The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

Sulpicius Severus, Dialogues (Gallus) (BHL 5614-16)

Summary:

Book 1
[Dedicated to an account of the voyage of Postumianus amongst the ascetics of the East, and a comparison between them and Martin.]

Ch. 1: The Dialogues opens with the meeting of three men: Sulpicius Severus (the author), his friend Gallus, and another friends, Postumianus, who has just returned from three years in the East.

Ch. 2: Sulpicius asks Postumianus to tell them about Christianity in the East, in particular about the lives of the monks; he is reluctant to tell Postumianus about events back home, although he has himself suffered troubles.

Ch. 3: Sailing from Narbonne, Postumianus chose first to visit Carthage, 'the places of the saints' (loca ... sanctorum), and above all the tomb of *Cyprian (bishop and martyr of Carthage, S00411). Sailing then towards Alexandria, Postumianus' ship was forced ashore in a desert part of Cyrenaica.

Ch. 4-5: There Postumianus met with a presbyter leading an ascetic and eremitical life, and spent seven days with him. Postumianus and Sulpicius interrupt the narrative to share a joke about the sparse diet of the hermit compared with Gallus' love of lfood.

Ch. 6-7: Arriving in Alexandria, Postumianus found the city wracked with dissent over the teachings of Origen, which he explains.

Ch. 8-9: Postumianus proceeded to Bethlehem, where he spent six months with Jerome. The three friends in Gaul discourse about Jerome, whom Postumianus defends as one who is harsh, but sound in his condemnations. Returning to Alexandria, Postumianus then travelled up the Nile to the Thebaid, in order to meet the monks there.

Ch. 10-22: Periodically interrupting his narrative by conversing with Sulpicius and Gallus, Postumianus recounts a series of stories about the remarkable lives of the monks of Egypt, many living in communities, but the more exceptional living as solitaries deep in the desert. [Although some of these monks can be identified thanks to other texts which mention them (especially the History of the Monks in Egypt), no living monk is named; all are introduced as 'a certain man', 'a certain old monk', etc.]. In Chap. 17, Postumianus tells how he visited the monasteries of the long-dead *Antony ('the Great', monk of Egypt, ob. 356 : S00098) and *Paul (the First Anchorite, S00098), the only Egyptian monks he names. Postumianus then asks to be told about Martin.

Ch. 23: Sulpicius wonders that Postumianus has not learned enough about Martin from Sulpicius' Life of the saint. This causes Postumianus to tell how he has always carried this Life with him, and how popular it is over the entire Christian world: see E00849. But he wants to learn more.

Ch. 24: Sulpicius argues that the merits of Martin, and the wonders he achieved, equal, indeed exceed, those of the Egyptian holy men, because these latter achieve what they do without distraction, whereas Martin excelled in holiness while surrounded by the many distractions of episcopal life, 'amongst quarrelsome clergy, and raging bishops' (inter clericos dissidentes, inter episcopos saevientes).

Ch. 25: Martin could match all the power over the elements and over beasts that Postumianus has described in individual Egyptian monks, and all the ability to converse with angels and to cure people, being able to exorcise the possessed even through the power of threads (fimbriarum virtute) from his clothing. He eschewed all vanity, for instance forbidding the powerful to stay in his monastery. All the virtues Postumianus has described in the Egyptian holy men were to be found in Martin, but none of them combined all the virtues to be found in Martin.

Ch. 26: Postumianus agrees that Martin stands above all others, and states that this is known all over the world, as far away as Ethiopia and India; only in Gaul itself is his pre-eminent holiness not universally acknowledged. Here there are clerics who doubt it; indeed there is even one nameless man who says that 'you [Sulpicius] have told many lies in that book of yours' (te in illo libro tuo plura mentitum). Postumianus asks that more of the deeds of Martin be told. Sulpicius suggests that Gallus, Martin's disciple, is the best person to recount these.

Ch. 27: Gallus agrees, asking his listeners to excuse his unsophisticated speech. He will not repeat what is already told in Sulpicius' Life, and also will only tell of things he witnessed himself.

Book 2
[Dedicated to the good deeds, miracles and wise sayings of Martin.]

Ch. 1: How Martin secretly gave his own tunic to a poor man who lacked clothes.

Ch. 2: On the same day, a few of those present saw a ball of fire emerge from Martin's head as he celebrated at the altar. Martin, on another occasion, drew the poison out of a boy who had been bitten by a snake, and restored him to health.

Ch. 3: Some soldiers beat up Martin as he was travelling visiting his diocese, believing him to have delayed their carriage. After this, their mules refused to move, however hard they were beaten. The soldiers realised the person they had attacked must be someone special and sought Martin's forgiveness, which he granted, allowing them to proceed.

Ch. 4: Martin himself would observe that he had greater powers as a monk than he had after he became a bishop. Indeed as a monk he raised two people from the dead [E00692, chaps. 7 & 8]; but only one while bishop. Gallus proceeds to tell this latter story, which is missing from Sulpicius' Life: Martin came to a village of pagans, and there brought a boy back to life, thereby leading all the villagers to adopt Christianity.

Ch. 5: Postumianus interrupts to state that Martin has beaten the holy men [of Egypt], for none of them had the powers over the dead that he had. 'Rightly has this Sulpicius compared him to the Apostles and the Prophets, who in all things was similar to them in the power of his faith and the deeds of his powers' (merito que hunc iste Sulpicius apostolis conparat et prophetis, quem per omnia illis esse consimilem fidei uirtus ac uirtutum opera testantur). Gallus continues with an account of how Martin as bishop visited the hostile emperor Valentinian – after prayer and visitation by an angel, the doors of the palace opened miraculously to him, and the emperor was similarly miraculously forced from his seat, to stand in greeting to the saint.

Ch. 6: Martin was treated with great respect by the emperor [Magnus] Maximus, and by his wife who washed the saint's feet and insisted on serving him at table.

Ch. 7: Postumianus and Gallus discuss the propriety of Martin's contact with this woman, the empress, and stress how exceptional it was and how it was motivated only by her pure wish to serve and listen to the saint.

Ch. 8: Sulpicius joins the discussion about the behaviour of women, before Gallus tells of another miracle of Martin: how straw from the bed he slept on was collected because of its power; a strand hung from the neck of a possessed person expelled the demon within.

Ch. 9: Martin successfully drove away a demon that was making a cow savage and dangerous, and, on another occasion, took pity on a hare being chased by dogs, and stopped them in their tracks.

Ch. 10: Gallus repeats some sayings of Martin: for instance, comparing the muddy part of a meadow to the condition of fornication, the part cropped by cattle to that of marriage, and the intact flowering part to that of virginity.

Ch. 11: He, Gallus, continues with an account of how Martin dissuaded a monk from his intention to live chastely with his former wife, stressing the need to keep the religious strictly segregated by sex.

Ch. 12: Martin travelling in his diocese wished to visit a pious virgin who had withdrawn from the world; but she refused to see him. Far from being angry, he praised her constancy in avoiding the company of men. Gallus extolls this behaviour and contrasts it with that of many virgins and priests.

Ch. 13: Gallus tells how, on one occasion, he and Sulpicius, waiting outside Martin's cell, heard conversation going on inside; they learnt from Martin how he was often visited by several of the greatest saints of heaven; and also how he spoke to demons by name (see E00257).

Ch. 14: Gallus recounts Martin's predictions of the imminent coming of the end of the world. A new friend, the presbyter Refrigerius, himself a follower of Martin, is announced and, it being late, Gallus defers telling more about Martin to the morrow.

Book 3
[Dedicated to an account of more deeds and miracles of Martin]

Ch. 1: Morning comes and Gallus is ready to resume telling Sulpicius, Postumianus and now Refrigerius more about Martin; Postumianus' eagerness is partly so he can tell of the deeds of Martin when he returns to the East. They are unexpected joined by a group of monks also eager to hear, and by some laymen, only two of whom (both of high status) are admitted. Gallus continues his account.

Ch. 2: At Chartres, Martin, through prayer and some blessed oil, cures a girl of twelve of the dumbness she has been afflicted with since birth.

Ch. 3: 'The wife of the comes Avitianus sent Martin some oil that he might bless it, so that it could serve for various illnesses, as is the custom' (Auitiani comitis uxorem misisse Martino oleum, quod ad diuersas morborum causas necessarium, sicut est consuetudo, benediceret). The oil once blessed bubbled up and overflowed the glass ampulla in which it was held. On another occasion, a similar ampulla fell onto a marble floor but did not break. A threatening dog, commanded to be silent in the name of Martin, at once stops barking.

Ch. 4: At Tours, Martin obtains the pardon and freedom of a number of prisoners who had been condemned to death by the same comes Avitianus (who is told by an angel in a dream that Martin awaits him at the entrance of the praetorium).

Ch. 5: These things were told by Avitianus himself, and witnessed by others. Gallus then emphasises the veracity of everything he is saying.

Ch. 6: Some people doubt the power of Martin; but demons readily acknowledged it, as Gallus shows with an account of how demons within the possessed succumbed to his power.

Ch. 7: A village in the territory of Sens regularly suffered from terrible hailstorms. Martin, through prayer caused these to cease for twenty years; on his death a storm returned.

Ch. 8: Avitianus was a cruel official, except in Tours through his respect for Martin who on one occasion saw a demon seated behind Avitianus, and expelled it by blowing on it. On another occasion, Martin, having failed to persuade the secular authorities to destroy a well-built temple, prayed, and a storm levelled it to the ground.

Ch. 9: Gallus briefly recounts three further miracles: the destruction of an idol set on a column; the curing of a woman with an issue of blood, who touched Martin's garment; and the turning back of an approaching dangerous snake.

Ch. 10: One Easter, when no fish had been caught for the meal, Martin told a deacon to try once more, and at once a huge pike was netted. Christ worked miracles through Martin. On one occasion the former prefect Arborius saw the hand of Martin, as he was celebrating mass, encased in splendid jewels, and even heard them clash together.

Ch. 11: Martin travelled to Trier to meet with the emperor [Magnus] Maximus, in order to intercede with him on behalf of those suspected of Priscillianism in Spain, whom the emperor and the bishops who surrounded him wished to punish.

Ch. 12: There Maximus failed to win Martin over to his views.

Ch. 13: He then acceded to Martin's request to call off the persecution in Spain. Martin, in the interests of peace, reluctantly celebrated communion with the bishops of the opposite camp; but later deeply regretted it, though told by an angel that he had acted wisely. From that time, Martin felt his powers somewhat reduced.

Ch. 14: They, however, rapidly returned, which Gallus illustrates by listing a number of miracles: a possessed man cured before he even reached Martin's monastery; a storm at sea calmed when a pagan Egyptian invoked the saint's help; a household saved from disease (and the hundred pounds of silver given in gratitude, donated for the redemption of captives); a monk miraculously perceived to be warming his naked genitals in front of a fire, and reproved.

Ch. 15: When vehemently verbally attacked by the presbyter Brictio [who succeeded Martin as bishop of Tours on the latter's death in 397], Martin perceives the demons who are behind the attack, and drives them away, causing Brictio to seek his forgiveness. Whenever Brictio was accused of wrongdoing, Martin forgave him.

Ch. 16: Postumianus interjects to wish that a nameless person close-by could have learnt to be as forgiving as Martin.

Ch. 17: Sulpicius Severus then speaks, saying that, although they could say much more about Martin, it is evening and time to stop; he enjoins on Postumianus the duty of spreading this new information when he again travels to the East, specifically mentioning Carthage, Corinth and Athens, and again stressing that in Martin Europe can now stand up to Egypt and its many saints. Postumianus is specifically enjoined to visit Paulinus [of Nola] in Campania,'so that soon through him Rome might hear the holy praises of that man [Martin], just as he spread our first book [the Life of Martin], not only through Italy, but also through the whole of Illyricum' (ut mox per illum sacras uiri laudes Roma cognoscat, sicut primum illum nostrum libellum non per Italiam tantum, sed per totum etiam diffudit Illyricum).

Ch. 18: Sulpicius closes the book by asking Postumianus, if he ever goes to Ptolemais, to pay due respect to the grave of their friend Pomponius.


Text: Fontaine 2005.
Summary: Bryan Ward-Perkins.

Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave

Uncertainty/scepticism/rejection of a saint
Scepticism/rejection of specific texts
Scepticism/rejection of miracles

Composing and translating saint-related texts
Oral transmission of saint-related stories

Miracle during lifetime
Power over elements (fire, earthquakes, floods, weather)
Miracle with animals and plants
Miracles causing conversion
Power over objects
Healing diseases and disabilities
Power over life and death
Miraculous sound, smell, light
Exorcism
Apparition, vision, dream, revelation
Freeing prisoners, exiles, captives, slaves
Material support (supply of food, water, drink, money)

Contact relic - saint’s possession and clothes
Contact relic - oil
Ampullae, eulogiai, tokens

Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Aristocrats
Children
Other lay individuals/ people
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Pagans
Monarchs and their family

Considerations about the hierarchy of saints

Source

Bibliography