Poem by Eugenius, bishop of Toledo (in central Hispania), on the church of *Vincent (deacon of Zaragoza and martyr of Valencia, S00290) in Zaragoza (north-eastern Hispania); it mentions Vincent's robe, and blood which had flowed from the saint's nostrils, being kept in the church. Written in Latin, mid 7th c.
E00831
Literary - Poems
Eugenius of Toledo, Poems
X. DE BASILICA SANCTI VINCENTI QVAE EST CAESARAVGVSTAE, VBI CRVOR EIVS DICITVR EFFLVXISSE.
Macte decus proprium, Vincenti martyr alumne,
unica spes nobis, macte decus proprium.
purpureus niveum meruisti sanguine caelum,
et sequeris agnum purpureus niveum.
passio sacra tuum provexit ad aethera nomen, (5)
conservet populum passio sacra tuum.
hic iacet ille cruor, quem das pro corpore pignus,
nare fluente tuus hic iacet ille cruor.
hic tua nunc tunica quod Christi fimbria praestat,
tactu nam salvat hic tua nunc tunica. (10)
hic veniam culpae mereantur, vota favorem;
gaudia summa ferat, qui petit hic veniam.
'ON THE BASILICA OF SAINT VINCENT WHICH IS IN ZARAGOZA, WHERE HIS BLOOD IS SAID TO HAVE FLOWED
Long live your glory, o martyr and servant Vincent, our only hope, long live your glory! Purple with your blood you earned snow-white heaven, purple you followed the snow-white lamb. (5) Your holy suffering carried your name to heaven, let your holy suffering save your people. Here rests that blood which you give as a relic of your body, here rests that blood of yours which flowed from your nostrils. Here your tunic now offers what the hem of Christ's garment [did], (10) for your tunic heals here and now when touched. May faults earn forgiveness here, may vows earn favour; may the one who asks here for pardon receive the highest joy.'
Text: Vollmer 1905, 240
Translation: M. Tycner
Cult building - independent (church)
Place associated with saint's life
Non Liturgical ActivityVow
MiraclesMiracle after death
Healing diseases and disabilities
RelicsBodily relic - blood
Contact relic - saint’s possession and clothes
Touching and kissing relics
Source
Eugenius, bishop of Toledo in Spain in 646-657, was the most prominent poet of the Visigothic era, as well as the author of a theological treatise, liturgical works and letters. His works, composed in Latin, are of high literary quality: in his poetry he mastered diverse classical metres and chose a variety of topics, such as the human condition, illness and death. Among his poems we find four devoted to important churches and saints in Spain: two churches in Zaragoza (of the *Eighteen Martyrs of Zaragoza and of *Vincent of Zaragoza and Valencia), the church of *Emilianus (just possibly in today's San Millian de la Cogolla) and the church of *Felix in Tatanesium (probably near Toledo). It is impossible to say, what exactly made him choose these particular churches and saints. According to his Life, written several years after Eugenius' death by his successor Ildefonsus of Toledo, he himself collected his works in two books, one of which contained his poems; this composition does not survive as a whole, but numerous manuscripts preserve parts of it. Eugenius was an influential author and his poetry was admired, quoted and paraphrased by many medieval authors in Spain and beyond. We find his verses (primarily epitaphs, but not exclusively) also on medieval inscriptions.Discussion
The martyr Vincent was born in Zaragoza and spent his early years there, but was martyred and buried at Valencia. However, Zaragoza treated Vincent as its patron saint; as is already evident in the poem by Prudentius of c. 400 (see E00813), where there is also already a reference to a relic of Vincent's blood in the city, though no reference to it coming from his nose (as here). Why specifically, and in what circumstances, Vincent's nose bled is not clear from Eugenius' account.Line 9, comparing the miraculous powers of Vincent's tunic to that of one of Christ's, is a reference to the story in Matthew 9:20 of the woman with an issue of blood, who is cured when she touches the hem of Christ's garment. Prudentius makes no reference to a tunic of Vincent; but Gregory of Tours in his Histories (3.29) recounts a story, set in around 542, of how the citizens of Zaragoza, threatened by a Frankish siege, solemnly processed around the walls of the city with Vincent's tunic, thereby averting the fall of the city (see E02064). It seems that by the mid-6th c. it was Vincent's tunic that was Zaragoza's principal relic of their saint.
Prudentius had also made no reference to the tunic of Vincent mentioned by Eugenius; but this had already emerged as a prominent relic by the 6th c. (see EXXXXXX. Gregory of Tours Histories III.29 for the tunic).
Bibliography
Edition:Vollmer, F. (ed.), Fl. Merobaudis reliquiae, Blossii Aemilii Dracontii Carmina, Eugenii Toletani episcopi carmina et epistulae (Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Auctores Antiquissimi 14; Berlin: Apud Weidmannos, 1905).
Marta Tycner
20/12/2015
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00290 | Vincentius/Vincent, deacon of Zaragoza and martyr of Valencia | Vincentius | Certain |
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