The Latin second Life of *Romanus, Priest of Blaye (S01129) presents its protagonist as a monk, presbyter and miracle-worker from Africa, who, prompted by God, travels to Blaye, near Bordeaux, first sailing to Narbonne and then travelling by way of Toulouse, where he has a vision of *Saturninus (bishop and martyr of Toulouse, S00289); at Blaye, in collaboration with *Martin (ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397, S00050), he destroys a pagan idol and converts the local population; on his death, he is buried by Martin and miracles occur at his grave; he is particularly protective of sailors. Written probably in the region of Bordeaux (south-west Gaul), possibly in the 6th c..
E01959
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives of saint
Second Life of Romanus, Priest at the Fort of Blaye (BHL 7306)
Summary:
1. The author will recount the life of Romanus, monk and a priest (sacerdos). He was born in Africa (provinciae Affricae oriundus fuit) and as a young man retreated to a monastery.
2. The brethren make him a deacon. He leads an ascetic life.
3. The author will describe only a few out of a number of miracles omitted up to now by other authors.
4. Romanus heals a blind man and effects other miracles that are not described.
5. A voice from heaven tells him to travel 'with a good wind and safe sailing' (flante vento prospera navigatione) to Bordeaux, to the place known as Blaviae [Blaye] and to destroy there a pagan temple; God will send another priest (sacerdos) to help him and they will chase away demons from that place. He goes to the shore and, 'at once ascending a boat he found, with safe sailing reached the port of the city of Narbonne' (Navemque inventam concitus ascendit, prospera navigatione peracta ad portum Narbonensium civitatis). There he is unable to hide his miraculous powers. People come to him looking for healing.
6. In Narbonne, he brings back from the dead a young man serving in the praefectural office.
7. He effects other miracles in Narbonne and then leaves the city. He travels through many provinces, destroying temples and consecrating churches, showing people the light of the truth.
8. Close to Toulouse he sees in a dream Saturninus [bishop and martyr of Toulouse, S00289], who admonishes him to follow what he had been told to do by the voice from heaven.
9. Pergens itaque alacriter pervenit ad terminum Burdegalensium civitatis constituti, ad portum opinatissimum valde Garonnae fluminis, econtra castro suburbanae civitatis Blaviae. Ingressusque prospera navem ventorum lenitate, familia tristis undae prosequuntur navigium, et unde metuebant periculum navigationis adsumpserunt solatium consolationis ferebanturque in profundum inter procellas undarum proximo periculo circumdati. Obtentu sacerdotis, non viribus remigarum prospera navigatione peracta, pervenit ad locum castri, ibique proprius accedens cellam sibi in eodem loco suis manibus fabricaturus accessit.
'9. Therefore, moving on, he rapidly reached the boundary of the city of Bordeaux, to that very well-known port of the river Garonne, opposite the fortified settlement (castrum) of Blaye, in the suburban territory of the city. After taking a boat under a favourable, gentle wind, to the distress of his companions waves harried the ship and so they were afraid of the danger of sailing and accepted the comfort of [his] support, and they were carried into deep waters amidst stormy waves, surrounded by imminent danger. Having made a successful crossing, through the protection of the priest rather than the strength of the oarsmen, he came to the site of the castrum, and there, in that same place, with his own hands, he built himself a cell.'
The pagans, who perform rituals in front of an idol there, beat him and treat him badly in other ways, but, seeing his patient suffering, many convert.
10. Martin [ascetic and bishop of Tours, S00050] is told in a dream to go and help him. God announces Martin’s visit to Romanus. They meet and pray together in Romanus’ cell and then destroy the local idol and baptise the locals.
11. Martin ordains Romanus presbyter. Romanus continues baptising people and they both chase away demons from this place.
12. He builds churches where demons were worshipped before. This is followed by other conversions.
13. He asks that Martin be at his deathbed, and Martin comes, having received divine instructions to do so. Romanus dies, accompanied at his deathbed by Martin. A dove flies out of his mouth. His soul is greeted by martyrs, confessors and virgins.
14. A large number of people assemble, lamenting the loss of their protector and pastor.
15. The crowds at his funeral 'greatly mourned the patron they had lost' (lugebant nimium patronum quem amiserant). Martin presides at his funeral.
In quo loco usque in praesens eximiae ad tumulum virtutes exuberant, genera meritorum dilatantur. Sancti huius choruscantes praeclara miracula adcrescunt admirationem summi sacerdotis, in tantum ut anni circuli revolutione supra omne pavimento tumuli sancti ad instar nivis quasi flores magnae mirabiliter oriantur, odore suavissimo redolentes ibidem reperiuntur. Unde nonnulli ex fide colligentes sanitatis gratiam infirmantium multitudo a Domino crebrius perceperunt. Classes navigantium in alveo discurrentes cum procellis aquarum undarumque periculis fuerint circumdati, invocato nomine sancti viri, mox ad proximo periculo liberantur. In tantum etenim vir beatus virtute divinae gratiae est consecutus, ut quicumque periculo adproximante navigaturus accesserit, cum eius sanctam basilicam conspexerit, invocato nomine sancto, a naufragio pelagi statim eripitur.
'In that place, up to the present day, wonderful miracles abound at his tomb, and all kinds of merits occur. The famous and shattering miracles of this saint increase the fame of the great priest, to such an extent that every year the whole pavement of the holy tomb is covered as if with great flowers, like snow, and these give off the sweetest of scents. Through many collecting [these] with faith, a multitude of the sick has often received from the Lord the grace of health. Fleets of sailors setting out in ships, when they are surrounded by turbulent waters and dangerous waves, if they invoke the name of the saintly man, are at once freed from imminent danger. The blessed man has been so endowed with the power of divine grace, that whoever when sailing finds himself in danger, when he spies the holy basilica [of the saint] and invokes his holy name, is at once saved from shipwreck'
Text: Analecta Bollandiana 1886.
Summary: Robert Wiśniewski.
Translation: Bryan Ward-Perkins and David Lambert.
Burial site of a saint - unspecified
Non Liturgical ActivityComposing and translating saint-related texts
Prayer/supplication/invocation
MiraclesMiracle during lifetime
Miracle at martyrdom and death
Miracle after death
Specialised miracle-working
Miracles causing conversion
Healing diseases and disabilities
Power over elements (fire, earthquakes, floods, weather)
Apparition, vision, dream, revelation
Miraculous protection - of people and their property
RelicsBodily relic - entire body
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesOther lay individuals/ people
Pagans
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Source
This second Life of Romanus (Vita s. Romani, presbyteri et confessoris apud castrum Blaviae quiescentis) was published in 1885 in the journal Analecta Bollandiana, by an anonymous editor whose edition was based on a tenth-century manuscript in Brussels: KBR ms. 08550-08551 (3203). Two other manuscripts are listed in BHLms (bhlms.fltr.ucl.ac.be): Chartres, Bibliothèque municipale 68 (27 1/B) (11th c.); Brussels, KBR ms. 05387-05396 (3168) (13th c.).As Vielhaber, the editor of the first Life argues (Vielhaber 1926, 56-57), it is clearly an expansion and elaboration of the first Life (for which see E06490), with little difference in the plot, but with considerably more detail and dialogue added. Both first and second Lives must have been written after the successful spread of the cult of Martin (who features prominently in both), so no earlier than the early fifth century. As Vielhaber also points out (Vielhaber 1926, 57), Gregory of Tours, in his discussion of Romanus in Glory of the Confessors 45 (E02635), written towards the end of the sixth century, evidently knew the second Life, as he invoked Romanus when crossing the Garonne near Blaye in difficult weather conditions (a feature of the second, but not the first Life). A possible, but essentially hypothetical reconstruction might therefore date the first Life to the fifth century and the second to the sixth.
Discussion
The Life of Romanus in both its versions is one of a very few late antique Lives of presbyters, though Romanus is in fact shown acting more like a bishop than a priest: building churches, converting people, baptising, and being equal to bishop Martin of Tours (both here are described as sacerdotes, priests).The Life links its hero with two renowned Gallic saints: Saturninus, bishop and martyr of Toulouse, who appears to Romanus in a vision; and the living Martin, who plays a prominent role in the story, working alongside Romanus in suppressing the pagan cult at Blaye and eventually burying the saint. Such enhancing links with famous saints are a feature of the hagiography of lesser saintly figures.
As Vielhaber (1926, 57-58) points out, the first Life already echoes and imitates Sulpicius Severus' depiction of Martin: Romanus is an ideal monk; he can cure people, even bringing them back from the dead; he destroys pagan cult; he converses with saints who are in heaven. In this second Life the echoes are strengthened, with clear linguistic borrowings from Severus' Life of Martin and Dialogues (see also McGann 1962).
Apart from added stylistic and narrative flourishes, the main difference between the second and the first Lives of Romanus is that in this second Life Romanus is born in Africa (§ 1) and sails to Narbonne (§ 5), before travelling on to Bordeaux and Blaye, whereas in the first Life he is born in a place called 'Aureca' in Provence, and simply travels (overland) to Narbonne. Otherwise the stories are essentially the same, though elaborated somewhat in the second Life. As Vielhaber (1926, 56-58) suggests, this difference was almost certainly caused by a simple misreading of 'Aureca' as 'Avreca' (i.e. 'Africa') – thereby necessitating a sea voyage from Romanus' home province to Narbonne.
This difference in the plot was of some importance, however, because it enabled the author of the second Life to greatly enhance Romanus' posthumous role as a protector of sailors, making him something of a specialist in this area (§ 15): unlike in the first Life, in this second Life Romanus had experience of crossing the sea (when he sailed from Africa to Narbonne), and was helped by God in doing so safely. Working up the same theme, in § 9 the author of the second Life emphasises the dangers of crossing the Garonne estuary at Blaye, and again states that Romanus' safe crossing depended on the divine favour he enjoyed (all of which is wholly absent from the first Life).
It is not at all clear what is meant by the 'something like flowers' (quasi flores), which also feature in the first Life and which the author tells us appear once a year at the saint's tomb (possibly at the time of his feast, though this is not stated).
Bibliography
Edition:"Vita s. Romani, presbyteri et confessoris apud castrum Blaviae quiescentis," Analecta Bollandiana 5 (1886), 177-191. [With no named editor or discussion.]
Further reading:
McGann, M.J., "Sulpicius Severus and a life of S. Romanus, presbyter in castro Blaviensi (BHL 7306)," Bulletin du Cange. Archivum Latinitatis Medii Aevi 32 (1962), 91-94.
Vielhaber, G., "De codice hagiographico C. R. Bibliothecae Palatinae Vindobonensis Lat. 420 (olim Salisburg. 39)," Analecta Bollandiana 26 (1907), 33-65.
Robert Wiśniewski and Bryan Ward-Perkins
19/07/2022
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00050 | Martin, ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397 | Martinus | Certain | S00289 | Saturninus, bishop and martyr of Toulouse | Saturninus | Certain | S01129 | Romanus, priest of Blaye, ob. c. 390 | Romanus | Certain |
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