On this day in 180 AD, Joint 16th Emperor of the Roman Empire, Philosopher King, Marcus Aurelius died in the city of Vindobona (modern Vienna) or in Sirmium, Serbia, the age of 58. Born Marcus Annius Catilius Severus on 26 April 121 in Rome. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until Verus’ death in 169. Aurelius was the last of the Five Good Emperors, and is also considered one of the most important Stoic philosophers. During his reign, the Empire defeated a revitalized Parthian Empire in the East; Aurelius’ general Avidius Cassius sacked the capital Ctesiphon in 164. In central Europe, Aurelius fought the Marcomanni, Quadi, and Sarmatians with success during the Marcomannic Wars, with the threat of the Germanic tribes beginning to represent a troubling reality for the Empire. A revolt in the East led by Cassius failed to gain momentum and was suppressed immediately. Aurelius’ Stoic tome Meditations, written in Greek while on campaign between 170 and 180, is still revered as a literary monument to a philosophy of service and duty, describing how to find and preserve equanimity in the midst of conflict by following nature as a source of guidance and inspiration. Aurelius married his first cousin Faustina the Younger in 145. During their 30-year marriage Faustina bore 13 children.
The Final Footprint – Aurelius was cremated and immediately deified and his cremated remains were returned to Rome, and rested in Hadrian’s mausoleum (modern Castel Sant’Angelo) until the Visigoth sack of the city in 410. His campaigns against Germans and Sarmatians were also commemorated by a column and a temple built in Rome. In the 1964 movie The Fall of the Roman Empire he was portrayed by Alec Guinness and in the 2000 movie Gladiator he was portrayed by Richard Harris. Both movie plots posited that Aurelius was assassinated because he intended to pass down power to Aurelius’s adopted son, a Roman general, instead of his biological son Commodus.
On this day; the traditional death date of fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland, Saint Patrick. Known as the “Apostle of Ireland”, he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints being Brigit of Kildare and Columba. He is venerated in the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran Churches, the Old Catholic Church, and in the Eastern Orthodox Church as equal-to-the-apostles and Enlightener of Ireland.
The dates of Patrick’s life cannot be fixed with certainty, but there is broad agreement that he was active as a missionary in Ireland during the late fourth or fifth century. Early medieval tradition credits him with being the first bishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland, and they regard him as the founder of Christianity in Ireland, converting a society practising a form of Celtic polytheism. He has been generally so regarded ever since, despite evidence of some earlier Christian presence in Ireland.
According to Patrick’s autobiographical account, known as the Confessio, when he was about sixteen years old, he was captured by Irish pirates from his home in Britain and taken as a slave to Ireland, looking after animals. By his account, he lived there for six years before escaping and returning to his family in Britain, where he became a cleric. He was initially welcomed by his relatives with open arms, but in chapters 26, 27 of his Confessio he describes that he was subsequently condemned for an offence for which he had already stood trial, although he does not say what it was. The condemnation might have contributed to his decision to return to Ireland. Patrick eventually returned to Ireland, probably settling in the west of the island, where, in later life, he became a bishop and ordained subordinate clerics.
The Final Footprint
The reputed burial place of Saint Patrick is in Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland. Saint Patrick’s Day is observed on the supposed date of his death. It is celebrated inside and outside Ireland as a religious and cultural holiday. In the dioceses of Ireland, it is both a solemnity and a holy day of obligation; it is also a celebration of Ireland itself.
#RIP #OTD in 1974 architect (Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban; Yale University Art Gallery; Salk Institute; Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad; Phillips Exeter Academy Library; Kimbell Art Museum) Louis Kahn died from a heart attack in the men’s bathroom of Penn Station, Manhattan aged 73. Montefiore Cemetery, Abington Township, Pennsylvania
On this day in 1990, French actress and fashion model, Capucine jumped to her death from her eighth-floor apartment in Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland, where she had lived for 28 years, at the age of 57. Born Germaine Lefebvre on 6 January 1933 in Toulon, France. Capucine is best known for her comedic roles in North to Alaska (1960) starring John Wayne, Stewart Granger and Fabian; The Pink Panther (1963) starring David Niven and Peter Sellers; What’s New Pussycat? (1965) starring Sellers and Peter O’Toole.
She met Pierre Trabaud on the set of Rendez-vous (1949) and they married the next year. The marriage lasted only eight months, and Capucine never married again.
She had an affair with Charles K. Feldman, who produced her films What’s New Pussycat?, The 7th Dawn and The Honey Pot.
Capucine met actor William Holden in the early 1960s. They starred in the films The Lion (1962) and The 7th Dawn (1964). Holden was married to Brenda Marshall, but the two began a two-year affair. After the affair ended, she and Holden remained friends until Holden’s death in 1981.
North to Alaska is one of my very favorite movies. Capucine is one of my favorite actresses and has to be one of the most beautiful women in the world.
The Final Footprint – Capucine was cremated and the cremains were scattered. Reposer en paix, Capucine.
#RIP #OTD in 1993 actress (The Sin of Madelon Claudet, Airport) whose career spanned 80 years, the “First Lady of American Theatre” Helen Hayes died of congestive heart failure in Nyack, New York, aged 92. Oak Hill Cemetery in Nyack
#RIP #OTD in 1996 singer (“Suspicion”), songwriter (“Amarillo by Morning”) Terry Stafford died from liver disease in Amarillo, Texas aged 54. Llano Cemetery, Amarillo
Have you planned yours yet?
Follow us on twitter @RIPTFF
