Hilary of Arles, in his Sermon on the Life of Honoratus (c. 430), describes how the people of Arles (southern Gaul) mourned at the funeral of *Honoratus (founder of Lérins and bishop of Arles, ob. 429/30, S00418), and tried to obtain relics; he trusts that possession of Honoratus' body will gain the city a patron in heaven. Written in Latin, at Arles, c. 430.
E00727
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives of saint
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Hilary of Arles, Sermon on the Life of Saint Honoratus 35
For an overview of the Sermon on the Life of Saint Honoratus, see E06026
Neque ullus non magno sibi damno adfici visus est, si conspectu corporis sui caruit, si non, ut quemque aut reverentia aut amor suaserat, osculum aut ori aut quibuscumque membris ipsius inpressit aut feretro. Sanctum illud corpus magna fidei ambitione vestitum est, maiore postmodum, dum sepulchro admovetur, paene nudatum. Nec enim pepercit sanctificatis amictu suo palliis fides, quae pretiosissimi muneris loco habuit aliquam de velaminibus illius fimbriam decerpsisse. Certavit in exequiis illius vester affectus. Refecistis in funere suo latentem adhuc inter vos peregrinationem meam, pavistis me tam effusa in ipsum animi caritate. Quem enim illo die tecta sua tenuerunt? Aut quem non tamquam peculiari luctu obrutum basilicae huic moenia urbis huius dederunt? Pro magno munere habitum est lecticae aut manum admovisse aut cervicem subiecisse. Vidistis non sine vestra gloria gloriam suam: nam et illa exequiarum religio fidei devotio erat, et tam laetum erat habuisse talem quam graue talem amisisse. Nec parum fiduciae dat sepulchri sui gratia: nam cuius hic ossa condidimus, in caelo utique patrocinia praesumimus. Praelata tunc ante feretrum ipsius aromata et incensum vidimus; sed maiora de vestris mentibus Deus in tanto erga tantum pastorem adfectu vestro odoramenta suscepit. Persultavit in gloria sua Dei gloria, et in dissonis diversarum linguarum choris amor consonus.
'There was no one who did not see himself as afflicted with great loss if he had no sight of the body; if he did not, as either reverence or love had urged, place a kiss either on the mouth or on one of its other limbs, or on the bier. The holy body was dressed with the great zeal of faith; afterwards, with greater zeal, it was taken to the tomb stripped almost naked. For faith did not spare the vestments sanctified by clothing him; it held any thread pulled from his coverings to be as valuable as the most precious gift. You competed in your love at his funeral. You refreshed in his funeral my pilgrimage, still hidden among you; you fed me with the love of your mind poured out on him so much. For who stayed at home on that day? Or did the walls of this city give to this church anyone who was not overwhelmed as if with a personal bereavement? It was held a great gift to have placed a hand on the bier or bent one's shoulder beneath it. You have seen his glory, not without your glory, for the reverence at his funeral rites was the devotion of faith, and there was as much joy to have possessed such a man as there was grief to have lost such a man. The gift of his tomb gives us no little confidence, for he whose bones we buried here, we trust indeed will be our patron in heaven. We saw perfumes and incense carried before his bier; but God has received greater perfumes from your minds in such great love from you towards such a great pastor. The glory of God resounded in his glory, and love was harmonious in the dissonant chorus of different tongues.'
Text: Cavallin 1952, 74-5.
Translation: David Lambert.
Service for the saint
Procession
Cult PlacesCult building - independent (church)
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
RelicsBodily relic - entire body
Contact relic - saint’s possession and clothes
Contact relic - cloth
Privately owned relics
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Crowds
Source
The Sermon on the Life of Honoratus was delivered on an early anniversary, probably the first, of the death of Honoratus (ob. 429 or 430), the founder of the monastery of Lérins and, in the last two years of his life, bishop of Arles (PCBE 4, 'Honoratus 1'). The author of the Sermon was Hilary (401-449), Honoratus' successor as bishop, who was also his relative and had been his protégé at both Lérins and Arles (PCBE 4, 'Hilarius 3').For full discussion of the Sermon on the Life of Honoratus and bibliography, see its overview entry: E06026.
Discussion
Honoratus was bishop of Arles from 426/7 to 429/30, and the Sermon on the Life of Honoratus was delivered at an early date after his death, probably the first anniversary. This makes it a relatively early attestation of attitudes and practices around the relics and tombs of the saints that were ubiquitous in subsequent generations. In his account of Honoratus' funeral, Hilary claims that people sought to touch both Honoratus' bier and his body, and, more particularly, that they grabbed at his clothes and the other coverings on his body in order to obtain pieces of cloth (even fimbriae, 'threads') to keep as relics, to the extent that by the time it reached the tomb, the body was stripped almost naked (paene nudaturm). Hilary's account seems to be the earliest to survive of such scenes taking place at a funeral (for discussion, see Wiśniewski 2018, 130-31). The Life of Hilary of Arles himself includes a similar depiction of mourners seeking contact relics at his funeral in 449 (Life of Hilary 29, E08355), as does the Life of the later bishop of Arles, Caesarius, on his death in 542 (Life of Caesarius 2.49, E06283).In this passage Hilary also expresses the belief that the presence of Honoratus' tomb in Arles will ensure that the city enjoys his patronage. Hilary is expressing a belief in saints as cities' protectors and intercessors with God that was probably already commonplace (cf. its expression in the sermons of Valerianus of Cimiez, a contemporary of Hilary of Arles: E03604, E03608). However, his reference to the tomb of Honoratus evoked a hostile response from some members of the community at Lérins, which Honoratus had founded and led until he became bishop of Arles: for a sermon from Lérins disputing the value to Arles of possessing Honoratus' body, see E00724. (On this, see Leyser 1999, 195-201.)
Bibliography
Editions:Cavallin, S., Vitae sanctorum Honorati et Hilarii episcoporum Arelatensium (Lund, 1952), 49-78.
Further reading:
Leyser, C., "'This Sainted Isle': Panegyric, Nostalgia, and the Invention of Lerinian Monasticism," in: W. Klingshirn and M. Vessey (eds.), The Limits of Ancient Christianity: Essays on Late Antique Thought and Culture in Honor of R. A. Markus (Ann Arbor, 1999), 188-206.
Loseby, S.T., "Arles in Late Antiquity: Gallula Roma Arelas and Urbs Genesii," in: N. Christie and S.T. Loseby (eds.), Towns in Transition: Urban Evolution in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Aldershot, 1996), 45-70.
Wiśniewski, R., The Beginnings of the Cult of Relics (Oxford, 2018).
David Lambert
07/03/2023
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00438 | Honoratus, founder of Lérins and bishop of Arles, ob. 429/30 | Honoratus | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
David Lambert, Cult of Saints, E00727 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E00727