Judoc

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For the commune in France, see Josse, Landes.
Saint Judoc
A 16th-century portrayal of Saint Judoc by the Master of Meßkirch.
BornBrittany
Died668 AD
Ponthieu, France
Venerated inCatholic Church,
Eastern Orthodox Church
Major shrineAbbey of Saint-Josse (original)
New Minster, Winchester (destroyed)
Feast13 December
9 January (translation)
Attributespilgrim's staff; a crown at his feet

Saint Judoc, otherwise known as Jodoc, Joyce or Josse (

Breton noble. Though he was never officially canonized, Saint Judoc is considered to be a saint.[2] Judoc was a son of Juthael, King of Brittany. He renounced his wealth and position to become a priest and lived alone for the rest of his lifetime[3] in the coastal forest near the mouth of the River Canche
.

Etymology

The name Judoc, meaning "Lord", is the 14th century Breton version of Iudocus in Latin, Josse in French, Jost, Joost, or Joos in Dutch, and Joyce in English. The name Judoc was rarely used after the 14th century except in the Netherlands.

Biography

According to tradition, Judoc was the son of Juthael, King of Brittany, and the brother of Saint Judicael and Saint Winnoc.[4] In approximately 636, Judoc renounced his inheritance and wealth and embarked on a pilgrimage to Rome. He was ordained as a priest during this voyage and subsequently became a hermit in Ponthieu, Saint-Josse-sur-Mer, where he resided until his death. According to ancient folklore, his body was said to be incorruptible,[5] leaving his followers with the task of continually cutting his hair after death.[6]

Veneration

St. Judoc, as depicted in the Church of St. Christina in Ravensburg.

Saint Judoc developed a local cultus. Built in the eighth century at the place where Judoc's shrine was kept, the Abbey of Saint-Josse was a small monastery situated on the site of his retreat. In 903, some monks of the abbey fled Norman raiders for England, where they bore Judoc's relics, which were enshrined in the newly built New Minster in Winchester.[6] To honor the event, feasts were held on 9 January.[1]

The veneration of Judoc spread from France through the Low Countries, England, Germany, and Scandinavia. In these regions, variations of Josse, Joyce, Joos, Joost, and the diminutive Jocelyn,[7] became popular names for both men and women, and a number of chapels and churches were dedicated to him.[citation needed]

The mal Saint-Josse was the term for an illness resulting from a snakebite, against which the saint's name was invoked by the fifteenth-century French poet

Flemings
and Germans in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

La vie de Saint Josse was written in Old French verses by the poet and translator Pierre de Beauvais in the thirteenth century.[10]

The

Suaire de St-Josse, or "Shroud of Saint Judoc," is a rich, silk samite saddlecloth that was woven in northeastern Iran prior to 961. When Saint Judoc was reinterred in 1134, the shroud was used to wrap his bones.[11] The Louvre Museum
currently houses his shroud.

The

French commune of Saint-Josse
.

Cultural depictions

Cultural depictions usually portray Judoc holding the pilgrim's staff. He is also shown with a crown at his feet, referring to his renunciation of his lands and fortune. In Austria, there is a depiction of Judoc on the

Wife of Bath, who swears "by God and by Seint Joce [Saint Joyce]." This suggests that his name was often invoked in oaths.[6]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Alban Butler, (Michael Walsh, ed.) Butler's Lives of the Saints (1991) s.v. "December 13: St Judoc, or Josse (AD 688)".
  2. Diocese of Quimper
    ", whom Orderic would make king of the "Britons" after his father.
  3. ^ Butler 1991 gives "Runiacum"
  4. ISBN 9781783794102
    .
  5. ^ David Hugh Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1997, p.278.
  6. ^
    ISBN 9780192800589
    .
  7. Wife of Bath
    swears "by God and by Saint Joce"
  8. ^ S.V. Spilsbury, "The imprecatory ballad: a fifteenth-century poetic genre", French Studies 33.4 (1979:385-396).
  9. ^ Among a host of ills wished upon Master Matthew, Eustache wishes "the ill of Saint Leu, a spell of madness, those of Saint Josse and Saint Matelin..." (Eustache Deschamps, Oeuvres complètes DCCCVI ((Paris 1884) vol. 4, p. 321).
  10. ^ Pierre de Beauvais, Nils-Olof Jönsson, tr. La vie de Saint Germer et la vie de Saint Josse de Pierre de Beauvais: Deux poèmes du XIIIe siècle (University of Lund) 1997. Jönsson's introductory notes offer good introductions both to Saint Judoc and Pierre de Beauvais.
  11. ^ M. Bernus, H. Marchal, and G. Vial, "Le Suaire de St-Josse", Bulletin de Liaison du Centre International d'Études des Textiles Anciens 33 (1971:1-57).

External links

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