The Lives of the Fathers of Mérida (4.10), tells the story of a woman, a debtor of Bishop Fidelis (c. 560-570). Fidelis, seriously ill, lies in the basilica of *Eulalia (virgin and martyr of Mérida, S00407) and remits debts, returning pledges; the woman, however, is unable to receive her remission because of the great crowd; at home, she has a vision of the martyrs *Cyprian (bishop and martyr of Carthage, S00411) and *Laurence, (deacon and martyr of Rome, S00037) who say that she failed because she never visited their basilicas. Written in Latin in Mérida (south-west Spain), 633/680.
E03509
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives
Lives of the Fathers of Mérida, 4.10
A certain devout man has a vision predicting the death of Bishop Fidelis. He informs Fidelis about it and the bishop confesses that he is aware that he will soon be dead (see E03511).
[1] Cum que hoc dixisset et inminenti egritudine artubus iam fatescentibus se totum repente dissolui sensisset, ad baselicam sanctissime uirginis Eolalie se deferri precepit. [2] Sua ibidem in primis multis lacrimarum satisfactionibus defleuit delicta. Deinde multis captiuis et egenis multa largitus est stipem. Ad ultimum redditis cirografis cunctorum deuita relaxauit. [3] Sed dum omnibus reddidisset, cautio cuiusdam uidue remanserat que necdum fuerat reddita, quam ille uidue expectaret ut ei redderet, sed quemammodum muliercula pre turbe densitate, qua circumseptus erat, ut accederet non habebat. [4] Que quum per singulos dies ueniret et locum minime repperisset et nimium mestificata mente anxiaret nicil que agens merore afflicta ad suum ospitium remearet, [5] ei quadam nocte sanctissimi Ciprianus et Laurentius martires in uisu adstiterunt dicentes: "Nosti quare locum non inuenis?" At illa respondit: "Nescio". Et illi inquiunt: "Quare per reliquas baselicas fratrum nostrorum ceterorum martirum frequenter concurris, ad nos uenire contemnis?" [6] Que statim surgens ad eorum baselicas concurrit, orationem cum lacrimis fudit, pro neclegentiam retrohacti temporis ueniam implorauit atque inde ad baselicam sancte Eolalie mox rediit, mira celeritate locum repperit, cirografum suum absque ulla difficultate recepit, [7] Deo et sanctis eius inmensas grates retulit pro quod non solum locum paratum inuenire meruit ingrediendi, uerum etiam ita sanctis Dei disponentibus gestum est ut, quando ingressa est, sanctus episcopus cautionem ipsam manu propria tenens prestolaret cui reformare deberet. [8] Atque ita factum est ut, illo benigne reddente atque illa cum gaudio que diu desiderauerat recipiente, paulo post uir sanctus, precedentibus sanctorum cetibus expectantibus que angelicis choris, ad etherea regna tripudiando migraret celestibus que falangiis consertus cum exultatione perpetua perpetim conglobari in sidereis mansionum, Ihesu Domino precipiente, meruerit. Corpusculum uero eius iuxta corpus sanctissimi prodecessoris sui uno eodem que sarcouago traditum ueluti in uno lectulo honorifice est tumulatum.
'1. When he said this and straightaway felt his entire body give way, his limbs losing their strength as the disease fell upon them, he ordered that he be taken to the basilica of the most holy virgin Eulalia. 2. There he first wept for his sins, gaining satisfaction in floods of tears. Then he gave large sums of alms to prisoners and the needy. Finally he remitted everyone’s debts, returning their pledges to them. 3. When he had returned these to one and all, there remained the notice of a certain widow which had not yet been returned. He waited for the widow to return it to her, but, like the feeble woman she was, she was unable to approach him because he was surrounded by a dense crowd. 4. When she had come for several days and had been unable to find a place, she panicked, her mind making her sorrowful, and, achieving nothing, she returned grief-stricken to her lodgings. 5. Then one night the most holy martyrs Cyprian and Laurence appeared before her in a dream and said, "Do you know why you cannot get a place?", and she replied, "I know not." They then said to her, "Why do you often hurry to the basilicas of the rest of our brethren and yet spurn to come to us?" 6. She rose at once and hurried to their basilicas and weeping poured out her prayers, begging pardon for the neglect she had showed in the past. She then went to the basilica of saint Eulalia and with wondrous speed found a place and received her notice without any difficulty. 7. She gave great thanks to God, for she had not only found her appointed place as she entered, but also because it had been so devised by the saints of God that when she had entered the holy bishop had been holding her notice in his hand waiting for the individual to whom he should return it. 8. And it came to pass that after he had in his good will returned it and she had joyfully received what she had long longed for, shortly afterwards the holy man, preceded by the hosts of saints and expectant angelic choruses, passed exultantly to the celestial realms, and joining the heavenly hosts with everlasting joy earned the right, at Lord Jesus' command, to be gathered into the heavenly mansions. 9. His body was placed by that of his most holy predecessor in one and the same tomb and buried with honour in, so to speak, the same bed.'
Text: Maya Sánchez 1992, 44-46 (text numbering from Garvin 1945, as used by Fear).
Translation: Fear 1997, 71-72.
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Visiting graves and shrines
MiraclesApparition, vision, dream, revelation
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Source
The Lives of the Fathers of Mérida (Vitas Sanctorum Patrum Emeretensium) is a complex work that combines features of different genres, such as monastic and episcopal hagiography, biography, lists of bishops, catalogues of important personalities (De viris illustribus, ‘On illustrious men’), and collections of miracles (Arce 1999, 5; Panzram 2007, 180). It consists of five sections (opuscula), which are divided into two parts with their own prefaces: the first part consists of three episodes about ascetic and monastic figures, the second part consists of the Lives of Meridan bishops. The entire work ends with an epilogue (on the composition of which, see Koch 2012, 276 with further references). The author remains anonymous, although he clearly presents himself as a capable writer who is familiar with the forms and topoi of the Christian sermo humilis and as one who wants to shape his work on the model of Gregory the Great’s Dialogues (Panzram 2007, 188–89). In one episode, he also reveals that he is a ‘levite of Christ’. For this reason, and because of the Lives’ focus on Eulalia, the author is usually regarded as a deacon of the martyr’s church in Mérida.The last bishop mentioned in the Lives is Renovatus, who is only known from this work, but must have died before 5 December, 633, when his successor Stephen is attested in the subscriptions of the Fourth Council of Toledo. The episcopate of Stephen (c. 633 - c. 637) is therefore usually regarded as the time when the biography was written. However, the modern editors of the text have noticed that there are two different recensions of the text. The second redaction has a number of distinctive features: it provides the Lives with a new, more detailed title that emphasises Eulalia’s miracles more strongly; there are a number of minor interpolations, including one from the Life of Fructuosus of Braga (written around 650, E04066); and several rewordings and revisions of the text (see Maya Sanchez 1992: xxxi-xliii). On the basis of additions in the manuscripts of the second redaction, in which Bishop Festus is mentioned, Maya Sanchez has suggested that the second redaction should be dated to the episcopate of this bishop, and so between 672 and 680.
Almost all manuscripts of the Lives are associated with the hagiographical compilation of Valerius of Bierzo (before 695). The earliest surviving manuscripts of the first redaction date from the 10th century, the earliest manuscript of the second redaction from the 11th century. See the stemma codicum in Maya Sanchez 1992: lviii.
[Source discussion revised on 15 April 2024]
Bibliography
Editions:Garvin, J.N., The Vitas Sanctorum Patrum Emeretensium (Washington, 1946).
Maya Sánchez, A., Vitas sanctorum patrum Emeretensium (Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 116; Turnhout, 1992).
English translation:
Fear. A.T., Lives of the Visigothic Fathers (Translated Texts for Historians 26; Liverpool, 1997), 45-105.
Further reading:
Arce, Javier. ‘The City of Mérida (Emerita) in the Vitas Patrum Emeritensium (VIth Century A.D.)’. In East and West: Modes of Communication. Proceedings of the Frist Plenary Conference at Mérida, edited by Evangelos Chrysos and Ian Wood, 1–14. Leiden: Brill, 1999.
Diaz y Diaz, M.D., "Passionnaires, légendiers et compilations hagiographiques dans le haut Moyen Age espagnol," in: Hagiographie, Cultures, et Sociétés, IVe-XIIe siècles. Actes du colloque organisé à Nanterre et à Paris, 2-5 mai 1979 (Paris, 1981), 49-61.
Koch, Manuel. Ethnische Identität im Entstehungsprozess des spanischen Westgotenreiches. Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde 75. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2012.
Panzram, Sabine. ‘Eulalia und die Bischöfe von Merida. Von der “Handlungsmacht” einer Heiligen zur Zeit der Westgoten.’ In Formen und Funktionen von Leitbildern, edited by Johannes Hahn and Meinhof Vielberg, 177–225. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 2007.
Marta Szada
01/08/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00037 | Laurence/Laurentius, deacon and martyr of Rome | Laurentius | Certain | S00407 | Eulalia, virgin and martyr of Mérida | Eolalia | Certain | S00411 | Cyprian, bishop and martyr of Carthage | Ciprianus | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Marta Szada, Cult of Saints, E03509 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E03509