Augustine of Hippo, in his treatise On the Care of the Dead (1.1), mentions the desire of a pious woman to bury her son in the basilica of *Felix (priest and confessor of Nola, S00000) at Nola (southern Italy), in the hope that it would be of benefit to him. Written in Latin in Hippo Regius (Numidia, central North Africa), 420/422.
E01156
Literary - Other
Literary - Letters
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine, On the Care of the Dead 1.1
Diu sanctitati tuae, coepiscope uenerande Pauline, rescriptorum debitor fui, ex quo mihi scripsisti per homines filiae nostrae religiosissimae Florae, quaerens a me, utrum prosit cuique post mortem, quod corpus eius apud sancti alicuius memoriam sepelitur. Hoc enim abs te uidua memorata petiuerat pro defuncto in eis partibus suo filio et rescripseras consolans eam: id que etiam nuntians de cadauere fidelis iuuenis Cynegii, quod materno et pio affectu desiderauit, esse conpletum, ut scilicet in beatissimi Felicis confessoris basilica poneretur.
'Long time, my venerable fellow bishop Paulinus, have I been your Holiness's debtor for an answer; ever since you wrote to me by them of the household of our most religious daughter Flora, asking of me whether it profit any man after death that his body is buried by the relics (memoria) of some saint. This, namely, had the said widow begged of you for her son deceased in those parts, and you had written her an answer, consoling her, and announcing to her concerning the body of the faithful young man Cynegius, that the thing which she with motherly and pious affection desired was done, to wit, by placing it in the basilica of most blessed Felix the Confessor.'
Text: Zycha 1900.
Translation: Browne 1887, lightly modified.
Burial site of a saint - unspecified
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityVisiting graves and shrines
Burial ad sanctos
RelicsBodily relic - unspecified
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Other lay individuals/ people
Source
Augustine of Hippo was born in 354 in the north African city of Thagaste. He received an education in rhetoric at Carthage, and after a period teaching there moved to Rome, and then in 384 to a public professorship of rhetoric in Milan. In these early years of adulthood Augustine was a Manichaean, but then got disillusioned with this religion, and in Milan in 386, largely under the influence of Ambrose, bishop of the city, he converted to Christianity, and was baptised by Ambrose in 387. Returning to Africa in 388, he was ordained a priest in 391 at Hippo Regius (in the province of Numidia), and rapidly acquired a reputation as a preacher. In 395 he became bishop of Hippo, which he remained until his death in 430. Details of his early life were recorded by Augustine himself in his Confessions, and shortly after his death a pupil and long-time friend, Possidius, wrote his Life, focused on Augustine as an effective Christian writer, polemicist and bishop (E00073).Amongst his many writings, the most informative on the cult of saints are his numerous Sermons, the City of God, and a treatise On the Care of the Dead. The Sermons tell us which saints (primarily African, but with some from abroad) received attention in Hippo, Carthage and elsewhere, and provide occasional details of miracles and cult practices. The City of God records the distribution, and subsequent miracles, of the relics of saint Stephen, after they arrived in Africa from Palestine in around 420. On the Care of the Dead, discusses the possible advantages of burial ad sanctos (in other words, close to a saint), and theorises on the link between the saints who dwell in heaven and their corporeal remains buried in their graves. In these works, and others, Augustine reveals his own particular beliefs about the saints, their relics and their miracles.
Augustine wrote the treatise On the Care of the Dead in 420/422, in response to a letter in which Paulinus of Nola asked whether burials ad sanctos bring any profit to the dead. The response was nuanced. If Augustine rejected any direct advantage for such interments and argued that even the total lack of burial cannot affect directly the posthumous fate of the soul, he acknowledged that the practice can bring consolation to the living and indirectly help the dead for whom people visiting the graves of saints will pray.
Discussion
For the cult of Felix in Nola see especially Paulinus' poems (E04741 for overview).The term memoria (literally 'memory' or 'memorial') is also used by Augustine both for the shrines of martyrs and for their relics. In this case both senses fit the context, but Augustine is clearly referring to burial close to relics, not to burial in an empty memorial shrine.
Bibliography
Edition:Zycha, J. De cura pro mortuis gerenda (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 41; Vienna: Tempsky, 1900), 619-660.
English translation:
Browne, H., On the Care of the Dead, in P. Schaff ed., Doctrinal and Moral Treatises of Saint Augustin (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 3; Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1887), 539-51.
Further reading:
Duval Y., Auprès des saints corps et âme. L'inhumation « ad sanctos » dans la chrétienté d'Orient et d'Occident du IIIe siècle au VIIe siècle (Paris: Études Augustiniennes 1988)
Robert Wiśniewski
26/02/2016
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00000 | Felix, priest and confessor of Nola | Felix | Certain |
|---|
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