Dénesi Tamás (szerk.): Collectanea Sancti Martini - A Pannonhalmi Főapátság Gyűjteményeinek Értesítője 3. (Pannonhalma, 2015)
II.Közlemények
100 T. ORGONA ANGELIKA: SZENT MÁRTON TANÍTVÁNYA Angelika T. Orgona: Saint Martin’s Disciple Thoughts on the iconography of the notarial seal of Pannonhalma (locus credibilis) The secret of the scene in the iconography of the notarial seal of the Archabbey in Pannonhalma (locus credibilis; in the second quarter of the 13th century) has been awaiting its divulgence for a long time. The authors of the many-volume monograph entitled The History of the Benedictine Order in Pannonhalma published at the turn of the century unanimously identified the central figure with Saint Martin of Tours, however, additional details of the descriptions reveal that they were made about a renewed tiparium (a seal for wax) made at the beginning of the 18th century. According to Szilveszter Sólymos, the central figure of the seal’s image shows Saint Benedict of Nursia, and the portrayal displays various episodes from the life of the Founder of the Order. He proved his reasoning with 18th -century sources of written and visual documents, which – although being excellent sources of iconography in the Baroque period – cannot provide a reliable basis for a mediaeval interpretation of the episode. The professional agreement formed in the wake of Sólymos was broken by Sarolta Homonnai; she returned to the original interpretation focusing on Saint Martin. Imre Takács took another step forward when he examined the seal’s print of 1340 as a sample and – based on that – a less known episode in this scene from the life of Saint Martin: he conceived Emperor Maxentius’s banquet in Trier. The interpretation until now have not deciphered some details of the portrayal, and the visual programme of the banquet-scene is also controvertible. Relying on an illuminated initial letter in the sacramentary of about 1170–1180 belonging to the Chapter of Saint Martin of Tours, the author of the present paper assumes that the seal of Pannonhalma depicts the ordination of Saint Florentius. Saint Florentius was born close to the Danube in the province of Noricum. Having been delivered from martyrdom, he went to the bishop of Tours, Saint Martin, who ordained him. Florentius expelled the snakes from Mont Glonne sur Loire, then settled on the mount, raised a chapel, and lived there as a hermit. Saint Florentius came from Noricum, neighbouring Pannonia, he was a disciple of Saint Martin, he had the mission of converting the pagans to Christianity – the episodes and goals of his life are in harmony with the history and duty of the monastic community named after Saint Martin on Mons Sacer. If the seal really depicts an ordination, it refers to the abbey’s important privilege, the exemption, namely that the monastery is granted papal protection from episcopal authority and is free to choose a bishop to ordain monks into priesthood. The legend of Saint Florentius was spread around certain parts of today’s France, thus its portrayal on the seal presupposes a direct or indirect French influence, which might have reached the monastic community from many directions, either from the court of Queen Yolanda de Courtenay, or through the immigrating foreigners (hospes) settled in towns. The seal’s style of figures also displays a French influence and it resembles the seal of the former Abbey of Saint Giles in Somogyvár, an affiliated abbey of the Abbey of Saint-Gilles.
