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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world


Hydatius in his Chronicle records, under the year 405, the death of *Martin (ascetic and bishop of Tours, S00050), and the hagiographical works of Sulpicius Severus about Martin. Written in Latin, probably in Chaves (north-west Hispania), c. 468/469.

Evidence ID

E02479

Type of Evidence

Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)

Hydatius, Chronicle 11 [30]

Martinus episcopus sanctus et uir apostolicus transit ad dominum carne deposita; cuius uitam et mirabilia quae fecit Seuerus uir summus, discipulus ipsius, qui et chronica alia quam haec sunt ab initio Genesis usque ad sectam Priscillianistarum perniciosissimam conscripsit, exequitur.

'Bishop Martin, a holy man of apostolic stature, laid aside his material body and crossed over to the Lord. His life and the miracles which he wrought were described by his disciple Severus, a man of the highest virtue, who also wrote a different kind of chronicle from this one, from the beginning of Genesis right down to the pernicious sect of the Priscillianists.'


Text and translation: Burgess 1993, 80-81

Non Liturgical Activity

Transmission, copying and reading saint-related texts

Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Ecclesiastics - bishops

Source

Hydatius, a bishop in Galicia (in northwest Spain), probably of Chaves, wrote his chronicle c. 468/469. It is the most important source for the history of Iberia in the 5th century. For detailed discussion and further bibliography, see: Burgess 1993; Muhlberger 1990, 193-266.

The numbers of paragraphs in brackets refer to the 1973 edition of A. Tranoy.


Discussion

Here the link between Martin and the struggle with Priscillianism is indirect, but in the paragraph 8 [13] Martin is presented as the one who condemned Priscillian in 386. See also E02478.

Bibliography

Editions and translations:
Burgess ,R.W., The Chronicle of Hydatius and the Consularia Constantinopolitana: Two Contemporary Accounts of the Final Years of the Roman Empire (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993). Edition and English translation.

Mommsen, T.,
Hydatii Lemici continuatio chronicorum Hieronymianorum, in: Chronica Minora saec. IV. V. VI. VII., vol. 2 (Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Auctores Antiquissimi 11; Berlin: Apud Weidmannos, 1894), 1-36.

Tranoy, A., Hydace,
Chronique, 2 vols. (Sources chrétiennes 218-219; Paris: Cerf, 1973). Edition and French translation.

Further reading:
Muhlberger, S., The Fifth-Century Chroniclers: Prosper, Hydatius, and the Gallic Chronicler of 452 (Leeds: Francis Cairns, 1990).


Record Created By

Marta Szada

Date of Entry

07/03/2017

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00050Martin, ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397MartinusCertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Marta Szada, Cult of Saints, E02479 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E02479