Paulinus of Nola, in a letter to Sulpicius Severus of c. 403 (Letter 31), responds to a request for saintly relics for the new church Sulpicius has built at Primuliacum (southern Gaul), by saying that he needs all the relics he has for his own church at Nola (southern Italy); however he sends Severus a fragment of the True Cross. The letter also refers to a certain Silvia in possession of relics of many eastern martyrs. Written in Latin at Nola (southern Italy).
E02995
Literary - Letters
Paulinus of Nola
Paulinus of Nola, Letter 31.1-2
SANCTO FRATRI ET VNANIMO SEVERO PAVLINVS
(1.) Frater Victor inter alias operum tuorum et uotorum narrationes retulit nobis desiderare te ad basilicam, quam modo apud Primuliacum nostram maiorem priore condideris, de sacris sanctorum reliquiis benedictionem, qua adornetur domestica tua ecclesia, ut fide et gratia tua dignum est. Testis est autem dominus quod, si uel scripulum sacri cineris habuissemus supra quam nobis ad basilicam, quae proxime in nomine domini consummabitur, dedicandam necessarium erit, misissemus unanimitati tuae; sed quia nos non habuimus huius muneris copiam et ille se spem eiusdem gratiae copiosam habere dixit a sancta Siluia, quae illi de multorum ex Oriente martyrum reliquiis spopondisset, inuenimus quod digne et ad basilicae sanctificationem uobis et ad sanctorum cinerum cumulandam benedictionem mitteremus, partem particulae de ligno diuinae crucis. Quod nobis bonum benedicta Melanius ab Hierusalem munere sancti inde episcopi Iohannis adtulit, hoc specialiter sorori nostrae uenerabili Bassulae misit conserua communis; sed quod alteri uestrum datur utriusque uestrum est, quia in utroque uestrum una ratio manet et sexum euacuat fides, qua in uirum perfectum ambo concurritis. Accipite ergo ab unanimis fratribus in omni bono uestrum sibi consortium cupientibus, accipite magnum in modico munus et in segmento pene atomo hastulae breuis sumite munimentum praesentis et pignus aeternae salutis. Non angustetur fides uestra carnalibus oculis parua cernentibus, sed interna acie totam in hoc minimo uim crucis uideat. Dum uidere uos cogitatis lignum illud, quo salus nostra, quo dominus maiestatis adfixus tremente mundo pependerit, exultetis cum tremore. Recordemur et petras fissas ad huius adspectum crucis, et saltem saxorum aemulatione praecordia nostra findamus timore diuino. Reputemus et uelum templi eodem crucis mysterio scissum et intellegamus illius ueli scissuram eo fuisse praetentam, ut audientes uocem domini et mysterium pietatis inmensae non obduremus corda nostra, sed a carnalibus diuidamur et scindamus infidelitatis uelamen, ut reuelata cordis facie salutarium dei munerum sacramenta uideamus.
(2.) Non autem uobis et hoc scribimus, ut imitemini conpositionem istam, qua tubello aureolo rem tantae benedictionis inclusimus. Magis enim nos tali paratu fidem uestram imitati sumus, ut uestram uobis formulam mitteremus in specie auri, quia scimus uos ut aurum ignitum intra uos habere regnum dei hoc est fidem crucis, qua regnum caelorum inuaditur. Si enim, inquit, conpatiamur, et conregnabimus. Et ideo non ad fidei firmamentum, quia uisionem fide praeuenistis, sed propter meritum fidei, quam auditu receptam factu probatis, misimus uobis donum in domino ligni salutaris, ut et corpore possideretis quam tenetis spiritu et propositi uirtute portatis.
'Paulinus greets his holy and loving brother Severus.
(1.) In telling me of your other activities and desires, our brother Victor has reported to me that you desire for our basilica, which you have built in the village of Primuliacum on bigger lines than your previous one, some blessed object from the sacred relics of the saints, with which to adorn your family church in a manner worthy of your faith and service. The Lord is my witness that if I had even the smallest measure of sacred ashes over and above what we shall find necessary for the dedication of the basilica soon to be completed here in the Lord's name, I should have sent it to you, my loving brother. But because I did not possess abundance of such a gift, and because Victor said that he had great hope of a similar favour from the holy Silvia who had promised him some of the relics of many eastern martyrs, I have found instead a fragment of a sliver of wood of the holy Cross to send you as a worthy gift. This will enhance both the consecration of your basilica and your holy collection of sacred ashes. This goodly gift was brought to me from Jerusalem by the blessed Melania, a gift of the holy bishop John there; my fellow servant Therasia has sent it specially to our venerable sister Bassula. Though presented to one of you, it belongs to you both, for you are both animated by a single vocation, and the faith which brings you together into a perfect man empties you of your sex. So from your loving brethren, who long to associate with you in every good, receive this gift which is great in small compass. In this almost indivisible particle of a small sliver take up the protection of your immediate safety, and the guarantee of your eternal salvation. Let not your faith shrink because the eyes of the body behold evidence so small; let it look with the inner eye on the whole power of the cross in this tiny segment. Once you think that you behold the wood on which our Salvation, the Lord of majesty, was hanged with nails whilst the world trembled, you, too, must tremble, but you must also rejoice. Let us remember that the rocks were rent when this cross was seen; so let us imitate the rocks at least, and rend our hearts with fear of God. Let us recall that the veil of the temple was also rent by this same mystery of the cross. We must realise that the rending of this veil was revealed to us that, hearing the voice of the Lord and the mystery of His boundless love, we may refrain from hardening our hearts, and may sunder ourselves from things of the flesh and rend in two the veil of unbelief. So, when we have uncovered the surface of our hearts, we may behold the mysteries of the saving gifts of God.
(2.) But I do not also bid you imitate the arrangement by which I have enclosed the relic, which imparts a great blessing, in a golden casing. Rather in this adornment I have imitated your faith. I sent you your own exemplar clothed with gold, for I know that you have within you, like gold tried in the fire, the kingdom of God: in other words, faith in the cross, by which we enter the kingdom of heaven. As Scripture says, if we suffer with Him we shall also reign with Him. So this is given not to strengthen your faith, because you believed before you saw, but because of the merit of your faith, which you received by hearing the word and now prove in action. This is why I have sent you this gift of wood bearing salvation in the Lord, so that you might both physically possess the cross which you hold in spirit and carry with the strength of your vocation.'
Following this passage, Paulinus goes on narrate the discovery of the cross by *Helena, the mother of Constantine (E02994).
Text: Hartel/Kamptner 1999.
Translation: Walsh 1967.
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityBequests, donations, gifts and offerings
RelicsTransfer, translation and deposition of relics
Reliquary – privately owned
Privately owned relics
Transfer/presence of relics from distant countries
Bodily relic - corporeal ashes/dust
Collections of multiple relics
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - lesser clergy
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Women
Aristocrats
Cult Related ObjectsPrecious material objects
Source
Letter 31 in the letter collection of Paulinus of Nola (ob. 431). It is one of many letters which Paulinus addressed to aristocratic and ascetic Roman circles in the later 4th and early 5th centuries. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Paulinus did not curate any collection of his letters: instead collections were compiled by friends and admirers. The letter was written after the visit to Nola of Melania the Elder in 400 but before the dedication of the basilica at Primuliacum in 403/4 (Walsh 1967, 327, n. 1).Discussion
Paulinus writes this letter in response to Severus' request for relics to adorn his church at in Primuliacum (modern day Prémillac) in southern Gaul. The presence of the True Cross at Primuliacum is referred to again Paulinus' Letter 32 (see E05104). Paulinus had received a fragment of the True Cross from Melania the Elder (Roman aristocrat and monastic founder in Jerusalem, ob. AD 410). The relic he sent to Severus came from this larger fragment. It was apparently sent to Severus in a richly decorated gold reliquary.Relics of Christ are not covered by the CSLA database, which is focused on the cult of saints. However, this text, although primarily about a relic of the Crucifixion, is also highly informative on the subject of saintly relics and their distribution (or non-distribution). Sulpicius Severus had requested for his new church 'some blessed object from the sacred relics of the saints', but Paulinus is not willing to give up 'even the smallest measure of sacred ashes', despite being in control of the entire body of *Felix of Nola (priest and confessor of Nola, S00000). From one of his poems, Natalicia 6 (E05123), we know that Paulinus regularly created contact relics from the body of Felix, by pouring oil into the tomb, and collecting it after it had been in contact with the saint; but he was not willing to part with anything that could be considered part of the body itself.
We also learn from this letter of the 'holy Silvia', who was in possession of 'relics of many eastern martyrs', in other words owned a substantial private relic-collection. She can be identified as Silvia, or Silvania, the virgin sister-in-law of a prominent Gaulish aristocrat (and so probably Gaulish herself), who travelled with Palladius, the author of the Lausiac History, from Jerusalem to Egypt in around 388 (PLRE I, 842, 'Silvia'), which is presumably when she collected these relics. Whether they were contact relics or corporeal is not stated in Paulinus' letter.
Finally, although the primary relic concerned is of the True Cross, this passage offers an eloquent example of the theory that even the smallest fragmentary relic encapsulated the full sacred power of the object or body from which it was taken.
Bibliography
Edition:Hartel, W., Sancti Pontii Meropii Paulini Epistulae, 2nd ed., revised M. Kamptner (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 29; Vienna, 1999).
Translation:
Walsh, P.G., Letters of St. Paulinus of Nola, vol. 1 (Ancient Christian Writers 35; Westminster MD, 1967).
Further Reading:
Conybeare, C., Paulinus Noster: Self and Symbols in the Letters of Paulinus of Nola (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000).
PLRE I = Jones, A.H.M., Martindale, J.R. and Morris, J., The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Volume I A.D. 260-395 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971).
Trout, D., Paulinus of Nola: Life, Letters and Poems (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999).
David Lambert
23/10/2020
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00060 | Martyrs, unnamed or name lost | Certain |
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