Gulyás Éva: Egy őszi pásztorünnep és európai párhuzamai: Adatok a Vendel-kultusz magyarországi kutatásához – Szolnok megyei múzeumok közleményei 42. (1986)

AN ANCIENT PASTORAL FEAST AND ITS EUROPEAN PARALLELS: FOLK VENERATION OF SAINT WENDELINUS IN HUNGARY Saint Wendelinus is the patron saint of herdsmen, mainly of shepherds, sheep owners and the sheep; his day, October the 20th, is the autumn feast of the herdsmen-society, According to church legends, Saint Wendelinus was an Irish-Scottish prince who livedin the 6th century. Due to the royal court's life of debauchery he took to the road and wandered throughout the country as a pilgrim. During his pilgrimage he reached the region of today's Pfalz, the diocese of Trier where he entered a nobleman's service as shepherd. He performed some miracles and finally became the abbot of the monastery of Tholey. Tradition says that he died in 617. His tomb became a famous site of pilgrimage, and a chapel and then a church was erected over it. That was where the later town of St. Wendel emerged (Saar-regjon), being the ancient site of his cult and a famous site of procession. People turned to him mainly in times of contagious diseases, of plague and pestilence. That is the legend in short, as spread by the catholic church. The roots of the cult of St. Wendelinus date back to the 11th century in Europe. It is his church relics (chapels, churches, altars) that occur first, then he becomes very popular among the folk, too. A. Selzer in his monography on the cult of Wendelinus examines the patronfunctions of the saint formed in different historical ages. Saint Wendelinus gained local veneration first, and was known in the area of the diocese of Trier until the end of the 1st millenium. At first he was the protector of guilty people and of the oppressed and his tomb was a place of retreat and pilgrimage. His veneration spread to the whole region of Alleman-Frank culture during the 14th century. At this time he was a patron of pestilence and epidemic victims (Pest- und Seuchepatron), mentioned together with other known patrons of the plague victims Sebastian, Roch). In addition he became the patron the sufferers from different illnesses, so being the patron those with head- and eye-aches, arthritis, rheumatism, fractures and of other illnesses; moreover, he was turned to in times of natural disasters, outbreaks of fire, floods, and was an important patron of those suffering from bad weather throughout the whole cultural area. His pilgrim-patronate (Pilgerpatron) grew out of the motif of pilgrimiga from his legend, effecting arts as well. In his first portrays (11-12th century) he is figured as a wandering monk with a walking stick in his hand. In 137