Prosper ( Latin: Prosperus , Spanish: Próspero , Cat. Pròsper ; second half of the 7th century - first half of the 8th century , Camogli , Kingdom of Lombard ) - Archbishop of Tarragona (711–713 / 718); locally revered Catholic saint (memory days - May 18 and September 2).
| Prosper | |
|---|---|
| Birth | second half of the 7th century |
| Death | first half of the eighth century Camogli |
| Is revered | Tarragona , Camogli |
| Canonized | 1854 |
| In the face | |
| Day of Remembrance | May 18 and September 2 |
| Attributes | archbishop's staff , ship |
Biography
Information about the origin and early years of St. Prosper’s life has not been preserved in historical sources . It is assumed that in 711 he received the rank of head of the Tarragona Archdiocese. His predecessor at the archbishopric chair was Vera , the last mention of which is dated 691 [1] [2] .
Soon after Prosper received the archbishop's dignity, an Arab invasion of the Iberian Peninsula occurred. In 711, the army of the Umayyad Caliphate under the command of Tarik ibn Ziyad defeated the army of King Roderich at the Battle of Guadalet . Over the next few years, the Moors captured most of the Visigoth kingdom . Many Spanish cities were conquered and plundered. Among them was Tarragona , ravaged by the Arabs in 713 or in 718 [3] [4] .
According to church traditions, on the eve of the capture of Tarragona by the Moors, Archbishop Prosper fled the city with several priests (Justin, Procopius, Panteleimon, Marcial and George). Together with them, the fugitives took away the most valuable relics of the Tarragona archdiocese, including the relics of Fructuos , and . Prosper and his companions took refuge on the Apennine Peninsula : having sailed from Tarragona by ship, they first arrived in Cagliari on the island of Sardinia , then to Pisa , and then landed on the Ligurian coast . Here, the Tarragonian archbishop on the hill of Capodimonte (near the village of Camogli) founded the monastery, dedicating it to Saint Fructuos. While still alive, having earned fame among the Italians for his piety, Prosper died in the monastery he founded [2] [5] . The date of his death is not exactly known. In some hagiographic sources, this event dates from 713 or 718. However, this evidence is probably erroneous: it is assumed that Poseper’s flight from Tarragona should be dated these years [6] . By order of the king of the Lombards, Liutprand , Prosper's body was buried in one of Reggio's churches, and in 997 he was transferred to a monastery on the outskirts of this city [3] .
Saint Prosper is the last archbishop of Tarragona before the conquest of Spain by the Moors. Despite several attempts to restore the archbishop's pulpit in Tarragona made in the 10th century (for example, by and Ato Vicki ), the local archdiocese was restored only at the end of the 11th century after the conquest of the city by the Christians [4] [6] [7] [ 8] .
In the Middle Ages, the veneration of Prosper as a saint is not mentioned. However, in 1854, Pope Pius IX declared the Archbishop of Tarragona a saint, establishing a celebration of his memory in Camogli on September 2 [2] . The corresponding entry was made in the " Roman Martyrology " [6] [9] , but in it the years of Prosper's life were attributed to the turn of the 4th and 5th centuries [10] . Probably, two church legends that existed in Camogli were erroneously connected here: one about the really existing Tarragona archbishop Prosper, who arrived in Italy in the 710s, the other about the legendary eponymous bishop of Tarragona, who allegedly fled from Spain from the oppression of the Vandals and 24 deaths November 409 [6] . In the latest editions of the “Roman Martyrology,” there is no mention of Prosper Tarragona [11] [12] . At present, Prosper is revered as a locally revered saint both in Camogli (commemoration day - September 2) and Tarragona (commemoration day - May 18; here the commemoration of the saint was introduced by the bull of Pope John XXIII ). In iconography, the attributes of St. Prosper of Tarragona are the archbishop's staff in his right hand and the ship in his left hand [6] .
The relics of the saints brought by Spanish fugitives to Italy are stored in the Cathedral of Verona [2] . There is also a clergyman ( Còdex de Verona ), created in Spain around 700 and taken out of Tarragona by Archbishop Prosper [6] [13] .
Notes
- ↑ Vera (Catalan.) . Arquebisbat de Tarragona. Date of treatment May 1, 2017.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Sant Pròsper (Catalan) . Arquebisbat de Tarragona. Date of treatment May 1, 2017.
- ↑ 1 2 Pròsper (Catalan) . Gran enciclopèdia catalana . Date of treatment May 1, 2017.
- ↑ 1 2 Michael Gerli E. Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia . - Routledge, 2013 .-- P. 772. - ISBN 978-1-1367-7162-0 .
- ↑ Consorzio San Fruttuoso di Capodimonte. Storia (Italian) (inaccessible link) . Date of treatment May 1, 2017. Archived March 18, 2016.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pròsper de Tarragona (Catalan) . Arimany i Juventeny J. Date of treatment May 1, 2017.
- ↑ Amadó RR Tarragona // Catholic Encyclopedia . - New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. - Vol. Xiv. - P. 459-460.
- ↑ Camps i Sòria J. Tarragona // Enciclopedia dell 'Arte Medievale. - 2000.
- ↑ San Prospero di Tarragona (Italian) . Santi, beati e testimoni. Date of treatment May 1, 2017.
- ↑ Florilegium Martyrologii Romani. 2. September (German) . Ökumenisches Heiligenlexikon. Date of treatment May 1, 2017.
- ↑ Martirologio (Italian) . Istituto San Clemente I Papa e Martire (Stefano Calvi). Date of treatment May 1, 2017.
- ↑ Martyrologium Romanum (lat.) . Date of treatment May 1, 2017.
- ↑ Oracional (Catalan.) . Gran enciclopèdia catalana. Date of treatment May 1, 2017.