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Ephigenia of Ethiopia

April 10, 2024

Saint Ephigenia of Ethiopia or Iphigenia of Ethiopia (Spanish: Efigenia; Portuguese: Ifigénia/Ifigênia; French: Iphigénie; Greek: Ἰφιγένεια), also called Iphigenia of Abyssinia[6][note 2] (1st century), is a Western folk saint whose life is told in the Golden Legend[8] as a virgin converted to Christianity and then consecrated to God by Matthew the Apostle, who was spreading the Gospel to the region of "Ethiopia," which in this case is understood to be located in the regions south of the Caspian Sea,[9] either in one of the provinces of Mesopotamia (Assyria and Babylon), or in Ancient Armenia (Colchis).[note 3][note 4]

Saint

Ephigenia of Ethiopia
Santa Ifigênia, wooden statue from Minas Gerais, 18th c. (Museu Afro Brasil).
Venerated inCatholic Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast

Hagiographic life edit

According to the legend, Ephigenia was the daughter of Ethiopian King Egippus. She was dedicated to God by Saint Matthew the Apostle,[16] who veiled her.[17]

When Hirtacus succeeded the King, he promised the apostle half of his kingdom if he could persuade Ephigenia to marry him. Matthew thus invited the king to Mass the following Sunday where he explained that she was already espoused to the eternal King and thus could not be purloined by Hirtacus. The king thus sent a swordsman to kill Matthew who stood at the altar, making him a martyr.

Not having managed to bend Ephigenia to his will, Hirtacus tried to destroy her home with fire. However, the apostle appeared and warded the flames from the house, turning them upon the royal palace. The king's son was seized by the devil and the king himself contracted leprosy, eventually killing himself.

The people thus chose Ephigenia's brother as their king, who reigned for seventy years, leaving his kingdom to his son who filled Egypt with Christian churches.

Hagiographic sources and commemoration edit

Roman Catholic Church edit

 
The Martyrdom of St. Matthew, with St. Ifigênia on the right. (Altarpiece of St. Matthew, c.1367-70, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence)

Saint Ephigenia's feast day in the Roman Catholic Church, along with Saint Matthew's, is on September 21.[1][2][3]

The oldest textual source of her Life seems to be the Legenda Aurea (Golden Legend, also known as the Historia Longobardica or Flos Sanctorum) of Italian chronicler Jacobus de Voragine, compiled around 1275 AD.[8][18] This was an influential book on Renaissance spirituality and the understanding of sanctity which was read not only as a hagiography - a collection of lives of the saints - but as a vade mecum, a manual of asceticism.[19] This is the manner in which Ignatius of Loyola employed it and how Teresa of Ávila advised her spiritual sisters that it should be used.[19][note 5]

Saint Ephigenia is also listed in the hagiography of the Venetian Bishop Petrus de Natalibus (d. circa 1400), and appears in the 1586 edition of the Roman Martyrology of Cardinal Caesar Baronius,[23] the first authoritative edition of the Roman Martyrology.[24]

The Bollandists included an entry for Saint Iphigenia in their Acta Sanctorum for September 21. She is listed in a German language Bollandist-derived collection of saints of 1869.[25][26] Professor Roberto Sánchez in his paper 'The Black Virgin: Santa Efigenia, Popular Religion, and the African Diaspora in Peru' notes the following about the Bollandist account:

"The Bollandists, whose work is to historicize and contextualize the lives of the saints, concede that there is some doubt as to whether St. Matthew even went to Ethiopia. They conclude however that the legend is consistent with other sources and apocryphal writings of the period. It is clear that the story of Santa Efígenia is written as a corollary to the keen interest in the martyrdom of St. Matthew. His martyrdom is a significant historical event that has been subject of different versions. In effect, the origins of Santa Efigenia are shrouded in myth, folklore, and a spirited ecclesiastical historical debate."[27]

The Austrian Jesuit missionary and author Francis Xavier Weninger (D.D., S.J.) included the life of Saint Ephigenia in his Lives of the Saints (1876), inscribed within the life of Saint Matthew on September 21:

"...Incontestible writings prove that he preached the Gospel for twenty-three years, partly in Ethiopia, partly in other countries, at the same time founding almost innumerable Churches, and supplying them with priests and bishops, in order to preserve the faith he had taught... ...Iphigenia, the eldest daughter of the newly converted king of Ethiopia, had not only become a Christian, but also, with the knowledge and consent of the holy Apostle, had consecrated her virginity to the Almighty, after having frequently heard the Saint preach on the priceless value of purity, and exhort others to guard and preserve it. Her example was followed by many other virgins, who, choosing the princess as their superior, lived together and occupied their time in prayer and work..."[28]

Her listing in the Roman Martyrology (1916 English edition) states the following:

"In Ethiopia, St. Iphigenia, virgin, who being baptized and consecrated to God by the blessed apostle Matthew, ended her holy life in peace."[1]

The Book of Saints (1921) compiled by the Benedictine Monks of St Augustine's Abbey, Ramsgate has the following entry for Saint Iphigenia:

"A Virgin converted to Christianity and afterwards consecrated to God by St. Matthew the Evangelist, Apostle of Ethiopia. The extant Acts of St. Matthew are however so untrustworthy that no reliance can be placed on the particulars given therein of St. Iphigenia and others of the first fruits of the Gospel in Ethiopia."[2]

The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary also recount the life of Saint Iphigenia:[29]

"Saint Matthew, the Publican, preached the gospel in Ethiopia. He is, as Bartholomew for Armenia, an Apostle of a Nation, because, not only did he make many converts (as did all the Twelve) but he converted the king of Ethiopia by the stupendous miracle of raising the king’s daughter from the dead. Her name was Iphigenia and she is listed as a saint in the Martyrology. After her resurrection from the dead, with Saint Matthew’s approval, she took a vow of virginity. This so enraged the next king, Hirtacus, who wanted to marry her, that he had Matthew slain at the altar while offering Mass. The year was 68. Saint Matthew’s feast day is September 21."[30]

Saint Ephigenia is also listed in Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints (2014, 2nd edition):

"Iphigenia (d. first century). A virgin from Ethiopia who was converted by St. Matthew . No other reliable details about her are extant. Feast day: September 21."[3]

Anglican Catholic Church edit

The Anglican Catholic Church records the memory of Saint Ephigenia, contained within the Life of Saint Matthew, citing The Anglican Breviary (1955):

"Although many parts of Christendom have delighted to claim this Apostle as the founder of their Churches, the usual tradition is that he went into the regions south of the Caspian Sea, (which same are in this instance called Ethiopia) where he preached the Gospel and confirmed the same by many wondrous deeds. The greatest of these is told on this wise: that he raised to life the king's daughter, Iphigenia, whereby the royal family was converted to Christ; that after the king died Hirtacus his successor demanded Iphigenia to wife; and that she (who through Matthew's teaching had vowed herself to God) rejected Hirtacus in pursuance of her vow; for which reason Matthew was by royal order put to death whilst celebrating the holy Mysteries, whereby he fulfilled his apostleship in martyrdom."[9]

Eastern Orthodox Church edit

Significantly, the Life of Saint Matthew the Apostle in traditional Orthodox Synaxaria does not directly mention Saint Ephigenia by name, although the Synaxaria do record Saint Matthew's travels to "Ethiopia," that he enlightened the area, and was martyred there. The Orthodox Synaxarion according to the tradition of Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos (c. 1320), states that after being cruelly treated by the Parthians and Medes, St. Matthew then went to spread the Gospel to a certain city called "Mirmena / Myrmena,"[31][32][33][note 6] supposedly in Ethiopia, described as a land that was inhabited by tribes of cannibals:[33]

"After departing from Jerusalem, the holy Apostle Matthew preached the glad tidings of the Gospel in many lands. Proclaiming the good news of Christ, he passed through Macedonia, Syria, Persia, Parthia and Media, establishing Churches there and in other places...He travelled all about Ethiopia, which had fallen to him by lot, and enlightened it with the light of the knowledge of the Gospel. Finally, guided by the Holy Spirit, he arrived in the land of the cannibals, who were a dark-skinned and savage people. There he entered a city known as Mirmena and, having converted several souls to Christ, he appointed Platon, his fellow traveller, to be their bishop, and built a little church...The wife and son of Fulvian, the price of that city, were possessed by demons...The apostle rebuked the unclean spirits and expelled them; and those who were healed fell down before the apostle and meekly followed after him..."[32]

Be that as it may, a certain "Saint Iphigenia the Virgin-Martyr" is yet referenced in the Greek Orthodox calendar for November 16 (being the same feast day as Saint Matthew the Apostle in the Orthodox Church).[35][36] Nowhere else is her memory referenced.[37]

The Prologue from Ohrid compiled by Nikolai Velimirovic (1928) does not include St. Ephigenia, either on her own or within the life of Saint Matthew.[38]

The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America does include St. Ephigenia of Ethiopia on its calendar of Saints, along with her traditional Latin biography, "commemorated on November 16 (also on September 21)".[4][39] Similarly, Saints Mary and Martha Monastery in Wagener, South Carolina (OCA), does list St. Iphigenia, Princess of Ethiopia on the Western date of September 21,[5] although the Orthodox Church in America's (OCA) online Synaxarion does not mention St. Iphigenia in its recollection of the Life of St. Matthew the Evangelist, including his period in Ethiopia.[33]

Oriental Orthodox Churches edit

Saint Ephigenia of Ethiopia does not appear to be listed in either the Coptic Synaxarium[40] or in the Ethiopian Synaxarium,[41] either on her own, or within the life of Saint Matthew.[note 7]

Historical veneration edit

Spain edit

The Carmelites of Cádiz, Andalusia, had a devotion to Santa Ifigênia.[42] In Cádiz, African blacks organized their own religious association, the "Confradía de Nuestra Señora de la Salud, San Bello y Santa Ifigênia",[43] formed in El Puerto de Santa María in 1575.[44] From Cádiz, her devotion spread to Portugal and from there to Brazil.[42]

 
Image of Saint Ephigenia of Ethiopia, Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Pretos, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.

Brazil edit

The Brazilian-born priest José Pereira de Santana devoted a definitive, two-volume work to Elesbaan and Ephigenia, published respectively in 1735 and 1738 at Lisbon.[45] He considered them the two pillars of African sanctity and refashioned them as saints of his own Carmelite order.[46] Elesbaan represented the triumph of Christianity over Judaism in the person of Dunaan, while Ephigenia stood for the early, voluntary acceptance of the Gospel in Africa.[46]

 
St. Elesbaan (Caleb), King of Ethiopia with S. Efigênia. (National Library of Brazil)

A "Venerable Brotherhood of Saint Elesbão and Saint Efigênia"[note 8] was founded in Rio de Janeiro on May 7, 1740, by free black slaves from Cape Verde, Coast of the Mine, São Tomé Island, and Mozambique.[48][49] The cult of those two Saints is believed to have been brought by the slaves themselves.[48] Black brotherhoods in Roman Catholic societies in the New World relied upon a few black patron saints, including Santa Efigenia, Santo Antonio de Catagerona (d. 1549), and Sao Benedito (d. 1589).[50][51][note 9]

Saint Iphigenia was also honored in joyous religious festivals and processions. According to Brazilian sociologist and anthropologist Gilberto Freyre, writing in 1922, "the festival of Saint Ephigenia, a sort of black Madonna, was enjoyed to the utmost by the colored folks, whose "consciousness of kind" was ably aroused by the priests."[53]

On November 20, 1995 Brazilians observed the 300th anniversary of the death of Zumbi of Palmers, the last ruler of Palmares, regarded as one of the first freedom fighters of the Americas. In Belo Horizonte a procession of congados (pt) took place on the evening of November 23, 1996, honoring Nossa Senhora do Rosario, Saint Benedict the Moor, and Saint Iphigenia with processions of precision marching, singing, dancing and the use of percussion instruments.[note 10] The combined reverence for the Catholic saints and the performance of African ritual elements are evidence of the co-existence of Catholic religious traditions and the preservation of an African cultural memory in Minas Gerais.[55][note 11]

Peru edit

The diaspora of Santa Efígenia from Ethiopia to the Americas was part of the dispersal of African popular religious expressions that connected Africa, Europe, and the Americas.[27]

A late twentieth century movement to gain national recognition of Afro-Peruvian cultural contributions in Cañete Province focused on Santa Efigenia, which included a statue and an eighteenth century wall-sized baroque painting of her by Peruvian artist Cristóbal Lozano.[note 12] These artistic representations located in a private chapel on the hacienda La Quebrada in San Luis de Cañete were presented as legitimate artifacts of Santa Efigenia’s status as a folk or popular saint central to their construction of an Afro-Peruvian black identity and culture of devotion.[56]

On August 20, 1994 Sabino Cañas, an Afro-Peruvian community leader, organized a small group of followers from the surrounding villages of Cañete and Chincha to establish the Santa Efigenia Association, and named her as Patroness of National Black Art, even as they struggled to craft a coherent historical narrative of Santa Efigenia’s origins.[note 13] According to the Association’s popular history, Santa Efígenia has been at the hacienda of La Quebrada since approximately 1741.[57]

An annual celebration of Santa Efígenia is held on September 21 each year, with processions made in homage to Santa Ifigenia in the district of San Luis de Canete.[58][59] The Association produces a program flyer that introduces a brief history of the patron saint and focuses on her diffusion and popularity in Brazil, Cuba, and Peru.[52] The festival has grown in popularity as the Afro-Peruvian community of artists, musicians, writers, sports figures, and admirers have converged on Cañete each September in growing numbers.[60]

France edit

In honor of Saint Ephigenia, a virgin-martyr of 1794 had taken her name. A professed religious of the Order of St. Benedict that was martyred during the French Revolution in 1794 was known as "Sister Iphigénie of Saint Matthew". Her name was Blessed Marie-Gabrielle-Françoise-Suzanne de Gaillard de Lavaldène (1761–1794), also known as "Francesca Maria Susanna", "Sister Iphigénie of Saint Matthew" or "Ifigenia di San Matteo de Gaillard de la Valdène", and she was one of the Martyrs of Orange who was guillotined on 7 July 1794 in Orange, Vaucluse, France. She was beatified 10 May 1925 by Pope Pius XI and she is commemorated on July 7.[61]

 
Igreja de Santa Efigênia dos Pretos, Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
 
Santa Ifigenia cemetery, Santiago de Cuba.

Churches edit

  • Igreja de Santa Efigênia dos Pretos, Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil, founded in 1785.[62][63][64] According to tradition, the church of St. Ephigenia in Vila Rica was built largely from the proceeds of gold dust washed out of their hair by devout black women.[65] The building of the Igreja Nossa Senhora Santa Efigênia no Alto Cruz (Our Lady of Saint Efigênia of the High Cross), organized under Chico Rei, lasted some thirty years and involved the artistic collaboration of the famous mulatto sculptor Antônio Francisco "Aleijadinho" Lisboa.[64]
  • Paróquia Nossa Senhora da Conceição - Santa Ifigênia (pt), São Paulo, Brazil, founded in 1809.[66]

Placenames edit

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Note that she is NOT listed in the official Greek or Russian Synaxaria. Neither is she listed in the Coptic or Ethiopian Synaxaria.
  2. ^ Iphigenia is a Greek word that means "strong-born", "born to strength", or "she who causes the birth of strong offspring."[7] The variants of this name include:
    • Iphigenia; Iphigeneia; Iphagenia; Iphegenia; Iphigeniah; Ephigenia; Ephygenia; Ephigenie; Genia.
  3. ^ According to the Encyclopædia Britannica (2009 Ultimate Reference Suite):
    • "Tradition notes his ministry in Judaea, after which he supposedly missioned to the East, suggesting Ethiopia and Persia. Legend differs as to the scene of his missions and as to whether he died a natural or a martyr's death."[10]
  4. ^ In the past there was more than one region that was referred to by the term "Ethiopia".[11] There was the Ethiopia of North Africa ("African Ethiopia"); and another region sometimes called "Asiatic Ethiopia",[12] located either in one of the provinces of Mesopotamia (Assyria and Babylon), or in Ancient Armenia (Colchis). Note:
    • "Ethiopia in Roman History (1-200 AD) Later the term "Ethiopia" would become synonymous not just with the Kushites, but all Africans. Unlike the earlier Greek writers who distinguished Ethiopians from other Africans, Claudius Ptolemy (90–168 AD), a Roman citizen who lived in Alexandria, used "Ethiopia" as a racial term. In his Tetrabiblos: Or Quadripartite, he tried to explain the physical characteristics of people around the world saying, 'They are consequently black in complexion, and have thick and curled hair...and they are called by the common name of Aethiopians.'"[11]
    • Jerome and the Christian monk Sophronius in the 4th century referred to the region of Colchis as a "Second Ethiopia".[13][14] Earlier, the Classical Greek historian Herodotus also had written about a colony founded in the region of Colchis, which was inhabited by Ethiopic people, believed to have been brought there by the Egyptian Pharaoh Sesostris.[14][15]
  5. ^ Although the Golden Legend was rendered unacceptable at the Reformation and after the rise of the new learning,[20][21] nevertheless it is important to bear in mind that Voragine's specific focus for his work was deliberately on types of saints such as martyrs, ascetics, virgins and people with thaumaturgy and visions, rather than on academics, artists and activists. That is to say that early medieval sources were often not written as objective records of social reality. The authors of these texts often had motives other than simply recording attitudes of the time. Thus to treat them as ethnographies or to approach them from a socio-anthropological perspective would be to misinterpret the period.[22]
  6. ^ "Mirmena / Myrmena" is referenced in Abraham Rees' The Cyclopædia; Or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature (1819):
    • "MYRMENA, in Ancient Geography, a town supposed to have been in Ethiopia, inhabited by Anthropophagi; whose prince, according to Nicephorus, was converted by St. Matthew to the Christian faith."[34]
  7. ^ Her absence in both the Coptic and Ethiopian synaxaria lends support to the suggestion that it was indeed the region known as "Asiatic Ethiopia" that St. Matthew visited, rather than African Ethiopia.
  8. ^ (in Portuguese) Venerável Irmandade de Santo Elesbão e Santa Efigênia.[47] (A Catholic brotherhood located in downtown Rio de Janeiro).
  9. ^ They were referred as irmandade in Brazil; and confradia or cabildo in Spanish America.[50] Professor Roberto Sánchez states that "these cults date back to (the) seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and are part of the variety and depth of Afro-Brazilian identification with icons and religious practices of the African diaspora, as well as the use of these cultural practices by Portuguese Carmelites as colonial tools of conversion, orientation, and education."[52]
  10. ^ "In Minas Gerais and other central-south and southern states, for example, spirituality of African origin is manifest in a form of Afro-Catholicism called Congada or Congado. Its African origins are from what are now the two Congos and Angola in West Central Africa and Mozambique in South East Africa...Unlike the veneration of African spiritual beings in Bahia, congadeiros in Minas Gerais seek blessings and guidance from Catholic saints. The spiritual beings of Congada are the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of the Rosary, and Afro-Catholic Saint Benedict, patron of Palermo in Sicily, whose parents were Ethiopian; and Saint Ephigenia from Ethiopia."[54]
  11. ^ "Each group has a unique uniform or costume and some include folkloric elements such as the "bum-bum boi"...This event, in honor of Zumbi, marked the first time that the congados (pt) came together from all over Brazil."[55]
  12. ^ La Apoteosis de Santa Ifigenia. Cristóbal Lozano, 1763. Capilla de La Quebrada, Cañete, Peru.
  13. ^ According to professor Roberto Sánchez:
    • "They had multiple goals in mind when they petitioned the municipality to create an association and name her as patroness and protector of National Black Art. They seized upon an opportunity provided by a regional economic development project promoted by the Ministry of Industry and Tourism to market Afro-Peruvian culture through a series of festivals, including religious cultural expressions. Their need to authenticate their cultural ownership of Santa Efígenia required a historical explanation of her origins and diaspora. Their sketchy attempts contributed more to mystifying than to clarifying, yet their rewriting is part of an African diaspora that weaves tradition, fact, and fiction to serve more pragmatic aims."[57]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c The Roman Martyrology. Transl. by the Archbishop of Baltimore. Last Edition, According to the Copy Printed at Rome in 1914. Revised Edition, with the Imprimatur of His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons. Baltimore: John Murphy Company, 1916. p. 292.
  2. ^ a b c The Benedictine Monks of St Augustine's Abbey, Ramsgate (Comp.). THE BOOK OF SAINTS: A Dictionary of Servants of God Canonised by the Catholic Church: Extracted from the Roman and Other Martyrologies. London: A & C Black. Ltd., 1921. p. 142.
  3. ^ a b c Matthew Bunson and Margaret Bunson. Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints. Second Edition. Our Sunday Visitor, 2014. p. 416. ISBN 978-1612787169
  4. ^ a b St. Ephigenia of Ethiopia. The Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. Retrieved: 6 September 2016.
  5. ^ a b Lists of Women Saints Names: September 21st. Ss. Mary and Martha Orthodox Monastery, Wagener, SC. Retrieved: 10 September 2016.
  6. ^ Robert C. Smith Jr. "The Colonial Architecture of Minas Gerais in Brazil." The Art Bulletin, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Jun., 1939), pp. 110–159. p. 115.
  7. ^ Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon, s.v. "Iphigenia". And: Rush Rehm. The Play of Space (2002, 188).
  8. ^ a b Jacobus de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, 1275 (Comp.). "Here beginneth the Life of S. Matthew, and, first of the interpretation of his name." In: The GOLDEN LEGEND or LIVES of the SAINTS: VOLUME FIVE. First Edition Publ. 1470. ENGLISHED by WILLIAM CAXTON, First Edition 1483. Temple Classics, Ed. by F.S. ELLIS, First issue 1900, Reprinted 1922, 1931.
  9. ^ a b "Liturgical Calendars: Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist 2019-12-18 at the Wayback Machine." The Anglican Catholic Church. Retrieved: 10 September 2016.
    • Citing: The Anglican Breviary. Frank Gavin Liturgical Foundation, Inc., New York, 1955. Pages 1455–56.
  10. ^ "Matthew (the Evangelist), Saint." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica 2009 Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2009.
  11. ^ a b Ancient Ethiopia or Kush. TA NETER FOUNDATION (TaNeter.org). Retrieved: 8 September 2016.
  12. ^ The Classical Journal, Volume 17. A.J. Valpy, 1818. p. 8.
  13. ^ Martin Bernal. Black Athena. Rutgers University Press, 1987. p. 253.
  14. ^ a b Ancient Armenia – Once home to the "second Ethiopia" ? Ethiopianism-Ethiopiawinet Online Revival. November 20, 2012. Retrieved: 29 August 2016.
  15. ^ Herodotus. The Histories. Transl. by Tom Holland. Penguin Books, 2013. pp. 148–149. (Book Two: 103, 104).
  16. ^ The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine, trans. and adapted by Ryan, Granger and Helmut Ripperger. (Arno Press: Longmans, Green & Co) 1941. pp. 561–566.
  17. ^ The Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of Western Europe and the Americas (ROCOR). St. Hilarion Calendar of Saints for the year of our Lord 2004. St. Hilarion Press (Austin, TX). p. 70.
  18. ^ Paul Halsall. Medieval Sourcebook: The Golden Legend (Aurea Legenda) Compiled by Jacobus de Voragine, 1275, Englished by William Caxton, 1483. Fordham University. Retrieved: 8 September 2016.
  19. ^ a b Dr. Donald Blais (ThD). Passion and Pathology in Teresa of Avila's Mystical Transformation: With Reference to the Transpersonal Theories of Michael Washburn. Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Regis College and the Pastoral Department of the Toronto School of Theology, University of Toronto. Submitted August 1, 1997. Defended October 16, 1997. p. 189.
  20. ^ "Jacobus De Voragine." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica 2009 Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2009.
  21. ^ Sherry L. Reames. The Legenda Aurea: A Reexamination of Its Paradoxical History. Univ of Wisconsin Press, 1985. 331 pages. ISBN 9780299101503
  22. ^ Michael S. Hahn (Graduate Student, University of Oxford). How and why has historical writing about the cult of saints changed over the past forty years?. Academia.edu. August 17, 2016. Retrieved: 15 December 2016.
  23. ^ (in Spanish) Bernard Vincent. SAN BENITO DE PALERMO EN ESPAÑA. Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca. Stud. his., H.ª mod., 38, n. 1 (2016), p. 27.
  24. ^ REV. BENEDICT ZIMMERMAN, O.C.D. THE NEW ROMAN MARTYROLOGY 2015-09-11 at the Wayback Machine. The Tablet. 15 March 1924, Page 4.
  25. ^ (in German) "Iphigenia, S." Vollständiges Heiligen-Lexikon, Band 3. Augsburg 1869, S. 49. (Zeno.org)
  26. ^ (in German) "S. Iphigenia, V. (21. Sept.)." Vollständiges Heiligen-Lexikon, I-L, Volume 3, 1869. p. 49.
  27. ^ a b Roberto Sánchez. "The Black Virgin: Santa Efigenia, Popular Religion, and the African Diaspora in Peru." Church History 81:3 (September 2012), 631–655. p. 642.
  28. ^ Rev. F. X. Weninger (D.D., S.J.). LIVES OF THE SAINTS: Compiled from Authentic Sources with a Practical Instruction on the Life of Each Saint, for Every Day in the Year. VOL. 2 - July–Dec. New York, 1876. pp. 369–370.
  29. ^ "Saint Matthew (65)." CATHOLICISM.ORG: An Online Journal edited by The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Saint Benedict Center, New Hampshire. September 21, 2000. Retrieved: 10 September 2016.
  30. ^ Brian Kelly. "The Apostles of the Nations." CATHOLICISM.ORG: An Online Journal edited by The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Saint Benedict Center, New Hampshire. July 18, 2013. Retrieved: 10 September 2016.
  31. ^ Hieromonk Makarios of Simonos Petra (Ed.). THE SYNAXARION: The Lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church: VOLUME TWO - November December. Transl. from the French by Christopher Hookway. Holy Convent of the Annunciation of Our Lady, Ormylia (Chalkidike), 1999. p. 157.
  32. ^ a b "The Life and Sufferings of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew, whose Memory the Holy Church Celebrates on the 16th of November." In: The Lives of the Holy Apostles. From the Menology of St. Dimitri of Rostov in Russian and The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church in Greek. Transl. by Reader Isaac E. Lambertsen and Holy Apostles Convent. Buena Vista, Colorado, 1988. Reprinted 1990. pp. 211–212.
  33. ^ a b c Apostle and Evangelist Matthew. OCA - Lives of the Saints.
  34. ^ Abraham Rees. "MYRMENA." In: The Cyclopædia; Or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature. VOL. XXIV. London, 1819.
  35. ^ Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Ἡ Ἁγία Ἰφιγένεια. 16 Νοεμβρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
  36. ^ (in Greek) Αγία Ιφιγένεια η Παρθενομάρτυς. Ορθόδοξος Συναξαριστής. 16/11/2015.
  37. ^ Αγία Ιφιγένεια η Παρθενομάρτυς, saint.gr
  38. ^ Nikolaj Velimirović. "November 16 2017-01-27 at the Wayback Machine." In: Prologue from Ochrid. Transl. by Reverend T. Timothy Tepsic and Very Rev. Janko Trbovich (Serbian Orthodox Church Diocese of Western America). Australian and New Zealand Diocese (ROCOR). Retrieved: 10 September 2016.
  39. ^ Divine Liturgy Variables on Sunday, November 16, 2014 (Martyr Ephygenia of Ethiopia, disciple of St. Matthew). The Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. Retrieved: 8 September 2016. (pdf)
  40. ^ Coptic Synaxarium. St. George Coptic Orthodox Church, Chicago, Illinois, 1st of May 1995. (pdf)
  41. ^ Synaxarium: The Book of Saints of The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church 2017-01-10 at the Wayback Machine. Transl. Sir E. A. Wallis Budge. Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Debre Meheret St. Michael Church, Garland, TX USA. Retrieved: 8 September 2016. (pdf)
  42. ^ a b (in Portuguese) Santa Ifigênia, Virgem etíope - 22 de setembro. Heroínas da Crístandade. September 22, 2013. Retrieved: 1 September 2016.
  43. ^ Paloma Fernández-Pérez. "CADIZ." In: The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery, Volume 1: A-K. Junius P. Rodriguez (Ed.). ABC-CLIO, 1997. p. 119.
  44. ^ (in Spanish) Esteban Mira Caballos. Historia de España: LA DEFENSA TERRESTRE DEL IMPERIO HABSBURGO. Blogia. 29/07/2016. Retrieved: 12 September 2016.
  45. ^ (in Portuguese) José Pereira de Santana. Os dous atlantes da Ethiopia Santo Elesbaõ, emperador XLVII. da Abessina, advogado dos perigos do mar, e Santa Ifigenia, princeza da Nubia, advogada dos incendios dos edificios, ambos carmelitas. Lisboa, A.P. Galram, 1735-38. (WorldCat database).
  46. ^ a b Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. (Ed.). The Black Saint Who Embodied Christianity for the African Masses. The Root (W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research). April 29, 2014.
  47. ^ (in Portuguese) Compromisso da Irmandade de Santo Elesbão e Santa Ephigenia. Arquivo da Cúria Metropolitana do Rio de Janeiro - ACMRJ. 17 de Julho de 1910.
  48. ^ a b Vânia Penha-Lopes. "Race and Ethnic Identity Formation in Brazil and the United States: Three Case Studies." Afro-Hispanic Review (AHR), Vol. 29, No. 2, The African Diaspora In Brazil (FALL 2010), pp. 252–253.
  49. ^ (in Portuguese) Anderson José Machado de Oliveira. "Devotion and Identities: meanings os Santo Elesbão and Santa Efigênia cults in Rio de Janeiro and in Minas Gerais during the 1700s." Topoi (Rio J.) vol.7 no.12 Rio de Janeiro Jan./June 2006. p. 67.
  50. ^ a b Anthony Appiah, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. "Black Brotherhoods." In: Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience. Oxford University Press, 2005. pp. 773–75.
  51. ^ Julita Scarano. "Black Brotherhoods: Integration or Contradiction?" Luso-Brazilian Review, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Summer, 1979), p. 7.
  52. ^ a b Roberto Sánchez. "The Black Virgin: Santa Efigenia, Popular Religion, and the African Diaspora in Peru." Church History 81:3 (September 2012), 631–55. p. 650.
  53. ^ Gilberto Freyre. "Social Life in Brazil in the Middle of the Nineteenth Century." The Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 5, No. 4 (Nov., 1922), p. 623.
  54. ^ Sheila S. Walker. "Milestones and Arrows: A Cultural Anthropologist Discovers the Global African Diaspora." The Journal of African American History, Vol. 100, No. 3, Gendering the Carceral State: African American Women, History, and the Criminal Justice System (Summer 2015), pp. 501–502.
  55. ^ a b Domnita Dumitrescu. "The Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian World." Hispania, Vol. 79, No. 3 (Sep., 1996), p. 601.
  56. ^ Roberto Sánchez. "The Black Virgin: Santa Efigenia, Popular Religion, and the African Diaspora in Peru." Church History 81:3 (September 2012), 631–655. p. 637.
  57. ^ a b Roberto Sánchez. "The Black Virgin: Santa Efigenia, Popular Religion, and the African Diaspora in Peru." Church History 81:3 (September 2012), 631–655. p. 648.
  58. ^ (in Spanish) "GATOS." Pagina12. 9 de octubre de 2013.
  59. ^ Roberto Sánchez. "The Black Virgin: Santa Efigenia, Popular Religion, and the African Diaspora in Peru." Church History 81:3 (September 2012), 631–655. p. 649.
  60. ^ Roberto Sánchez. "The Black Virgin: Santa Efigenia, Popular Religion, and the African Diaspora in Peru." Church History 81:3 (September 2012), 631–655. p. 653.
  61. ^ (in Italian) Beata Ifigenia di S. Matteo (Francesca Maria Susanna) de Gaillard de la Valdène, Martire. SANTI, BEATI E TESTIMONI. 7 luglio. Retrieved: 6 September 2016.
  62. ^ (in Portuguese) Igreja Matriz de Santa Efigênia. Ouropreto.com.br. Retrieved: 29 August 2016.
  63. ^ Tania Costa Tribe. The Mulatto as Artist and Image in Colonial Brazil. Oxford Art Journal, Vol. 19, No. 1 (1996), pp. 67–79. Page 74.
  64. ^ a b Anthony Appiah, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. "Chico Rei, 1717-1774." In: Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience. Oxford University Press, 2005. p. 45.
  65. ^ A. J. R. Russell-Wood. "Black and Mulatto Brotherhoods in Colonial Brazil: A Study in Collective Behavior." The Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 54, No. 4 (Nov., 1974), p. 589.
  66. ^ (in Portuguese) Matriz Paroquial Nossa Senhora da Conceição - Santa Ifigênia. ARQUIDIOCESE DE SÃO PAULO, REGIÃO EPISCOPAL SÉ. Retrieved: 29 August 2016.
  67. ^ Santa Ifigenia Cemetery. CubaHeritage.org. Retrieved: 4 September 2016.
  68. ^ Dariela Aquique. Santa Ifigenia Cemetery, Santiago de Cuba Landmark. HavanaTimes.org. September 9, 2011. Retrieved: 4 September 2016.

Further reading edit

  • (in Portuguese) José Pereira de Santana. Os dous atlantes da Ethiopia Santo Elesbaõ, emperador XLVII. da Abessina, advogado dos perigos do mar, e Santa Ifigenia, princeza da Nubia, advogada dos incendios dos edificios, ambos carmelitas. Lisboa, A.P. Galram, 1735-38. (WorldCat database).

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saint Ephigenia.
  • (in Portuguese) HISTÓRIA DE SANTA EFIGÊNIA. Cruz Terra Santa. Retrieved: 4 September 2016.

April 10, 2024
ephigenia, ethiopia, saint, iphigenia, ethiopia, spanish, efigenia, portuguese, ifigénia, ifigênia, french, iphigénie, greek, Ἰφιγένεια, also, called, iphigenia, abyssinia, note, century, western, folk, saint, whose, life, told, golden, legend, virgin, convert. Saint Ephigenia of Ethiopia or Iphigenia of Ethiopia Spanish Efigenia Portuguese Ifigenia Ifigenia French Iphigenie Greek Ἰfigeneia also called Iphigenia of Abyssinia 6 note 2 1st century is a Western folk saint whose life is told in the Golden Legend 8 as a virgin converted to Christianity and then consecrated to God by Matthew the Apostle who was spreading the Gospel to the region of Ethiopia which in this case is understood to be located in the regions south of the Caspian Sea 9 either in one of the provinces of Mesopotamia Assyria and Babylon or in Ancient Armenia Colchis note 3 note 4 SaintEphigenia of EthiopiaSanta Ifigenia wooden statue from Minas Gerais 18th c Museu Afro Brasil Venerated inCatholic ChurchEastern Orthodox ChurchFeastSeptember 21 Roman Catholic Church 1 2 3 November 16 Eastern Orthodox Church 4 5 note 1 Contents 1 Hagiographic life 2 Hagiographic sources and commemoration 2 1 Roman Catholic Church 2 2 Anglican Catholic Church 2 3 Eastern Orthodox Church 2 4 Oriental Orthodox Churches 3 Historical veneration 3 1 Spain 3 2 Brazil 3 3 Peru 3 4 France 4 Churches 5 Placenames 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External linksHagiographic life editAccording to the legend Ephigenia was the daughter of Ethiopian King Egippus She was dedicated to God by Saint Matthew the Apostle 16 who veiled her 17 When Hirtacus succeeded the King he promised the apostle half of his kingdom if he could persuade Ephigenia to marry him Matthew thus invited the king to Mass the following Sunday where he explained that she was already espoused to the eternal King and thus could not be purloined by Hirtacus The king thus sent a swordsman to kill Matthew who stood at the altar making him a martyr Not having managed to bend Ephigenia to his will Hirtacus tried to destroy her home with fire However the apostle appeared and warded the flames from the house turning them upon the royal palace The king s son was seized by the devil and the king himself contracted leprosy eventually killing himself The people thus chose Ephigenia s brother as their king who reigned for seventy years leaving his kingdom to his son who filled Egypt with Christian churches Hagiographic sources and commemoration editRoman Catholic Church edit nbsp The Martyrdom of St Matthew with St Ifigenia on the right Altarpiece of St Matthew c 1367 70 Galleria degli Uffizi Florence Saint Ephigenia s feast day in the Roman Catholic Church along with Saint Matthew s is on September 21 1 2 3 The oldest textual source of her Life seems to be the Legenda Aurea Golden Legend also known as the Historia Longobardica or Flos Sanctorum of Italian chronicler Jacobus de Voragine compiled around 1275 AD 8 18 This was an influential book on Renaissance spirituality and the understanding of sanctity which was read not only as a hagiography a collection of lives of the saints but as a vade mecum a manual of asceticism 19 This is the manner in which Ignatius of Loyola employed it and how Teresa of Avila advised her spiritual sisters that it should be used 19 note 5 Saint Ephigenia is also listed in the hagiography of the Venetian Bishop Petrus de Natalibus d circa 1400 and appears in the 1586 edition of the Roman Martyrology of Cardinal Caesar Baronius 23 the first authoritative edition of the Roman Martyrology 24 The Bollandists included an entry for Saint Iphigenia in their Acta Sanctorum for September 21 She is listed in a German language Bollandist derived collection of saints of 1869 25 26 Professor Roberto Sanchez in his paper The Black Virgin Santa Efigenia Popular Religion and the African Diaspora in Peru notes the following about the Bollandist account The Bollandists whose work is to historicize and contextualize the lives of the saints concede that there is some doubt as to whether St Matthew even went to Ethiopia They conclude however that the legend is consistent with other sources and apocryphal writings of the period It is clear that the story of Santa Efigenia is written as a corollary to the keen interest in the martyrdom of St Matthew His martyrdom is a significant historical event that has been subject of different versions In effect the origins of Santa Efigenia are shrouded in myth folklore and a spirited ecclesiastical historical debate 27 The Austrian Jesuit missionary and author Francis Xavier Weninger D D S J included the life of Saint Ephigenia in his Lives of the Saints 1876 inscribed within the life of Saint Matthew on September 21 Incontestible writings prove that he preached the Gospel for twenty three years partly in Ethiopia partly in other countries at the same time founding almost innumerable Churches and supplying them with priests and bishops in order to preserve the faith he had taught Iphigenia the eldest daughter of the newly converted king of Ethiopia had not only become a Christian but also with the knowledge and consent of the holy Apostle had consecrated her virginity to the Almighty after having frequently heard the Saint preach on the priceless value of purity and exhort others to guard and preserve it Her example was followed by many other virgins who choosing the princess as their superior lived together and occupied their time in prayer and work 28 Her listing in the Roman Martyrology 1916 English edition states the following In Ethiopia St Iphigenia virgin who being baptized and consecrated to God by the blessed apostle Matthew ended her holy life in peace 1 The Book of Saints 1921 compiled by the Benedictine Monks of St Augustine s Abbey Ramsgate has the following entry for Saint Iphigenia A Virgin converted to Christianity and afterwards consecrated to God by St Matthew the Evangelist Apostle of Ethiopia The extant Acts of St Matthew are however so untrustworthy that no reliance can be placed on the particulars given therein of St Iphigenia and others of the first fruits of the Gospel in Ethiopia 2 The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary also recount the life of Saint Iphigenia 29 Saint Matthew the Publican preached the gospel in Ethiopia He is as Bartholomew for Armenia an Apostle of a Nation because not only did he make many converts as did all the Twelve but he converted the king of Ethiopia by the stupendous miracle of raising the king s daughter from the dead Her name was Iphigenia and she is listed as a saint in the Martyrology After her resurrection from the dead with Saint Matthew s approval she took a vow of virginity This so enraged the next king Hirtacus who wanted to marry her that he had Matthew slain at the altar while offering Mass The year was 68 Saint Matthew s feast day is September 21 30 Saint Ephigenia is also listed in Our Sunday Visitor s Encyclopedia of Saints 2014 2nd edition Iphigenia d first century A virgin from Ethiopia who was converted by St Matthew No other reliable details about her are extant Feast day September 21 3 Anglican Catholic Church edit The Anglican Catholic Church records the memory of Saint Ephigenia contained within the Life of Saint Matthew citing The Anglican Breviary 1955 Although many parts of Christendom have delighted to claim this Apostle as the founder of their Churches the usual tradition is that he went into the regions south of the Caspian Sea which same are in this instance called Ethiopia where he preached the Gospel and confirmed the same by many wondrous deeds The greatest of these is told on this wise that he raised to life the king s daughter Iphigenia whereby the royal family was converted to Christ that after the king died Hirtacus his successor demanded Iphigenia to wife and that she who through Matthew s teaching had vowed herself to God rejected Hirtacus in pursuance of her vow for which reason Matthew was by royal order put to death whilst celebrating the holy Mysteries whereby he fulfilled his apostleship in martyrdom 9 Eastern Orthodox Church edit Significantly the Life of Saint Matthew the Apostle in traditional Orthodox Synaxaria does not directly mention Saint Ephigenia by name although the Synaxaria do record Saint Matthew s travels to Ethiopia that he enlightened the area and was martyred there The Orthodox Synaxarion according to the tradition of Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos c 1320 states that after being cruelly treated by the Parthians and Medes St Matthew then went to spread the Gospel to a certain city called Mirmena Myrmena 31 32 33 note 6 supposedly in Ethiopia described as a land that was inhabited by tribes of cannibals 33 After departing from Jerusalem the holy Apostle Matthew preached the glad tidings of the Gospel in many lands Proclaiming the good news of Christ he passed through Macedonia Syria Persia Parthia and Media establishing Churches there and in other places He travelled all about Ethiopia which had fallen to him by lot and enlightened it with the light of the knowledge of the Gospel Finally guided by the Holy Spirit he arrived in the land of the cannibals who were a dark skinned and savage people There he entered a city known as Mirmena and having converted several souls to Christ he appointed Platon his fellow traveller to be their bishop and built a little church The wife and son of Fulvian the price of that city were possessed by demons The apostle rebuked the unclean spirits and expelled them and those who were healed fell down before the apostle and meekly followed after him 32 Be that as it may a certain Saint Iphigenia the Virgin Martyr is yet referenced in the Greek Orthodox calendar for November 16 being the same feast day as Saint Matthew the Apostle in the Orthodox Church 35 36 Nowhere else is her memory referenced 37 The Prologue from Ohrid compiled by Nikolai Velimirovic 1928 does not include St Ephigenia either on her own or within the life of Saint Matthew 38 The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America does include St Ephigenia of Ethiopia on its calendar of Saints along with her traditional Latin biography commemorated on November 16 also on September 21 4 39 Similarly Saints Mary and Martha Monastery in Wagener South Carolina OCA does list St Iphigenia Princess of Ethiopia on the Western date of September 21 5 although the Orthodox Church in America s OCA online Synaxarion does not mention St Iphigenia in its recollection of the Life of St Matthew the Evangelist including his period in Ethiopia 33 Oriental Orthodox Churches edit Saint Ephigenia of Ethiopia does not appear to be listed in either the Coptic Synaxarium 40 or in the Ethiopian Synaxarium 41 either on her own or within the life of Saint Matthew note 7 Historical veneration editSpain edit The Carmelites of Cadiz Andalusia had a devotion to Santa Ifigenia 42 In Cadiz African blacks organized their own religious association the Confradia de Nuestra Senora de la Salud San Bello y Santa Ifigenia 43 formed in El Puerto de Santa Maria in 1575 44 From Cadiz her devotion spread to Portugal and from there to Brazil 42 nbsp Image of Saint Ephigenia of Ethiopia Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosario dos Pretos Salvador Bahia Brazil Brazil edit The Brazilian born priest Jose Pereira de Santana devoted a definitive two volume work to Elesbaan and Ephigenia published respectively in 1735 and 1738 at Lisbon 45 He considered them the two pillars of African sanctity and refashioned them as saints of his own Carmelite order 46 Elesbaan represented the triumph of Christianity over Judaism in the person of Dunaan while Ephigenia stood for the early voluntary acceptance of the Gospel in Africa 46 nbsp St Elesbaan Caleb King of Ethiopia with S Efigenia National Library of Brazil A Venerable Brotherhood of Saint Elesbao and Saint Efigenia note 8 was founded in Rio de Janeiro on May 7 1740 by free black slaves from Cape Verde Coast of the Mine Sao Tome Island and Mozambique 48 49 The cult of those two Saints is believed to have been brought by the slaves themselves 48 Black brotherhoods in Roman Catholic societies in the New World relied upon a few black patron saints including Santa Efigenia Santo Antonio de Catagerona d 1549 and Sao Benedito d 1589 50 51 note 9 Saint Iphigenia was also honored in joyous religious festivals and processions According to Brazilian sociologist and anthropologist Gilberto Freyre writing in 1922 the festival of Saint Ephigenia a sort of black Madonna was enjoyed to the utmost by the colored folks whose consciousness of kind was ably aroused by the priests 53 On November 20 1995 Brazilians observed the 300th anniversary of the death of Zumbi of Palmers the last ruler of Palmares regarded as one of the first freedom fighters of the Americas In Belo Horizonte a procession of congados pt took place on the evening of November 23 1996 honoring Nossa Senhora do Rosario Saint Benedict the Moor and Saint Iphigenia with processions of precision marching singing dancing and the use of percussion instruments note 10 The combined reverence for the Catholic saints and the performance of African ritual elements are evidence of the co existence of Catholic religious traditions and the preservation of an African cultural memory in Minas Gerais 55 note 11 Peru edit The diaspora of Santa Efigenia from Ethiopia to the Americas was part of the dispersal of African popular religious expressions that connected Africa Europe and the Americas 27 A late twentieth century movement to gain national recognition of Afro Peruvian cultural contributions in Canete Province focused on Santa Efigenia which included a statue and an eighteenth century wall sized baroque painting of her by Peruvian artist Cristobal Lozano note 12 These artistic representations located in a private chapel on the hacienda La Quebrada in San Luis de Canete were presented as legitimate artifacts of Santa Efigenia s status as a folk or popular saint central to their construction of an Afro Peruvian black identity and culture of devotion 56 On August 20 1994 Sabino Canas an Afro Peruvian community leader organized a small group of followers from the surrounding villages of Canete and Chincha to establish the Santa Efigenia Association and named her as Patroness of National Black Art even as they struggled to craft a coherent historical narrative of Santa Efigenia s origins note 13 According to the Association s popular history Santa Efigenia has been at the hacienda of La Quebrada since approximately 1741 57 An annual celebration of Santa Efigenia is held on September 21 each year with processions made in homage to Santa Ifigenia in the district of San Luis de Canete 58 59 The Association produces a program flyer that introduces a brief history of the patron saint and focuses on her diffusion and popularity in Brazil Cuba and Peru 52 The festival has grown in popularity as the Afro Peruvian community of artists musicians writers sports figures and admirers have converged on Canete each September in growing numbers 60 France edit In honor of Saint Ephigenia a virgin martyr of 1794 had taken her name A professed religious of the Order of St Benedict that was martyred during the French Revolution in 1794 was known as Sister Iphigenie of Saint Matthew Her name was Blessed Marie Gabrielle Francoise Suzanne de Gaillard de Lavaldene 1761 1794 also known as Francesca Maria Susanna Sister Iphigenie of Saint Matthew or Ifigenia di San Matteo de Gaillard de la Valdene and she was one of the Martyrs of Orange who was guillotined on 7 July 1794 in Orange Vaucluse France She was beatified 10 May 1925 by Pope Pius XI and she is commemorated on July 7 61 nbsp Igreja de Santa Efigenia dos Pretos Ouro Preto Minas Gerais Brazil nbsp Santa Ifigenia cemetery Santiago de Cuba Churches editIgreja de Santa Efigenia dos Pretos Ouro Preto Minas Gerais Brazil founded in 1785 62 63 64 According to tradition the church of St Ephigenia in Vila Rica was built largely from the proceeds of gold dust washed out of their hair by devout black women 65 The building of the Igreja Nossa Senhora Santa Efigenia no Alto Cruz Our Lady of Saint Efigenia of the High Cross organized under Chico Rei lasted some thirty years and involved the artistic collaboration of the famous mulatto sculptor Antonio Francisco Aleijadinho Lisboa 64 Paroquia Nossa Senhora da Conceicao Santa Ifigenia pt Sao Paulo Brazil founded in 1809 66 Placenames editSanta Efigenia de Minas a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais in the Southeast region of Brazil Santa Ifigenia a town in the Honduran department of Ocotepeque department Santa Efigenia a small town located in the Municipality of San Pedro Tapanatepec in the State of Oaxaca Mexico Santa Ifigenia Cemetery in Santiago de Cuba Cuba Inaugurated in February 1868 67 68 See also editFolk saintNotes edit Note that she is NOT listed in the official Greek or Russian Synaxaria Neither is she listed in the Coptic or Ethiopian Synaxaria Iphigenia is a Greek word that means strong born born to strength or she who causes the birth of strong offspring 7 The variants of this name include Iphigenia Iphigeneia Iphagenia Iphegenia Iphigeniah Ephigenia Ephygenia Ephigenie Genia According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Ultimate Reference Suite Tradition notes his ministry in Judaea after which he supposedly missioned to the East suggesting Ethiopia and Persia Legend differs as to the scene of his missions and as to whether he died a natural or a martyr s death 10 In the past there was more than one region that was referred to by the term Ethiopia 11 There was the Ethiopia of North Africa African Ethiopia and another region sometimes called Asiatic Ethiopia 12 located either in one of the provinces of Mesopotamia Assyria and Babylon or in Ancient Armenia Colchis Note Ethiopia in Roman History 1 200 AD Later the term Ethiopia would become synonymous not just with the Kushites but all Africans Unlike the earlier Greek writers who distinguished Ethiopians from other Africans Claudius Ptolemy 90 168 AD a Roman citizen who lived in Alexandria used Ethiopia as a racial term In his Tetrabiblos Or Quadripartite he tried to explain the physical characteristics of people around the world saying They are consequently black in complexion and have thick and curled hair and they are called by the common name of Aethiopians 11 Jerome and the Christian monk Sophronius in the 4th century referred to the region of Colchis as a Second Ethiopia 13 14 Earlier the Classical Greek historian Herodotus also had written about a colony founded in the region of Colchis which was inhabited by Ethiopic people believed to have been brought there by the Egyptian Pharaoh Sesostris 14 15 Although the Golden Legend was rendered unacceptable at the Reformation and after the rise of the new learning 20 21 nevertheless it is important to bear in mind that Voragine s specific focus for his work was deliberately on types of saints such as martyrs ascetics virgins and people with thaumaturgy and visions rather than on academics artists and activists That is to say that early medieval sources were often not written as objective records of social reality The authors of these texts often had motives other than simply recording attitudes of the time Thus to treat them as ethnographies or to approach them from a socio anthropological perspective would be to misinterpret the period 22 Mirmena Myrmena is referenced in Abraham Rees The Cyclopaedia Or Universal Dictionary of Arts Sciences and Literature 1819 MYRMENA in Ancient Geography a town supposed to have been in Ethiopia inhabited by Anthropophagi whose prince according to Nicephorus was converted by St Matthew to the Christian faith 34 Her absence in both the Coptic and Ethiopian synaxaria lends support to the suggestion that it was indeed the region known as Asiatic Ethiopia that St Matthew visited rather than African Ethiopia in Portuguese Veneravel Irmandade de Santo Elesbao e Santa Efigenia 47 A Catholic brotherhood located in downtown Rio de Janeiro They were referred as irmandade in Brazil and confradia or cabildo in Spanish America 50 Professor Roberto Sanchez states that these cults date back to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and are part of the variety and depth of Afro Brazilian identification with icons and religious practices of the African diaspora as well as the use of these cultural practices by Portuguese Carmelites as colonial tools of conversion orientation and education 52 In Minas Gerais and other central south and southern states for example spirituality of African origin is manifest in a form of Afro Catholicism called Congada or Congado Its African origins are from what are now the two Congos and Angola in West Central Africa and Mozambique in South East Africa Unlike the veneration of African spiritual beings in Bahia congadeiros in Minas Gerais seek blessings and guidance from Catholic saints The spiritual beings of Congada are the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of the Rosary and Afro Catholic Saint Benedict patron of Palermo in Sicily whose parents were Ethiopian and Saint Ephigenia from Ethiopia 54 Each group has a unique uniform or costume and some include folkloric elements such as the bum bum boi This event in honor of Zumbi marked the first time that the congados pt came together from all over Brazil 55 La Apoteosis de Santa Ifigenia Cristobal Lozano 1763 Capilla de La Quebrada Canete Peru According to professor Roberto Sanchez They had multiple goals in mind when they petitioned the municipality to create an association and name her as patroness and protector of National Black Art They seized upon an opportunity provided by a regional economic development project promoted by the Ministry of Industry and Tourism to market Afro Peruvian culture through a series of festivals including religious cultural expressions Their need to authenticate their cultural ownership of Santa Efigenia required a historical explanation of her origins and diaspora Their sketchy attempts contributed more to mystifying than to clarifying yet their rewriting is part of an African diaspora that weaves tradition fact and fiction to serve more pragmatic aims 57 References edit a b c The Roman Martyrology Transl by the Archbishop of Baltimore Last Edition According to the Copy Printed at Rome in 1914 Revised Edition with the Imprimatur of His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons Baltimore John Murphy Company 1916 p 292 a b c The Benedictine Monks of St Augustine s Abbey Ramsgate Comp THE BOOK OF SAINTS A Dictionary of Servants of God Canonised by the Catholic Church Extracted from the Roman and Other Martyrologies London A amp C Black Ltd 1921 p 142 a b c Matthew Bunson and Margaret Bunson Our Sunday Visitor s Encyclopedia of Saints Second Edition Our Sunday Visitor 2014 p 416 ISBN 978 1612787169 a b St Ephigenia of Ethiopia The Self Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America Retrieved 6 September 2016 a b Lists of Women Saints Names September 21st Ss Mary and Martha Orthodox Monastery Wagener SC Retrieved 10 September 2016 Robert C Smith Jr The Colonial Architecture of Minas Gerais in Brazil The Art Bulletin Vol 21 No 2 Jun 1939 pp 110 159 p 115 Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott A Greek English Lexicon s v Iphigenia And Rush Rehm The Play of Space 2002 188 a b Jacobus de Voragine Archbishop of Genoa 1275 Comp Here beginneth the Life of S Matthew and first of the interpretation of his name In The GOLDEN LEGEND or LIVES of the SAINTS VOLUME FIVE First Edition Publ 1470 ENGLISHED by WILLIAM CAXTON First Edition 1483 Temple Classics Ed by F S ELLIS First issue 1900 Reprinted 1922 1931 a b Liturgical Calendars Saint Matthew Apostle and Evangelist Archived 2019 12 18 at the Wayback Machine The Anglican Catholic Church Retrieved 10 September 2016 Citing The Anglican Breviary Frank Gavin Liturgical Foundation Inc New York 1955 Pages 1455 56 Matthew the Evangelist Saint Encyclopaedia Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Ultimate Reference Suite Chicago Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 a b Ancient Ethiopia or Kush TA NETER FOUNDATION TaNeter org Retrieved 8 September 2016 The Classical Journal Volume 17 A J Valpy 1818 p 8 Martin Bernal Black Athena Rutgers University Press 1987 p 253 a b Ancient Armenia Once home to the second Ethiopia Ethiopianism Ethiopiawinet Online Revival November 20 2012 Retrieved 29 August 2016 Herodotus The Histories Transl by Tom Holland Penguin Books 2013 pp 148 149 Book Two 103 104 The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine trans and adapted by Ryan Granger and Helmut Ripperger Arno Press Longmans Green amp Co 1941 pp 561 566 The Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of Western Europe and the Americas ROCOR St Hilarion Calendar of Saints for the year of our Lord 2004 St Hilarion Press Austin TX p 70 Paul Halsall Medieval Sourcebook The Golden Legend Aurea Legenda Compiled by Jacobus de Voragine 1275 Englished by William Caxton 1483 Fordham University Retrieved 8 September 2016 a b Dr Donald Blais ThD Passion and Pathology in Teresa of Avila s Mystical Transformation With Reference to the Transpersonal Theories of Michael Washburn Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Regis College and the Pastoral Department of the Toronto School of Theology University of Toronto Submitted August 1 1997 Defended October 16 1997 p 189 Jacobus De Voragine Encyclopaedia Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Ultimate Reference Suite Chicago Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009 Sherry L Reames The Legenda Aurea A Reexamination of Its Paradoxical History Univ of Wisconsin Press 1985 331 pages ISBN 9780299101503 Michael S Hahn Graduate Student University of Oxford How and why has historical writing about the cult of saints changed over the past forty years Academia edu August 17 2016 Retrieved 15 December 2016 in Spanish Bernard Vincent SAN BENITO DE PALERMO EN ESPANA Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca Stud his H ª mod 38 n 1 2016 p 27 REV BENEDICT ZIMMERMAN O C D THE NEW ROMAN MARTYROLOGY Archived 2015 09 11 at the Wayback Machine The Tablet 15 March 1924 Page 4 in German Iphigenia S Vollstandiges Heiligen Lexikon Band 3 Augsburg 1869 S 49 Zeno org in German S Iphigenia V 21 Sept Vollstandiges Heiligen Lexikon I L Volume 3 1869 p 49 a b Roberto Sanchez The Black Virgin Santa Efigenia Popular Religion and the African Diaspora in Peru Church History 81 3 September 2012 631 655 p 642 Rev F X Weninger D D S J LIVES OF THE SAINTS Compiled from Authentic Sources with a Practical Instruction on the Life of Each Saint for Every Day in the Year VOL 2 July Dec New York 1876 pp 369 370 Saint Matthew 65 CATHOLICISM ORG An Online Journal edited by The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Saint Benedict Center New Hampshire September 21 2000 Retrieved 10 September 2016 Brian Kelly The Apostles of the Nations CATHOLICISM ORG An Online Journal edited by The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Saint Benedict Center New Hampshire July 18 2013 Retrieved 10 September 2016 Hieromonk Makarios of Simonos Petra Ed THE SYNAXARION The Lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church VOLUME TWO November December Transl from the French by Christopher Hookway Holy Convent of the Annunciation of Our Lady Ormylia Chalkidike 1999 p 157 a b The Life and Sufferings of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew whose Memory the Holy Church Celebrates on the 16th of November In The Lives of the Holy Apostles From the Menology of St Dimitri of Rostov in Russian and The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church in Greek Transl by Reader Isaac E Lambertsen and Holy Apostles Convent Buena Vista Colorado 1988 Reprinted 1990 pp 211 212 a b c Apostle and Evangelist Matthew OCA Lives of the Saints Abraham Rees MYRMENA In The Cyclopaedia Or Universal Dictionary of Arts Sciences and Literature VOL XXIV London 1819 Great Synaxaristes in Greek Ἡ Ἁgia Ἰfigeneia 16 Noembrioy MEGAS SYNA3ARISTHS in Greek Agia Ifigeneia h Par8enomartys Or8odo3os Syna3arisths 16 11 2015 Agia Ifigeneia h Par8enomartys saint gr Nikolaj Velimirovic November 16 Archived 2017 01 27 at the Wayback Machine In Prologue from Ochrid Transl by Reverend T Timothy Tepsic and Very Rev Janko Trbovich Serbian Orthodox Church Diocese of Western America Australian and New Zealand Diocese ROCOR Retrieved 10 September 2016 Divine Liturgy Variables on Sunday November 16 2014 Martyr Ephygenia of Ethiopia disciple of St Matthew The Self Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America Retrieved 8 September 2016 pdf Coptic Synaxarium St George Coptic Orthodox Church Chicago Illinois 1st of May 1995 pdf Synaxarium The Book of Saints of The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Archived 2017 01 10 at the Wayback Machine Transl Sir E A Wallis Budge Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Debre Meheret St Michael Church Garland TX USA Retrieved 8 September 2016 pdf a b in Portuguese Santa Ifigenia Virgem etiope 22 de setembro Heroinas da Cristandade September 22 2013 Retrieved 1 September 2016 Paloma Fernandez Perez CADIZ In The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery Volume 1 A K Junius P Rodriguez Ed ABC CLIO 1997 p 119 in Spanish Esteban Mira Caballos Historia de Espana LA DEFENSA TERRESTRE DEL IMPERIO HABSBURGO Blogia 29 07 2016 Retrieved 12 September 2016 in Portuguese Jose Pereira de Santana Os dous atlantes da Ethiopia Santo Elesbao emperador XLVII da Abessina advogado dos perigos do mar e Santa Ifigenia princeza da Nubia advogada dos incendios dos edificios ambos carmelitas Lisboa A P Galram 1735 38 WorldCat database a b Dr Henry Louis Gates Jr Ed The Black Saint Who Embodied Christianity for the African Masses The Root W E B Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research April 29 2014 in Portuguese Compromisso da Irmandade de Santo Elesbao e Santa Ephigenia Arquivo da Curia Metropolitana do Rio de Janeiro ACMRJ 17 de Julho de 1910 a b Vania Penha Lopes Race and Ethnic Identity Formation in Brazil and the United States Three Case Studies Afro Hispanic Review AHR Vol 29 No 2 The African Diaspora In Brazil FALL 2010 pp 252 253 in Portuguese Anderson Jose Machado de Oliveira Devotion and Identities meanings os Santo Elesbao and Santa Efigenia cults in Rio de Janeiro and in Minas Gerais during the 1700s Topoi Rio J vol 7 no 12 Rio de Janeiro Jan June 2006 p 67 a b Anthony Appiah Henry Louis Gates Jr Black Brotherhoods In Africana The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience Oxford University Press 2005 pp 773 75 Julita Scarano Black Brotherhoods Integration or Contradiction Luso Brazilian Review Vol 16 No 1 Summer 1979 p 7 a b Roberto Sanchez The Black Virgin Santa Efigenia Popular Religion and the African Diaspora in Peru Church History 81 3 September 2012 631 55 p 650 Gilberto Freyre Social Life in Brazil in the Middle of the Nineteenth Century The Hispanic American Historical Review Vol 5 No 4 Nov 1922 p 623 Sheila S Walker Milestones and Arrows A Cultural Anthropologist Discovers the Global African Diaspora The Journal of African American History Vol 100 No 3 Gendering the Carceral State African American Women History and the Criminal Justice System Summer 2015 pp 501 502 a b Domnita Dumitrescu The Hispanic and Luso Brazilian World Hispania Vol 79 No 3 Sep 1996 p 601 Roberto Sanchez The Black Virgin Santa Efigenia Popular Religion and the African Diaspora in Peru Church History 81 3 September 2012 631 655 p 637 a b Roberto Sanchez The Black Virgin Santa Efigenia Popular Religion and the African Diaspora in Peru Church History 81 3 September 2012 631 655 p 648 in Spanish GATOS Pagina12 9 de octubre de 2013 Roberto Sanchez The Black Virgin Santa Efigenia Popular Religion and the African Diaspora in Peru Church History 81 3 September 2012 631 655 p 649 Roberto Sanchez The Black Virgin Santa Efigenia Popular Religion and the African Diaspora in Peru Church History 81 3 September 2012 631 655 p 653 in Italian Beata Ifigenia di S Matteo Francesca Maria Susanna de Gaillard de la Valdene Martire SANTI BEATI E TESTIMONI 7 luglio Retrieved 6 September 2016 in Portuguese Igreja Matriz de Santa Efigenia Ouropreto com br Retrieved 29 August 2016 Tania Costa Tribe The Mulatto as Artist and Image in Colonial Brazil Oxford Art Journal Vol 19 No 1 1996 pp 67 79 Page 74 a b Anthony Appiah Henry Louis Gates Jr Chico Rei 1717 1774 In Africana The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience Oxford University Press 2005 p 45 A J R Russell Wood Black and Mulatto Brotherhoods in Colonial Brazil A Study in Collective Behavior The Hispanic American Historical Review Vol 54 No 4 Nov 1974 p 589 in Portuguese Matriz Paroquial Nossa Senhora da Conceicao Santa Ifigenia ARQUIDIOCESE DE SAO PAULO REGIAO EPISCOPAL SE Retrieved 29 August 2016 Santa Ifigenia Cemetery CubaHeritage org Retrieved 4 September 2016 Dariela Aquique Santa Ifigenia Cemetery Santiago de Cuba Landmark HavanaTimes org September 9 2011 Retrieved 4 September 2016 Further reading edit in Portuguese Jose Pereira de Santana Os dous atlantes da Ethiopia Santo Elesbao emperador XLVII da Abessina advogado dos perigos do mar e Santa Ifigenia princeza da Nubia advogada dos incendios dos edificios ambos carmelitas Lisboa A P Galram 1735 38 WorldCat database External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saint Ephigenia St Matthew the Apostle from The Golden Legend in Portuguese HISToRIA DE SANTA EFIGENIA Cruz Terra Santa Retrieved 4 September 2016 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ephigenia of Ethiopia amp oldid 1214369579, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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