The Libellus precum of Faustinus and Marcellinus, a petition to the emperor Theodosius from two presbyters belonging to the schismatic group known as Luciferians, refers to the death in exile of *Paulinus (bishop of Trier, ob. 358, S00427) as a martyrdom. Written in Latin, probably in Constantinople, 383/385.
Evidence ID
E02942
Type of Evidence
Literary - Letters
Libellus precum Faustini et Marcellini 77
Sed apud Triueros Bonosus presbyter inclusus intestatus ac diu poenas senex dedit propter obseruantiam intaminatae fidei illius, pro qua et inclytus Paulinus eiusdem ciuitatis episcopus in exilio martyr animam dedit.
'But at Trier, Bonosus the presbyter was imprisoned without a witness against him and long suffered penalties, as an old man, because of his observance of the untainted faith for which the glorious Paulinus too, bishop of the same city, gave up his soul as a martyr in exile.'
Text: Günther 1895, 28.
Translation: David Lambert.
Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Source
The Libellus precum – 'petition of requests' in the translation by Colin M. Whiting – is a petition submitted to the emperor Theodosius by two presbyters named Faustinus and Marcellinus, sometime between the autumn of 383 and the spring of 385. The date range is established by the fact that it was written after the death of the emperor Gratian in August 383, but before that of Pope Damasus in December 384 (or before news of his death had reached the authors, which may not have been until early 385).Various passages in the Libellus show that Faustinus and Marcellinus were resident in Constantinople when they wrote it but were Italian by origin (see PCBE 2, 'Faustinus 2' and 'Marcellinus 3'). They belonged to the group known as 'Luciferians', after Lucifer of Cagliari (ob. 370; PCBE 2, 'Lucifer 1'). These were particularly intransigent opponents of the attempts by the emperor Constantius II (r. 337-361) to impose Homoian (or as his opponents put it, Arian) doctrines on the church. The Luciferians continued the controversy after Constantius' death by demanding that all those in the church who had compromised with him, or held communion with those who had, should be removed from their positions. Since this included the majority of bishops in both East and West, their demands met general opposition, and they quickly came to be regarded as schismatics themselves (for an overview, see Whiting 2019, 1-23).
The petition by Faustinus and Marcellinus complains that they are being treated as heretics, and asks the emperor to vouch for their orthodoxy. It is very long (39 pages in the CSEL edition of the Collectio Avellana), amounting to a short treatise: in effect it is a polemical church history of Constantius' reign and its aftermath, from the point of view of his bitterest opponents (for more detailed discussions, see Canellis 2006, 40-65; Whiting 2019, 24-39). In spite of containing some quite inflammatory opinions about the contemporary church and its leaders, the petition received a positive response: in several manuscripts it is followed by a rescript recognising Faustinus and Marcellinus as orthodox and instructing the Praetorian Prefect to ensure they were protected.
In its surviving manuscripts, the Libellus precum is always transmitted as part of large collections of ecclesiastical documents such as the Collectio Avellana or the Collectio Corbeiensis (Canellis 2006, 66-83). In antiquity it may have circulated as an independent work: Faustinus has an entry in Gennadius of Marseille's De viris illustribus in which it is mentioned (Vir. ill. 16). Gennadius notes that one can tell that Faustinus and Marcellinus were Luciferians since they condemn figures in good standing with the church, such as Hilary of Poitiers and Pope Damasus, as compromisers with the Arians.
Discussion
Paulinus (PCBE 4, 'Paulinus 1') was bishop of Trier from about 347. In the doctrinal conflicts of the 340s and 350s he was an ally of Athanasius, whom he knew personally because of Athanasius' residence in Trier during his exiles of the 330s and early 340s, and a correspondingly vigorous opponent of the emperor Constantius II. In 353 he refused to endorse the condemnation of Athanasius by a church council at Arles and was exiled to Phrygia in Asia Minor, where he died in 358 (the date is given by the Chronicle of Jerome). While Paulinus' exile and death are mentioned by several contemporary authors, the only one to provide any detail is Hilary of Poitiers in his work Against Constantius, written in 359/60 (Flower 2016, 29). Hilary states (Against Constantius 11), that Paulinus, whom he describes as 'a man of blessed suffering', or (possibly) 'of blessed martyrdom' (beatae passionis virum), died because Constantius 'kept changing his place of banishment and wore him out until he died' (ipsum usque ad mortem demutastsi exiliis et fatigasti, trans. Flower 2016, 126). Although the Libellus precum is the only source to refer directly to Paulinus as a martyr, Hilary's account, implying that he died as a result of ill treatment during his exile, comes very close to doing so.In spite of Paulinus' contemporary reputation as a confessor, if not martyr, there is no immediate evidence that he received cult. In later centuries it was believed that his body had been translated back to Trier, and a significant cult centred on his tomb (see E00704), but there is no literary evidence for his cult until it began to be promoted by Nicetius, bishop of Trier in the mid 6th century (see E00755).
The position of this passage in the chronological structure of the Libellus precum indicates that Bonosus (PCBE 4, 'Bonosus 1') was not a contemporary of Paulinus but a more recent victim of persecution, closer to the composition of the Libellus in 383/5.
Bibliography
Editions and translations:Günther, O., Collectio Avellana, vol. 1 (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 35.1; Vienna, 1895), 5-44.
Simonetti, M., Faustini opera (Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 69; Turnhout: Brepols, 1967), 361-391.
Canellis, A., Supplique aux empereurs (Libellus precum et lex Augusta); Précédé de Faustin, confession de foi (Sources chrétiennes 504; Paris, 2006), with annotated French translation.
Whiting, C.M., Documents from the Luciferians: In Defense of the Nicene Creed (Writings from the Greco-Roman World 43; Atlanta: SBL Press, 2019), 62-169. Canellis' text with annotated English translation.
Further reading:
Flower, R., Imperial Invectives against Constantius II (Translated Texts for Historians 67; Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2016).
Pietri, C. and Pietri, L., Prosopographie chrétienne du bas-empire, 2 Prosopographie de l'Italie chretienne (313-604), 2 vols. (Rome 2000: École française de Rome), vol. 1, 747-9, "Faustinus 2;" vol. 2, 1368-70, "Marcellinus 3."
Pietri, L., and Heijmans, M., Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire, 4 Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne (314-614), 2 vols. (Paris 2013), s.v. "Bonosus 1," "Paulinus 1."
Record Created By
David Lambert
Date of Entry
06/02/2026
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00427 | Paulinus, bishop of Trier, ob. 358 | Paulinus | Certain |
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