The Feast of Saint Geminianus
The Feast of Saint Geminianus Saint Geminianus, aka Saint Geminian, or Saint Gimignano was a fourth-century deacon who became Bishop of Modena.He is mentioned in the year 390, when he sent a delegate named Aper to participate in a council called by Saint Ambrose in Milan. From his name, it is conjecture that Geminianus likely belonged to the caste of Roman senators.
Nothing more is directly known about him.
That which we do know is derived from biographies written much later in time.
It is said that when a Saint named Athanasius was entering exile in France, he passed through Modena and was received kindly by Geminianus. This same hospitality was afforded to Saint John Chrysostom. Saint Geminianus opposed Arianism and Jovinianism.
Arianism
Ar·i·an·ism
/ˈerēəˌnizəm/
noun from Christian Theology
an influential heresy denying the divinity of Christ, originating with the Alexandrian priest Arius ( c. 250– c. 336). Arianism maintained that the Son of God was created by the Father and was therefore neither coeternal with the Father, nor consubstantial.
Jovinianism
A heresy that Shocked the Church.
Jovinian was an ascetic monk in the fourth century who although he lived the ascetic life himself came to believe that there was little purpose in perpetual virginity or taking the vows of chastity.
Jovinian’s Life and Conclusions
Jovinian lived a profoundly ascetic life which included infrequent washing, eating only the simplest and least amounts of food possible and of course! avoiding ay interactionwith women. Over time, however, in Jovinians study of the Scriptures he came to believe that all baptised men and women were able to reach an equal level of holiness. And that in fact according to the New Testament Gospel of Matthew New and the Old Testament book Genesis all mankind had been called to marriage and procreation. Along with these views which he held he came to the conclusion that abstention from alcoholic substances or living a life of extreme vegetarianism produced no benefit whatever Jovinian was condemned by Pope Siricius and excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church many Christians followed him anyway which brought on criticism from St Jerome and St Augustine. St Jerome had some pretty radical views himself, believing that all sexual intercourse was unclean. Heresy and the Early Church Fathers St Jerome in particular was one of the early Church.
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Aspects of his veneration have always been present in Modena.
As early as the fifth century a church had been erected over his tomb, contiguous with the present cathedral and outside the center of the original Roman town.
In the early Middle Ages, moreover, Modena is often mentioned as Civitas Geminiana.
The Relatio translationis S. Giminiani, a manuscript of the twelfth century, describes the translation and recognition of the body of Saint Geminianus on 30 April 1106 and 7 October 1106, respectively, in the presence of Paschal II, Matilde di Canossa, and all of the Modenesi. A second recognition of the relics was made by Lucius III, on 12 July 1184, while on his way to Verona.
The people of Modena believe his miraculous intercession saved them from the invading Huns, when he conjured up dense fog that hid the city.
Geminianus rarely appears in art outside of Modena, but when shown is typically depicted as a bishop holding a mirror in which the Mary is reflected; a bishop holding a model of the town of Modena; a man calming a storm at sea; or a man exorcising the daughter of the Byzantine emperor Jovian.
He is also venerated in Tuscany, especially in the eponymous town of San Gimignano, and in Pontremoli. A Church of St Geminianus opposite St Mark's Basilica, in Venice's Piazza San Marco, was demolished in 1807 as part of the reorganisation of the west side of the square during the Napoleonic era.