Bibliography
Alexander
O'Hara
2018
work
OʼHara, Alexander, Jonas of Bobbio and the legacy of Columbanus: sanctity and community in the seventh century, Oxford Studies in Late Antiquity, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
Contents: Introduction: Reading Jonas; 1. Conflicting visions of community: the legacy of Columbanus; 2. New rules: the Agrestius affair and the Regula Benedicti; 3. An Italian monk in Merovingian Gaul; 4. Stilo texere gesta: Jonas the hagiographer; 5. Jonas and biblical stylization; 6. The miracle accounts; 7. Sanctity and community; Epilogue; Appendices (Distribution of biblical quotations and allusions in Jonas's hagiography; The use of the Bible in the Vita Vedastis; The use of the Bible in the Vita Iohannis; The use of the Bible in the Vita Columbani; Miracle accounts in the Vita Columbani; Miracle accounts in Adomnán's Vita Columbae; Miracle accounts in Book II of Gregory the Great's Dialogues; Miracle accounts in the Vita Vedastis; Miracle accounts in Vita Iohannis; Miracles in Muirchú's Vita Patricii; The manuscripts of the Vita Columbani; Graphs of miracle accounts in Vita Columbani); Bibliography.
Contents: Introduction: Reading Jonas; 1. Conflicting visions of community: the legacy of Columbanus; 2. New rules: the Agrestius affair and the Regula Benedicti; 3. An Italian monk in Merovingian Gaul; 4. Stilo texere gesta: Jonas the hagiographer; 5. Jonas and biblical stylization; 6. The miracle accounts; 7. Sanctity and community; Epilogue; Appendices (Distribution of biblical quotations and allusions in Jonas's hagiography; The use of the Bible in the Vita Vedastis; The use of the Bible in the Vita Iohannis; The use of the Bible in the Vita Columbani; Miracle accounts in the Vita Columbani; Miracle accounts in Adomnán's Vita Columbae; Miracle accounts in Book II of Gregory the Great's Dialogues; Miracle accounts in the Vita Vedastis; Miracle accounts in Vita Iohannis; Miracles in Muirchú's Vita Patricii; The manuscripts of the Vita Columbani; Graphs of miracle accounts in Vita Columbani); Bibliography.
edited work
2017
work
2015
article
OʼHara, Alexander, “The Babenbergs and the cult of St. Coloman: saint formation and political cohesion in eleventh-Century Austria”, The Journal of Medieval Latin 25 (2015): 131–172.
abstract:
In 1012 an Irish pilgrim following the overland pilgrimage route to Jerusalem was murdered by the inhabitants of Stockerau near Vienna on the false suspicion that he was a Czech spy. Following his death, miracles began to occur and he came to be venerated as a saint by the local people. In 1015 renown of this new saint came to the attention of the ruler of this frontier region of the Eastern March of Bavaria, the Babenberg margrave, Henry I. The margrave appropriated the incorrupt body of the martyr and took it to his stronghold at Melk. The spiritual power of the new saint was a valuable asset for Henry, a marcher lord in the process of consolidating his power base in this volatile, frontier region. This article considers the role of the cult of St. Coloman in affirming Babenberg power and authority and in the process helping to shape a new identity for the region that would become Austria. It presents a new edition and English translation of the Passio et Miracula S. Cholomanni, a composite work of hagiography from the eleventh and twelfth centuries and the principal source for the cult of St. Coloman.
abstract:
In 1012 an Irish pilgrim following the overland pilgrimage route to Jerusalem was murdered by the inhabitants of Stockerau near Vienna on the false suspicion that he was a Czech spy. Following his death, miracles began to occur and he came to be venerated as a saint by the local people. In 1015 renown of this new saint came to the attention of the ruler of this frontier region of the Eastern March of Bavaria, the Babenberg margrave, Henry I. The margrave appropriated the incorrupt body of the martyr and took it to his stronghold at Melk. The spiritual power of the new saint was a valuable asset for Henry, a marcher lord in the process of consolidating his power base in this volatile, frontier region. This article considers the role of the cult of St. Coloman in affirming Babenberg power and authority and in the process helping to shape a new identity for the region that would become Austria. It presents a new edition and English translation of the Passio et Miracula S. Cholomanni, a composite work of hagiography from the eleventh and twelfth centuries and the principal source for the cult of St. Coloman.
2013
article
OʼHara, Alexander, “Columbanus and Jonas of Bobbio: new textual witnesses”, Peritia 22–23 (2011-2012, 2013): 188–190.
abstract:
A brief notice of mss Klosterneuburg, Augustiner-Chorherrenstift, 570 (s. xiv2) and 587 (s. xii2) that contain two new witnesses to Columbanus’ Rules: Regula coenobialis (short recension) and Regula monachorum (ten-chapter version); and of ms Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preußischer Kulturbesitz, theol. lat. qu. 141 (s. xv), which contains a copy of Jonas of Bobbio’s Vita Iohannis.
abstract:
A brief notice of mss Klosterneuburg, Augustiner-Chorherrenstift, 570 (s. xiv2) and 587 (s. xii2) that contain two new witnesses to Columbanus’ Rules: Regula coenobialis (short recension) and Regula monachorum (ten-chapter version); and of ms Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preußischer Kulturbesitz, theol. lat. qu. 141 (s. xv), which contains a copy of Jonas of Bobbio’s Vita Iohannis.
article
OʼHara, Alexander, and Faye Taylor, “Aristocratic and monastic conflict in tenth-century Italy: the case of Bobbio and the Miracula sancti Columbani”, Viator 44:3 (2013): 43–61.
abstract:
The Miracula Sancti Columbani offers a unique monastic perspective on monastic/aristocratic conflict in tenth-century Italy, in an area and period in which other narrative sources are lacking. It recalls a translatio strategy to Hugh of Provence’s royal court in 929 in response to the incursions of Bishop Guido of Piacenza. When these events were redacted decades later, a different sort of diocesan threat presented itself-this time by Bishop Giseprand of Tortona, who used his position as abbot of Bobbio to alienate lands. The Miracula reveal a shift in the nature of episcopal ambition towards private patronage, and a proactive (if ever-changing) relationship between “royal” monastery and sovereign, during a time when the landscape of royal power was shifting. Cultic innovations and accompanying hagiographic material provide an often-neglected perspective onto the agency of institutions and the use of institutional memory and the public sphere to negotiate and contest their rights.
abstract:
The Miracula Sancti Columbani offers a unique monastic perspective on monastic/aristocratic conflict in tenth-century Italy, in an area and period in which other narrative sources are lacking. It recalls a translatio strategy to Hugh of Provence’s royal court in 929 in response to the incursions of Bishop Guido of Piacenza. When these events were redacted decades later, a different sort of diocesan threat presented itself-this time by Bishop Giseprand of Tortona, who used his position as abbot of Bobbio to alienate lands. The Miracula reveal a shift in the nature of episcopal ambition towards private patronage, and a proactive (if ever-changing) relationship between “royal” monastery and sovereign, during a time when the landscape of royal power was shifting. Cultic innovations and accompanying hagiographic material provide an often-neglected perspective onto the agency of institutions and the use of institutional memory and the public sphere to negotiate and contest their rights.
