalogue of Hippolytus of Rome, the Leonine Catalogue, no longer extant.
Most scholars believe the Liber Pontificalis was first compiled in the 6th century. Because of the use of the vestiarium, the records of the papal treasury, some have hypothesized that the author of the early Liber Pontificalis was a clerk of the papal treasury. Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire summarised the scholarly consensus as being that the Liber Pontificalis was composed by "apostolic librarians and notaries of the viiith and ixth centuries" with only the most recent portion being composed by Anastasius. Duchesne and others believe that the author of the first addition to the Liber Pontificalis was a contemporary of Pope Silverius, that the author of another addition was a contemporary of Pope Conon, with popes being added individually and during their reigns or shortly after their deaths; the Liber Pontificalis only contained the names of the bishops of Rome and the durations of their pontificates. As enlarged in the 6th century, each biography consists of: the birth name of the pope and that of his father, place of birth, profession before elevation, length of pontificate, historical notes of varying thoroughness, major theological pronouncements and decrees, administrative milestones, date of death, place of burial, the duration of the ensuing sede vacante.
Pope Adrian II is the last pope for which there are extant manuscripts of the original Liber Pontificalis: the biographies of Pope John VIII, Pope Marinus I, Pope Adrian III are missing and the biography of Pope Stephen V is incomplete. From Stephen V through the 10th and 11th centuries, the historical notes are abbreviated with only the pope's origin and reign duration, it was only in the 12th century that the Liber Pontificalis was systematically continued, although papal biographies exist in the interim period in other sources. Duchesne refers to the 12th century work by Petrus Guillermi in 1142 at the monastery of St. Gilles as the Liber Pontificalis of Petrus Guillermi. Guillermi's version is copied from other works with small additions or excisions from the papal biographies of Pandulf, nephew of Hugo of Alatri, which in turn was copied verbatim from the original Liber Pontificalis from other sources until Pope Honorius II, with contemporary information from Pope Paschal II to Pope Urban II.
Duchesne attributes all biographies from Pope Gregory VII to Urban II to Pandulf, while earlier historians like Giesebrecht and Watterich attributed the biographies of Gregory VII, Victor III, Urban II to Petrus Pisanus, the subsequent biographies to Pandulf. These biographies until those of Pope Martin IV are extant only as revised by Petrus Guillermi in the manuscripts of the monastery of
Denmark
Denmark the Kingdom of Denmark, is a Nordic country and the southernmost of the Scandinavian nations. Denmark lies southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, is bordered to the south by Germany; the Kingdom of Denmark comprises two autonomous constituent countries in the North Atlantic Ocean: the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Denmark proper consists of a peninsula, an archipelago of 443 named islands, with the largest being Zealand and the North Jutlandic Island; the islands are characterised by flat, arable land and sandy coasts, low elevation and a temperate climate. Denmark has a total area of 42,924 km2, land area of 42,394 km2, the total area including Greenland and the Faroe Islands is 2,210,579 km2, a population of 5.8 million. The unified kingdom of Denmark emerged in the 10th century as a proficient seafaring nation in the struggle for control of the Baltic Sea. Denmark and Norway were ruled together under one sovereign ruler in the Kalmar Union, established in 1397 and ending with Swedish secession in 1523.
The areas of Denmark and Norway remained under the same monarch until Denmark -- Norway. Beginning in the 17th century, there were several devastating wars with the Swedish Empire, ending with large cessions of territory to Sweden. After the Napoleonic Wars, Norway was ceded to Sweden, while Denmark kept the Faroe Islands and Iceland. In the 19th century there was a surge of nationalist movements, which were defeated in the 1864 Second Schleswig War. Denmark remained neutral during World War I. In April 1940, a German invasion saw brief military skirmishes while the Danish resistance movement was active from 1943 until the German surrender in May 1945. An industrialised exporter of agricultural produce in the second half of the 19th century, Denmark introduced social and labour-market reforms in the early 20th century that created the basis for the present welfare state model with a developed mixed economy; the Constitution of Denmark was signed on 5 June 1849, ending the absolute monarchy, which had begun in 1660.
It establishes a constitutional monarchy organised as a parliamentary democracy. The government and national parliament are seated in Copenhagen, the nation's capital, largest city, main commercial centre. Denmark exercises hegemonic influence in the Danish Realm, devolving powers to handle internal affairs. Home rule was established in the Faroe Islands in 1948. Denmark negotiated certain opt-outs, it is among the founding members of NATO, the Nordic Council, the OECD, OSCE, the United Nations. Denmark is considered to be one of the most economically and developed countries in the world. Danes enjoy a high standard of living and the country ranks in some metrics of national performance, including education, health care, protection of civil liberties, democratic governance and human development; the country ranks as having the world's highest social mobility, a high level of income equality, is among the countries with the lowest perceived levels of corruption in the world, the eleventh-most developed in the world, has one of the world's highest per capita incomes, one of the world's highest personal income tax rates.
The etymology of the word Denmark, the relationship between Danes and Denmark and the unifying of Denmark as one kingdom, is a subject which attracts debate. This is centered on the prefix "Dan" and whether it refers to the Dani or a historical person Dan and the exact meaning of the -"mark" ending. Most handbooks derive the first part of the word, the name of the people, from a word meaning "flat land", related to German Tenne "threshing floor", English den "cave"; the -mark is believed to mean woodland or borderland, with probable references to the border forests in south Schleswig. The first recorded use of the word Danmark within Denmark itself is found on the two Jelling stones, which are runestones believed to have been erected by Gorm the Old and Harald Bluetooth; the larger stone of the two is popularly cited as Denmark's "baptismal certificate", though both use the word "Denmark", in the form of accusative ᛏᛅᚾᛘᛅᚢᚱᚴ tanmaurk on the large stone, genitive ᛏᛅᚾᛘᛅᚱᚴᛅᚱ "tanmarkar" on the small stone.
The inhabitants of Denmark are there called "Danes", in the accusative. The earliest archaeological findings in Denmark date back to the Eem interglacial period from 130,000–110,000 BC. Denmark has been inhabited since around 12,500 BC and agriculture has been evident since 3900 BC; the Nordic Bronze Age in Denmark was marked by burial mounds, which left an abundance of findings including lurs and the Sun Chariot. During the Pre-Roman Iron Age, native groups began migrating south, the first tribal Danes came to the country between the Pre-Roman and the Germanic Iron Age, in the Roman Iron Age; the Roman provinces maintained trade routes and relations with native tribes in Denmark, Roman coins have been found in Denmark. Evidence of strong Celtic cultural influence dates from this period in Denmark and much of North-West Europe and is among other things reflected in the finding of the Gundestrup cauldron; the tribal Danes came from the east Danish islands and Scania and spoke an early form of North Germanic.
Historians believe that before their arrival, most of Jutland and the nearest islands were settled by tribal J
Papal name
A papal name or pontificial name is the regnal name taken by a pope. Both the head of the Catholic Church known as the Pope, the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria choose papal names; as of 2013, Pope Francis is the Catholic Pope, Tawadros II or Theodoros II is the Coptic Pope. This article lists the names of Catholic Popes. While popes in the early centuries retained their birth names after their accession to the papacy on popes began to adopt a new name upon their accession; this first became customary in the 10th century. Since 1555, every pope has taken a papal name; the pontificial name is given in Latin by virtue of the Pope's status as Bishop of the Holy See of Rome. The Pope is given an Italian name by virtue of his Vatican citizenship. However, it is customary when referring to popes to translate the regnal name into all local languages. Thus, for example, Papa Franciscus, is Papa Francesco in Italian, Papa Francisco in his native Spanish, Pope Francis in English; the official style of the Catholic Pope in English is His Holiness Pope.
Holy Father is another honorific used for popes. The full title used, of the Catholic Pope in English is: His Holiness, Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the Vatican City State, Servant of the servants of God; the official title of the leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria is Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of all Africa on the Holy See of St. Mark the Apostle; the Successor of St. Mark the Evangelist, Holy Apostle and Martyr, on the Holy Apostolic Throne of the Great City of Alexandria, he is considered to be Father of Fathers. Shepherd of Shepherds. Hierarch of all HierarchsHonorary titles attributed to the Hierarch of the Alexandrine Throne are The Pillar and Defender of the Holy, Apostolic Church and of the Orthodox Faith; the Dean of the Great Catechetical School of Theology of Alexandria. The Ecumenical Judge of the Holy Apostolic and Catholic Church.
The Thirteenth among the Holy Apostles. During the first centuries of the church, the bishops of Rome continued to use their baptismal names after their elections; the custom of choosing a new name began in AD 533: Mercurius deemed it inappropriate for a pope to be named after the pagan Roman god Mercury, adopted the name John II in honor of his predecessor John I, venerated as a martyr. In the 10th century clerics from beyond the Alps Germany and France, acceded to the papacy and replaced their foreign-sounding names with more traditional ones; the last pope to use his baptismal name was Marcellus II in 1555, a choice, then quite exceptional. Names are chosen by popes, not based on any system. Names of immediate or distant predecessors, saints, or family members—as was the case with John XXIII—have been adopted. In 1978 Cardinal Albino Luciani became the first pope to take a double name, John Paul I, to honour his two immediate predecessors, John XXIII and Paul VI. John Paul I was the first pope in 1,100 years since Lando in 913 to adopt a papal name that had not been used.
After John Paul I's sudden death a month Cardinal Karol Józef Wojtyła was elected and, wishing to continue his predecessor's work, became the second Pope to take a double name as John Paul II. In 2013, a new name was introduced into the lineage: on being elected Pope, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio selected the name Francis to emphasize the spirit of poverty and peace embodied by Saint Francis of Assisi; the new pontiff's choice of name upon being elected to the papacy is seen as a signal to the world of who the new pope will emulate, what policies he will seek to enact, or the length of his reign. Such was the case with Benedict XVI – it was speculated that he chose the name because he wished to emulate Benedict XV, to call attention to the fact that at 7.5 years, Benedict XV's reign was short. Benedict XVI's own reign, which ended with his resignation on 28 February 2013 lasted less than 8 years. Saint Peter was the first Pope. Since the 1970s some antipopes, with only a minuscule following, took the name Pope Peter II.
Because of the controversial fifteenth-century antipope known as Pope John XXIII, this name was avoided for over 500 years until the election in 1958 of Pope John XXIII. After John XXIII's election as pope in 1958, it was not known if he would be John XXIII or XXIV; the number used by an antipope is ignored if possible, but this is not possible if, by the time someone is reckoned as antipope, the name has since been used by one or more legitimate popes. After a new pope is elected, accepts the election, he is asked in Latin "By what name shall you be called?"† The new pope chooses the name by which he will be known from that point on. The senior Cardinal Deacon, or Cardinal Protodeacon appears on the balcony of Saint Peter's to proclaim the new pope by his birth name, announce his papal name: †Unless impeded, the Dean of the College of Cardinals asks the newly elected po
Embryo
An embryo is an early stage of development of a multicellular diploid eukaryotic organism. In general, in organisms that reproduce sexually, an embryo develops from a zygote, the single cell resulting from the fertilization of the female egg cell by the male sperm cell; the zygote possesses half the DNA from each of its two parents. In plants and some protists, the zygote will begin to divide by mitosis to produce a multicellular organism; the result of this process is an embryo. In human pregnancy, a developing fetus is considered as an embryo until the ninth week, fertilization age, or eleventh-week gestational age. After this time the embryo is referred to as a fetus. First attested in English in the mid-14c; the word embryon itself from Greek ἔμβρυον, lit. "young one", the neuter of ἔμβρυος, lit. "growing in", from ἐν, "in" and βρύω, "swell, be full". In animals, the development of the zygote into an embryo proceeds through specific recognizable stages of blastula and organogenesis; the blastula stage features a fluid-filled cavity, the blastocoel, surrounded by a sphere or sheet of cells called blastomeres.
In a placental mammal, an ovum is fertilized in a fallopian tube through which it travels into the uterus. An embryo is called a fetus at a more advanced stage of development and up until hatching. In humans, this is from the eleventh week of gestation. However, animals which develop in eggs outside the mother's body, are referred to as embryos throughout development. During gastrulation the cells of the blastula undergo coordinated processes of cell division, and/or migration to form two or three tissue layers. In triploblastic organisms, the three germ layers are called endoderm and mesoderm; the position and arrangement of the germ layers are species-specific, depending on the type of embryo produced. In vertebrates, a special population of embryonic cells called the neural crest has been proposed as a "fourth germ layer", is thought to have been an important novelty in the evolution of head structures. During organogenesis and cellular interactions between germ layers, combined with the cells' developmental potential, or competence to respond, prompt the further differentiation of organ-specific cell types.
For example, in neurogenesis, a subpopulation of ectoderm cells is set aside to become the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves. Modern developmental biology is extensively probing the molecular basis for every type of organogenesis, including angiogenesis, myogenesis and many others. In botany, a seed plant embryo is part of a seed, consisting of precursor tissues for the leaves and root, as well as one or more cotyledons. Once the embryo begins to germinate—grow out from the seed—it is called a seedling. Bryophytes and ferns produce an embryo, but do not produce seeds. In these plants, the embryo begins its existence attached to the inside of the archegonium on a parental gametophyte from which the egg cell was generated; the inner wall of the archegonium lies in close contact with the "foot" of the developing embryo. The structure and development of the rest of the embryo varies by group of plants; as the embryo has expanded beyond the enclosing archegonium, it is no longer termed an embryo.
Embryos are used in various fields of research and in techniques of assisted reproductive technology. An egg may be fertilized in vitro and the resulting embryo may be frozen for use; the potential of embryonic stem cell research, reproductive cloning, germline engineering are being explored. Prenatal diagnosis or preimplantation diagnosis enables testing embryos for conditions. Cryoconservation of animal genetic resources is a practice in which animal germplasms, such as embryos are collected and stored at low temperatures with the intent of conserving the genetic material; the embryos of Arabidopsis thaliana have been used as a model to understand gene activation and organogenesis of seed plants. In regards to research using human embryos, the ethics and legalities of this application continue to be debated. Researchers from MERLN Institute and the Hubrecht Institute in the Netherlands managed to grow samples of synthetic rodent embryos, combining certain types of stem cells; this method will help scientists to more study the first moments of the process of the birth of a new life, which, in turn, can lead to the emergence of new effective methods to combat infertility and other genetic diseases.
Fossilized animal embryos are known from the Precambrian, are found in great numbers during the Cambrian period. Fossilized dinosaur embryos have been discovered; some embryos do not survive to the next stage of development. When this happens it is called spontaneous abortion or miscarriage. There are many reasons; the most common natural cause of miscarriage is chromosomal abnormality in animals or genetic load in plants. In species which produce multiple embryos at the same time, miscarriage or abortion of some embryos can provide the remaining embryos with a greater share of maternal resources; this can disturb the pregnancy, causing harm to the second embryo. Genetic strains which miscarry their embryos are the source of commercial seedl
Saint Casimir
Saint Casimir Jagiellon was a prince of the Kingdom of Poland and of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Second oldest son of King Casimir IV, he was tutored by Johannes Longinus, a Polish chronicler and diplomat. After his elder brother Vladislaus was elected as King of Bohemia in 1471, Casimir became the heir apparent. At the age of 13, Casimir participated in the failed military campaign to install him as King of Hungary, he became known for his piety, devotion to God, generosity towards the sick and poor. He became ill and died at the age of 25, he was buried in Vilnius Cathedral and his cult grew. His canonization was initiated by his brother King Sigismund I the Old in 1514 and the tradition holds that he was canonized in 1521; the age of Protestant Reformation was not conducive to the cult of saints. St. Casimir's cult saw a resurgence in the 17th century when his feast day was confirmed by the pope in 1602 and the dedicated Chapel of Saint Casimir was completed in 1636. St. Casimir became a patron saint of Lithuanian youth.
In Vilnius, his feast day is marked annually with Kaziuko mugė held on the Sunday nearest to March 4, the anniversary of his death. There are more than 50 churches named after St. Casimir in Lithuania and Poland, including Church of St. Casimir, Vilnius and St. Kazimierz Church and more than 50 churches in Lithuanian and Polish diaspora communities in America. Women's congregation Sisters of Saint Casimir was established in 1908 and is still active in the United States. A member of the Jagiellon dynasty, Casimir was born in Wawel Castle in Kraków. Casimir was the third child and the second son of the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir IV and Queen Elisabeth Habsburg of Hungary. Elisabeth took active interest in her children's upbringing; the Queen and the children accompanied the King in his annual trips to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. From the age of nine and his brother Vladislaus were educated by the Polish priest Jan Długosz; the boys were taught Latin and German, history and classical literature.
Długosz was a strict and conservative teacher who emphasized ethics and religious devotion. According to Stanisław Orzechowski, the princes were subject to corporal punishment, approved by their father. Długosz noted Casimir's skills in oratory when he delivered speeches to greet his father returning to Poland in 1469 and Jakub Sienienski, the Bishop of Kujawy, in 1470. Prince Casimir's uncle Ladislaus the Posthumous, King of Hungary and Bohemia, died in 1457 at the age of 17, without leaving an heir. Casimir's father, King Casimir IV, subsequently advanced his claims to Hungary and Bohemia, but could not enforce them due to the Thirteen Years' War. Instead, Hungarian nobles elected Matthias Corvinus and Bohemian nobles selected George of Poděbrady as their kings. George of Poděbrady died in March 1471. In May 1471, eldest son of Casimir IV, was elected to the throne of Bohemia. However, a group of Catholic Bohemian nobles supported Matthias Corvinus instead of Vladislaus II. In turn, a group of Hungarian nobles conspired against Matthias Corvinus and invited the Polish king to overthrow him.
King Casimir IV decided to install future Saint Casimir, in Hungary. Poland amassed an army of 12,000 men, commanded by Piotr Dziersław of Rytwiany. Both King Casimir and Prince Casimir participated in the campaign. In October 1471, the Polish army crossed the Hungarian border and marched towards Buda. Matthias Corvinus managed to win over the majority of the Hungarian nobles, including the main conspirator Archbishop János Vitéz, the Polish army did not receive the expected reinforcements. Only Deák, Perény and Rozgonyi families sent troops. Upon hearing that Corvinus' army of 16,000 men camped outside of Pest, the Polish army decided to retreat from Hatvan to Nitra. There the soldiers battled food shortages, spreading infectious diseases, the upcoming winter; the Polish King lacked funds to pay the mercenaries. As a result, the Polish army decreased by about a third. In December 1471, Prince Casimir, fearing for his safety, was sent to Jihlava closer to the Polish border and that further eroded their soldiers' morale.
Corvinus took a one-year truce was completed in March 1472 in Buda. Prince Casimir returned to Kraków to resume his studies with Długosz. Długosz remarked that Prince Casimir felt "great shame" regarding the failure in Hungary. Polish propaganda, portrayed him as a savior, sent by divine providence, to protect the people from a godless tyrant and marauding pagans. Prince Casimir was exposed to the cult of his uncle King Władysław III of Poland who died in the 1444 Battle of Varna against the Ottomans; this led some researchers, including Jacob Caro, to conclude that the Hungarian campaign pushed Prince Casimir into religious life. As his elder brother, Vladislaus II, ruled Bohemia, Prince Casimir became the heir apparent to the throne of Poland and Lithuania. Italian humanist writer Filippo Buonaccorsi was hired to become Casimir's tutor in political matters, but his Renaissance views had less influence on Casimir than Długosz. In 1474, the Italian merchant and traveler Ambrogio Contarini met with Prince Casimir and was impressed by his wisdom.
Prince Casimir spent most of his time with his father. In 1476, Prince Casimir accompanied his father to Royal Prussia where he tried to resolve the conflict with the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia. In 1478 Seimas of the Grand Du
Santa Cecilia in Trastevere
Santa Cecilia in Trastevere is a 5th-century church in Rome, Italy, in the Trastevere rione, devoted to the Roman martyr Saint Cecilia. The first church on this site was founded in the 3rd century, by Pope Urban I. Tradition holds; the baptistery associated with this church, together with the remains of a Roman house of the early Empire, was found during some excavations under the Chapel of the Relics. By the late fifth century, at the Synod of 499 of Pope Symmachus, the church is mentioned as the Titulus Ceciliae. On 22 November 545, Pope Vigilius was celebrating the Feast of the saint in the church, when the emissary of Empress Theodora, Anthemius Scribo, captured him. Pope Paschal I rebuilt the church in 822, moved here the relics of St Cecilia from the Catacombs of St Calixtus. More restorations followed in the 18th century; the Cardinal priest, assigned to Santa Cecilia in Trastevere is Gualtiero Bassetti. His predecessors include: are Pope Stephen III, Pope Martin IV, Adam Easton, Pope Innocent VIII, Thomas Wolsey, Pope Gregory XIV, Michele Mazzarino, Giuseppe Doria Pamphili, Mariano Rampolla, Carlo Maria Martini.
Since 1527, a community of Benedictine nuns has lived in the monastery next to Santa Cecilia, has had charge of the basilica. The inscriptions found in Santa Cecilia, a valuable source illustrating the history of the church, have been collected and published by Vincenzo Forcella; the church has a façade built in 1725 by Ferdinando Fuga, which incloses a courtyard decorated with ancient mosaics, columns and a cantharus. Its decoration includes the coat of arms and the dedication to the titular cardinal who paid for the facade, Francesco Cardinal Acquaviva d'Aragona. Among the artifacts remaining from the 13th century edifice are a mural painting depicting the Final judgment by Pietro Cavallini in the choir of the monks, the ciborium in the presbytery by Arnolfo di Cambio; the Gothic ciborium is surrounded by four marble columns white and black, decorated with statuettes of angels, saints and evangelists. The apse has remains of 9th century mosaics depicting the Redeemer with Saints Paul, Paschal I, Peter and Agatha.
The ceiling of Cappella dei Ponziani was decorated God the Father with evangelists by Antonio del Massaro. The Cappella delle Reliquie was provided with an altarpiece by Luigi Vanvitelli; the nave is frescoed with the Apotheosis of Santa Cecilia by Sebastiano Conca. The church contains two altarpieces by Guido Reni: Saints Valerian and Cecilia and a Decapitation of Saint Cecilia. Under the ciborium of di Cambio that shelters the main altar, is a glass case enclosing the white marble sculpture of St Cecilia by the late-Renaissance sculptor Stefano Maderno. A marble slab in the pavement in front of the case, quotes Maderno's sworn statement that he has recorded the body as he saw it when the tomb was opened in 1599; the statue depicts the three axe strokes described in the 5th-century account of her martyrdom. It underscores the incorruptibility of her cadaver, which miraculously still had congealed blood after centuries; this statue could be conceived as proto-Baroque, since it depicts no idealized moment or person, but a theatric scene, a naturalistic representation of a dead or dying saint.
It is striking, because it precedes by decades the similar high-Baroque sculptures by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Melchiorre Cafà. The crypt is decorated in cosmatesque stylr, contains the relics of St. Cecilia and her husband St. Valerian. In the apse of the crypt are the remains of an altar whose inscription indicates that it was dedicated by Pope Gregory VII on 3 June 1080. Jacobus Laderchius, S. Cæciliæ virg. Et mart. Acta et Transtyberina basilica 2 vols.. Vincenzo Forcella, Inscrizioni delle chiese di Roma, pp. 17-46. Bertha Ellen Lovewell, The Life of St. Cecilia. Torquato Picarelli, Basilica e casa romana di Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. Torquato Piccarelli, Monografia storica anecdotica della chiesa, cripta, e casa di S. Cecilia in Trastevere. Neda Parmegiani and Alberto Pronti, Il complesso di S. Cecilia in Trastevere. Anna Maria Panzera, The Basilica of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. Valentina Oliva, La basilica di Santa Cecilia. Media related to Santa Cecilia in Trastevere at Wikimedia Commons Chris Nyborg, "Santa Cecilia in Trastevere".
Armellini, Mariano, "S. Cecilia in Trastevere", Le chiese di Roma dal secolo IV al XIX, Tipografia Vaticana, 1891. Through Bill Thayer's site, Lacus Curtius. Kunsthistorie.com, photogallery
Valerian (emperor)
Valerian known as Valerian the Elder, was Roman Emperor from 22 October 253 AD to spring 260 AD. He was taken captive by the Persian Emperor, Shapur I, after the Battle of Edessa, becoming the first Roman emperor to be captured as a prisoner of war, causing shock and instability throughout the empire. Unlike many of the would-be emperors and rebels who vied for imperial power during the Crisis of the Third Century of the Roman Empire, Valerian was of a noble and traditional senatorial family. Details of his early life are sparse, except for his marriage to Egnatia Mariniana, with whom he had two sons: emperor Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus and Valerianus Minor, he was Consul for the first time either in 238 as an Ordinarius. In 238 he was princeps senatus, Gordian I negotiated through him for senatorial acknowledgement for his claim as emperor. In 251 AD, when Decius revived the censorship with legislative and executive powers so extensive that it embraced the civil authority of the emperor, Valerian was chosen censor by the Senate, though he declined to accept the post.
During the reign of Decius he was left in charge of affairs in Rome when that prince left for his ill-fated last campaign in Illyricum. Under Trebonianus Gallus he was appointed dux of an army drawn from the garrisons of the German provinces which seems to have been intended for use in a war against the Persians. However, when Trebonianus Gallus had to deal with the rebellion of Aemilianus in 253 AD it was to Valerian he turned for assistance in crushing the attempted usurpation. Valerian headed south but was too late: Gallus was killed by his own troops, who joined Aemilianus before Valerian arrived; the Raetian soldiers proclaimed Valerian emperor and continued their march towards Rome. Upon his arrival in late September, Aemilianus's legions defected, killing Aemilianus and proclaiming Valerian emperor. In Rome, the Senate acknowledged Valerian, not only for fear of reprisals but because he was one of their own. Valerian's first act as emperor on October 22, 253, was to appoint his son Gallienus as a caesar.
Early in his reign, affairs in Europe went from bad to worse, the whole West fell into disorder. In the East, Antioch had fallen into the hands of a Sassanid vassal and Armenia was occupied by Shapur I. Valerian and Gallienus split the problems of the empire between them, with the son taking the West, the father heading East to face the Persian threat. In 254, 255, 257, Valerian again became Consul Ordinarius. By 257, he had returned the province of Syria to Roman control; the following year, the Goths ravaged Asia Minor. In 259, Valerian moved on to Edessa, but an outbreak of plague killed a critical number of legionaries, weakening the Roman position, the town was besieged by the Persians. At the beginning of 260, Valerian was decisively defeated in the Battle of Edessa, he arranged a meeting with Shapur to negotiate a peace settlement; the truce was betrayed by Shapur, who seized Valerian and held him prisoner for the remainder of his life. Valerian's capture was a tremendous defeat for the Romans.
While fighting the Persians, Valerian sent two letters to the Senate ordering that firm steps be taken against Christians. The first, sent in 257, commanded Christian clergy to perform sacrifices to the Roman gods or face banishment; the second, the following year, ordered the execution of Christian leaders. It required Christian senators and equites to perform acts of worship to the Roman gods or lose their titles and property, directed that they be executed if they continued to refuse, it decreed that Roman matrons who would not apostatize should lose their property and be banished, that civil servants and members of the Imperial household who would not worship the Roman gods should be reduced to slavery and sent to work on the Imperial estates. This indicates that Christians were well-established at that time, some in high positions; the execution of Saint Prudent at Narbonne is taken to have occurred in 257. Prominent Christians executed in 258 included Pope Sixtus II, Saint Romanus Ostiarius and Saint Lawrence.
Others executed in 258 included the saints Denis in Paris, Pontius in Cimiez, Cyprian in Carthage and Eugenia in Rome. In 259 Saint Patroclus was executed at Saint Fructuosus at Tarragona; when Valerian's son Gallienus became Emperor in 260, the decree was rescinded. Eutropius, writing between 364 and 378 AD, stated that Valerian "was overthrown by Shapur king of Persia, being soon after made prisoner, grew old in ignominious slavery among the Parthians." An early Christian source, thought to be virulently anti-Persian, thanks to the occasional persecution of Christians by some Sasanian monarchs, maintained that, for some time prior to his death, Valerian was subjected to the greatest insults by his captors, such as being used as a human footstool by Shapur when mounting his horse. According to this version of events, after a long period of such treatment, Valerian offered Shapur a huge ransom for his release. In reply, according to one version, Shapur was said to have forced Valerian to swallow molten gold and had Valerian skinned and his skin stuffed with straw and preserved as a trophy in the main Persian temple.
It was further alleged that it was only after a Persian defeat against Rome that his skin was given a cremation and burial. The captivity and death of Valerian has been debated by historians without any definitive conclusion. According to the modern scholar T
