JULIAN THE HOSPITALLER, Saint. - Neither the date nor the place of his birth can be established; his biographical data are purely legendary, and the legend appears from the 12th century onward in numerous versions.
He is said to have been born in France (Le Mans, Anjou), in Belgium (Ath), around the middle of the 7th century, or else in Italy (Naples). He is said to have killed his parents as the result of a tragic mistake: on learning of his crime he would have come to Rome to obtain absolution and would have built on the river Gardon in Provence, or in the place called Isola on the banks of the river Potenza, near Macerata, a hospital for pilgrims. The cult, at first private, passed here and there into liturgical books at a very late period, as in the Missal of Aquileia of 1519 (under 29 January). The dates of his feast are also various: 13 January, 12 February, 31 March, 31 August. The Belgian national church in Rome is dedicated to him.
The legend of J. also exercised a notable influence in art: among the many works one may recall the stained-glass windows of Chartres of the 13th century, the triptych of the 15th century preserved in Burgos; the frescoes of the cathedral of Trent of the 14th century and of the Palazzo Comunale of Assisi (beginning of the 15th century); the wooden group of the 15th century in the chapel of St. J. at Boussoit-sur-Haine in Belgium.
Bibliography
A. Pietro Frutas
FOLKLORE
The popular legend of St. Julian would have arisen in the Middle Ages, probably in French or Belgian territory, and it vividly captured the imagination of the common people. Those who are about to set out on a journey invoke him, to avoid bad encounters and to secure a good inn. Besides travelers, he is the protector of innkeepers and of the cities of Ghent and Macerata. Already in the Decameron (Second Day, Second Tale) the Paternoster of St. Julian is mentioned, which still survives in the oral tradition of various regions of Italy. St. Julian has inspired popular poems, which follow the account as given by the Golden Legend; one of them, from Abruzzo, in 171 lines, was published by Percopo: another, in about thirty octaves, is preserved in incunabula of the Casanatense (no. 1764), of the University of Bologna (no. 21) and of the Marciana of Venice (Misc. 1945, 14) and continued to be printed in crude popular booklets until the 18th century. The main episodes of the legend are succinctly narrated in a popular "orazione" in epic hendecasyllables, widespread from Calabria to Romagna. Flaubert took up the theme, developing it literarily in one of his Trois contes (Paris 1886).
Bibliography
91 (1898), pp. 339-64; 102 (1899), pp. 109-78; A. Graf, S. G. nel Decamerone e altrove, in Miti, leggende e superstizioni del medioevo, Torino 1893, pp. 205-19; 2nd ed. 1925, pp. 383-96; R. Magnanelli, Canti narrativi religiosi del popolo italiano, Roma 1909, pp. 150-73; G. Battelli, Le più belle leggende cristiane, Milano 1924, pp. 502-11; M. Oberziner, La leggenda di s. G. il parricida, in Atti del R. Istituto veneto, XCIII, 2 (1933-1934), pp. 253-309; P. Toschi, La poesia popolare religiosa in Italia, Firenze 1935, pp. 113-15; C. Naselli, Diffusione e interpretazione del Paternoster di s. G. in Sicilia, in Atti del III Congresso di tradizioni popolari, Roma 1936, pp. 255-67; U. Gianciolo, Contributo allo studio dei cantori di regimento sacro, in Archivum Romanicum, 22 (1938, II-III), p. 47 ff.
Paolo Toschi