Cephalophore
A cephalophore (from the
The term "cephalophore" was first used in a French article by Marcel Hébert, "Les martyrs céphalophores Euchaire, Elophe et Libaire", in Revue de l'Université de Bruxelles, v. 19 (1914).
Possible origins
The
Thus, an original, and perhaps the most famous cephalophore is
Examples of cephalophoric saints
A cephalophoric legend of Nicasius of Rheims tells that at the moment of his execution, Nicasius was reading Psalm 119 (Psalm 118 in the Vulgate). When he reached the verse "Adhaesit pavimento anima mea" ("My soul is attached unto dust") (verse 25), he was decapitated. After his head had fallen to the ground, Nicasius continued the psalm, adding, "Vivifica me, Domine, secundum verbum tuum" ("Revive me, Lord, with your words").[7] The theme of the speaking head is extended in the 8th-century Passio of Saint Justus of Beauvais: after the child had been beheaded by Roman soldiers, his father and brother found the corpse sitting with his head in his lap. Giving the head to his father, Justus asked him to carry it to Auxerre, so that his mother, Felicia, might kiss it.[8]
The legend of Aphrodisius of Alexandria was transferred to Béziers, where his name was inserted at the head of the list of bishops. In the hagiographic accounts, Aphrodisius was accompanied by his camel. As he was preaching, a group of pagans pressed through the crowd and beheaded him on the spot. Aphrodisius picked up his head and carried it to the chapel which he had recently consecrated at the site. It is identified today as Place Saint-Aphrodise, Béziers.[9]
A legend associated with
In
In legend, the female saint
Saint
In literature
In
The speaking severed head appears memorably in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
The motif Head in Stith Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk Literature[15] reveals how universal is the anomaly of the talking severed head. Aristotle is at pains to discredit the stories of talking heads and to establish the physical impossibility, with the windpipe severed from the lung. "Moreover," he adds, "among the barbarians, where heads are chopped off with great rapidity, nothing of the kind has ever occurred."[16] Aristotle was doubtless familiar with the story of the singing disembodied head of Orpheus and Homer's image of heads severed so rapidly they seemed still to be speaking,[17] and Latin examples could be attested. A link between Latin poets and the Middle Ages in transmitting the trope of the speaking head was noted by Beatrice White,[18] in the Latin poem on the Trojan War, De Bello Troiano by Joseph of Exeter. Hector whirls in the air the severed head of Patroclus, which whispers "Ultor ubi Aeacides", "Where is Achilles [Aeacides], my avenger?"
Some modern authors link the legends of cephalophores miraculously walking with their heads in their hands
Gallery
-
St. Denis (second from right) hasNotre Dame de Paris(probably 19th century replacements)
-
Saint Denis has two halos in the coat of arms of Krefeld
-
Cephalophore,Cathedral of Reims
-
Gustave Doré's illustration of the scene from Dante's Inferno
-
Saints Victoricus and Gentian West entrance, Amiens Cathedral
-
St. Valerie of Limoges presents her head to her bishop and confessor, Saint Martial; Church of St. Michel des Lions, Limoges
-
The martyrdom of St.Passion at Lampaul-Guimiliau.
-
The Miracle of Saint Justus, Peter Paul Rubens
List of cephalophores
- Alban
- Alban of Mainz
- Aphrodisius
- Aventin de Larboust
- Chrysolius
- Denis of Paris
- Domninus of Fidenza
- Eliphius
- Emygdius
- Eurosia (Orosia)
- Felix and Regula
- Ferjeux de Besançon
- Ferreolus de Besançon
- Frajou
- Gaudens
- Gemolo
- Génitour du Blanc
- Ginés de la Jara
- Gohard de Nantes
- Hilarian d'Espalion
- Justinian of Ramsey Island
- Justus of Beauvais
- Juthwara
- Lambert of Saragosse
- Laureanus of Hungary (Seville, Spain; Vatan, France)
- Libaire de Grand
- Livier de Marsal
- Lucian of Beauvais
- Maurin d'Agen
- Maurice
- Miliau
- Minias of Florence
- Mitre
- Nectan of Hartland
- Nicasius of Rheims
- Nicasius, Quirinus and Scubiculus
- Noyale
- Osyth
- Piat of Tournai
- Principin (Auvergne)
- Quiteria (Quitterie)
- Reverianus
- Saturnina
- Solange
- Theonistus
- Trémeur
- Tréphine
- Valerie of Limoges
- Vitores de Cerezo
- Winefride
- Wyllow
See also
- Saint symbology
- Chhinnamasta – a Hindu goddess holding her own severed head
- Beheading game – Motif of medieval romance
- Celtic decapitation– Total separation of the head from the body
- Celtic headhunting– Practice of hunting a human and collecting the severed head after killing the victim
- With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm
References
- ^ As noted by Walter (2003), p. 143
- ^ a b Walter (2003), p. 143.
- ^ "Denis, the first cephalophore saint?". Seine-Saint-Denis Tourisme. Retrieved 2018-02-13.
- Mme du Deffand observed "il n'y a que le premier pas qui coûte", "it's only the first step that matters"; her mot was repeated in Baron Grimm's Correspondance littéraire, 15 May 1764.
- ^ Les saints céphalophores. Étude de folklore hagiographique, Revue de l’Histoire des Religions (Paris), 99 (1929), p. 158-231.
- ^ "Kephalophoroi saints, of whom there were a hundred or so in Western tradition, usually performed this prodigy in order to indicate the emplacement of the shrine where their relics should be venerated" (Walter 2003, p. 143).
- ^ San Nicasio di Reims
- ^ Scott B. Montgomery, "Mittite capud meum... ad matrem meam ut osculetur eum: The Form and Meaning of the Reliquary Bust of Saint Just Mittite", Gesta 36.1 (1997), pp. 48–64.
- ^ France pittoresque: coutumes et traditions 1908
- ^ Passio di San Gemolo
- ^ "Saint Ginés de La Jara (Getty Museum)". Archived from the original on 2008-10-05. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
- ^ The Golden Legend: The Life of Saint Paul the Apostle Archived June 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ a b "The stories of St. Edmund, St. Kenelm, St. Osyth, and St. Sidwell in England, St. Denis in France, St. Melor and St. Winifred in Celtic territory, preserve the pattern and strengthen the link between legend and folklore", Beatrice White observes. (White 1972, p. 123).
- ^ "E'l capo tronco tenea per le chiome
Pesol col mano, a giusa di lanterno:
E quei mirava noi, e dicea: "O me!".
The Divine Comedy, Inferno, Canto 28, 121-123. Longfellow translation, Commentaries from the Dartmouth Dante project. - ^ Copenhagen, 1957.
- ^ Aristotle, De partibus animalium 3.10.
- ^ Iliad 10.457, and Odyssey 22.329.
- ^ White (1972), p. 123.
Bibliography
- Walter, Christopher (2003). The Warrior Saints in Byzantine Art and Tradition. London: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-84014-694-3.
- White, Beatrice (Summer 1972). "A Persistent Paradox". Folklore. 83 (2): 122–131. PMID 11614481.