Galgano Guidotti

Galgano Guidotti (1148 – 3 December 1181)[lower-alpha 1] 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.

Saint

Galgano Guidotti
15th-century portrait by Giovanni d'Ambrogio
Born1148
Chiusdino, Siena, Italy
Died1181
Montesiepi, Tuscany, Italy
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church
Canonized1185 by Pope Lucius III
Feast30 November

The canonization process to declare Galgano a saint started in 1185, only a few years after his death, and his canonization was the first conducted with a formal process by the Roman Church.[1] A lot of Galgano's life is known through the documents of the canonization process in 1185[2] and other Vitae: Legenda beati Galgani[3] by anonymous, Legenda beati Galgani confessoris by an unknown Cistercian monk,[4] Leggenda di Sancto Galgano,[5] Vita sancti Galgani de Senis,[6] Vita beati Galgani.[7]

Life

Born in 1148 in the small town of Chiusdino, Galgano is said to have led a ruthless life in his early years. Though he became a knight and trained in the art of war, he was said to be arrogant and led the life of a thug, until Archangel Michael appeared before him and showed him the way to salvation. In his vision, Galgano followed Archangel to the hill of Montesiepi where he met the twelve Apostles and the Creator himself. After the vision, Galgano's horse refused to obey his orders and led him to the hill where his vision happened. Convinced that this was a sign, Galgano decided then and there to renounce his villainous life.

A voice then told him to renounce all material things, to which Galgano replied that it would be as hard as splitting a rock. To prove his point, Galgano drew his sword and plunged it into the rocky ground. To his surprise, the rock yielded like butter and the blade went through. Galgano got the message, and took up permanent residence on that hill as a humble hermit. He never left the hill, living in poverty, accompanied by wild animals and occasionally visited by villagers and monks.

According to another version of the story, Galgano wanted to make a cross on the hill but with no wood around, he decided to plant his sword in the ground. The sword is said to have immediately become one piece with the ground so that nobody could remove it.[8]

St. Galgano Guidotti died in 1181.

Veneration

In 1184, a round chapel was built over his claimed tomb to commemorate him;[9] pilgrims came there in large numbers, and miracles were claimed. In that year, Cistercian monks took over Montesiepi at the request of Hugh, bishop of Volterra, but most of Galgano's monks left, 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.[10]

The sword in the stone
The sword in the stone at Montesiepi Chapel
The Montesiepi Chapel

The sword in the stone can be seen at the Rotonda at Montesiepi, near the ruins of the Abbey of San Galgano. The handle of a sword protrudes from a stone, and is said to be the sword of Galgano.

For centuries, the sword was assumed to be a fake. But after examining the composition of the metal in 2001,[11] researcher 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.[12] Ground-penetrating radar analysis also revealed that beneath the sword there is a cavity, about two meters by one meter, which is thought to be a burial recess, possibly containing the knight's body.

It has been argued that the legend of Saint Galgano formed the inspiration for the medieval legends about King Arthur and the Sword in the Stone.

“A story like that of Saint Galgano could travel all over Europe, and it is interesting to note that the first story about Arthur pulling a sword from a stone (or more exactly an anvil on top of the stone) appears in the decades following Saint Galgano's canonization in one of the poems by the Burgundian poet Robert de Boron,” says Björn Hellqvist, one of the researchers.

In the media

Television

Galgano's "sword in the stone" story was featured in a season 7 episode of TV series, Forged in Fire. Bladesmiths had to recreate "Excalibur", a medieval broadsword inspired by Galgano's story.[13] The episode explained the story as follows: the actual Sword in the Stone is located in Siena, Italy, and believed to have belonged to Galgano.

An episode of Ancient X-files looked at the sword in the stone and the connections between it, and St Galgano, to Sir Gawain and King Arthur. It included some scientific exploration of the stone. [14]

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. His alleged date of death is 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.

Citations

  1. As reported by A. Vauchez in "La santità nel medioevo", Il Mulino, Bologna, 1989
  2. 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).
  3. Codice Laurenziano, 14th century
  4. Codice di Siena, 15th century
  5. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, cod. Chigi M. V. 118, 15th century.
  6. Codice di Veroli, 15th century.
  7. Codice Laurenziano, 15th century.
  8. "Galgano Guidotti And The Sword in Stone". www.amusingplanet.com. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  9. Haegen, Anne Mueller von der; Strasser, Ruth F. (2013). "Chiusdino". Art & Architecture: Tuscany. Potsdam: H.F.Ullmann Publishing. p. 424. ISBN 978-3-8480-0321-1.
  10. “Galgano” in David Hugh Farmer, Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Oxford University Press, 1997)
  11. Carroll, Rory (16 September 2001). "Tuscany's Excalibur is the real thing, say scientists". the Guardian. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  12. Chodyński, Antoni Romuald (2014). Fasciculi Archaeologiae Historicae. Fasc. 27 (2014). Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of Polish Academy of Sciences.
  13. "Watch The Sword in the Stone Full Episode - Forged in Fire". HISTORY. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  14. "Ancient X-File v The Sword In The Stone".
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