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The STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABEŞ-BOLYAI issue article summary
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Abstract: This study wishes to discuss the existence of a cult associated with Saint Corona, an early Christian martyr, in 13th-century Braşov. Preceding the elements of expression characteristic of Marian intercession in the 14th century, the emergence of Coronian devotion in Braşov is suggested by a series of factors related to the first written mention of the town in 1235 – the existence of a monastery belonging to the Premonstratensian Order and the Saxon colonisation of Ţara Bârsei. However, the Mongol invasion from 1241 produced a deep caesura in the history of Braşov, marking the dissolution of Saint Corona’s cult and the complete disappearance of the devotion in the 14th century, due to the need of the urban community for divine mediation that would better correspond to the challenges of the time. The former presence of Saint Corona in Braşov would, however, be indirectly preserved through at least three different elements – while the German name of Braşov, Kronstadt, was clearly derived from its Latin form, Corona, and the attribute of this martyr was inserted in the oldest heraldic symbols of the town, the most obvious and interesting evidence nonetheless resided in the orientation of the parish church. Braşov’s parish church – whose erection started in 1383-1385 on the site of an earlier church, which had probably belonged to that Premonstratensian monastery and from which the west-east alignment had been preserved – integrated, in its orientation, not the celebration of a feast associated with the Virgin Mary, but the one dedicated to Saint Corona, reserved, in the liturgical calendar, for 14 May.
Keywords: Saxon colonisation, the Premonstratensian Order, relics, parish church, urban development, church orientation |
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