Galgano Guidotti#The sword in the stone
{{Short description|Catholic saint from Tuscany (1148–1181)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix= Saint
|name = Galgano Guidotti
|birth_date = 1148
|death_date = 1181
|feast_day = 30 November
|venerated_in = Roman Catholic Church
|image = Pietro di giovanni d'ambrogio, adorazione dei pastori tra i ss. galgano e agostino, da. agostino, 12.JPG
|imagesize =
|caption = 15th-century portrait by Giovanni d'Ambrogio
|birth_place = Chiusdino, Siena, Italy
|death_place = Montesiepi, Tuscany, Italy
|titles =
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|beatified_place =
|beatified_by =
|canonized_date = 1185
|canonized_place =
|canonized_by= Pope Lucius III
|attributes =
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|major_shrine =
|suppressed_date =
|issues =
}}
Galgano Guidotti (1148 – 3 December 1181){{efn|His date of death is said to be 3 December 1181, but other scholars assign it to 30 November 1180. The Roman Catholic Church celebrates Saint Galgano on 30 November, as ordered in 2004 by Pope John Paul II.}} was a Catholic saint from Tuscany born in Chiusdino, in the modern province of Siena, Italy. His mother's name was Dionigia, while his father's name (Guido or Guidotto) only appeared in a document dated in the 16th century, when the last name Guidotti was attributed. He is known for the Sword in the Stone relic by the ruins of the Abbey of San Galgano near Siena.
Legend
The son of a feudal lord, Galgano became a knight, and is said to have led a riotous life before his conversion.Rory Carroll, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/16/rorycarroll.theobserver Tuscany's Excalibur is the real thing, say scientists], The Guardian, 16 September 2001, accessed 25 April 2021
According to legend, while on the road near Siena, his horse threw him into the dust. An invisible angel lifted him to his feet and led him to Monte Siepi, a rugged hill close to his home town of Chiusdino. In a vision, he saw a round temple on the hill, with Jesus and Mary surrounded by the Apostles. The angel urged him to repent his sins, but Galgano protested that he could no more do this than to split a rock with a sword. To prove his point, he drew his blade and thrust at the stony ground, but the sword slid easily into the living rock, where it remains stuck fast to this day.
Galgano settled on the hill as a poor hermit. He befriended wild animals, and once, when the Devil sent a wicked monk to kill him, the wild wolves brought down the killer and gnawed his bones. He died in 1181 aged 33 years.
Canonization and veneration
In 1184, a round chapel was built over his tomb as in his vision;{{cite book|last1=Haegen|first1=Anne Mueller von der|last2=Strasser|first2=Ruth F.|title=Art & Architecture: Tuscany|date=2013|publisher=H.F.Ullmann Publishing|location=Potsdam|isbn=978-3-8480-0321-1|page=424|chapter=Chiusdino}} many pilgrims visited and miracles were claimed. The canonization process to declare Galgano a saint started in 1185, only a few years after his death, and was the first conducted with a formal process by the Roman Church.As reported by A. Vauchez in "La santità nel medioevo", Il Mulino, Bologna, 1989 Galgano's life was documented in the canonization process,Inquisitio in partibus, transcribed by Sigismondo Tizio in Historiae Senenses and transcribed in "Analecta Toscana IV; Der Einsiedler Galgano von chiusino und die Anfange von San Galgano" by Fedor Schneider (1914–1924).
as well as in Vitae: Legenda beati Galgani,Codice Laurenziano, 14th century Legenda beati Galgani confessoris,Codice di Siena, 15th century Leggenda di Sancto Galgano,Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, cod. Chigi M. V. 118, 15th century. Vita sancti Galgani de Senis,Codice di Veroli, 15th century. and Vita beati Galgani.Codice Laurenziano, 15th century.
In 1184, Cistercian monks took over Montesiepi at the request of Hugh, bishop of Volterra, and most of Galgano's monks scattered over Tuscany and became Augustinian hermits. By 1220, San Galgano Abbey, a large Cistercian monastery, had been built below Galgano's hermitage: he was then claimed and recognized as a Cistercian saint. His cult was lively in Siena and Volterra, where numerous representations survive. The ruins of his hermitage can still be seen, while his cloak is kept in the church of Santuccio at Siena.“Galgano” in David Hugh Farmer, Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Oxford University Press, 1997)
The sword in the stone
File:San Galgano Spada nella roccia.JPG
The sword in the stone relic can be seen at the Rotonda at Montesiepi, near the ruins of the Abbey of San Galgano. An analysis of the protruding metal handle done in 2001{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/16/rorycarroll.theobserver|title=Tuscany's Excalibur is the real thing, say scientists|last=Carroll|first=Rory|date=2001-09-16|website=the Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-11-03}} by Luigi Garlaschelli confirmed that the "composition of the metal and the style are compatible with the era of the legend". The analysis also confirmed that the upper piece and the invisible lower one are authentic and belong to one and the same artifact.{{Cite journal|url=http://rcin.org.pl/dlibra/docmetadata?id=54814|title=Fasciculi Archaeologiae Historicae. Fasc. 27 (2014)|last=Chodyński|first=Antoni Romuald|journal=IAIE Pan, Call No. P III 349 |date=2014|publisher=Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of Polish Academy of Sciences}}
In a season 7 episode of TV series, Forged in Fire, bladesmiths recreated "Excalibur", a medieval broadsword believed to be inspired by Galgano's story.{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/shows/forged-in-fire/season-7/episode-16|title=Watch The Sword in the Stone Full Episode - Forged in Fire|website=HISTORY|accessdate=12 March 2021}} An episode of Ancient X-Files examined the sword in the stone and the connections between it, St Galgano, Sir Gawain, and King Arthur.{{cite web|url=https://m.imdb.com/title/tt14518932/?ref_=m_ttep_ep_ep12|title=Ancient X-File v The Sword In The Stone|website=IMDb }}
See also
{{portal bar|Biography|Catholicism|Saints|Italy}}
References
Footnotes
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Citations
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External links
- [http://www.alleluiaaudiobooks.com/the-true-story-of-the-sword-in-the-stone-st-galgano/ The Life of Saint Galgano on Audiobook by Alleluia Audiobooks (on mp3)]
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120824223931/http://www.mapitout-tuscany.com/2012/04/san-galgano-abbey-and-montesiepi-church.html What to do in and around San Galgano Abbey (with Google Map)]}}
- [http://www.castellitoscani.com/sangalgano.htm website with information about San Galgano Abbey]
- [http://www.turismo.intoscana.it/site/en/itineraries/Discovering-San-Galganos-Abbey/ Discovering San-Galganos Abbey]
- [http://www.turismo.intoscana.it/site/en/itineraries/San-Galgano-and-the-sword-in-the-stone-King-Arthur-in-Tuscany/ San-Galgano and the sword in the stone; King Arthur in Tuscany] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141228172004/http://www.turismo.intoscana.it/site/en/itineraries/San-Galgano-and-the-sword-in-the-stone-King-Arthur-in-Tuscany/ |date=28 December 2014 }}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20071007091657/http://www.sangalgano.org/ Very informative website about the Abbey of San Galgano, history, pictures, info, map, accommodation and lots more]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Guidotti, Galgano}}
Category:People from Chiusdino
Category:Medieval Italian saints