In Praise of St John, a Latin metrical account of the life of *John the Baptist (S00020), possibly by Paulinus bishop of Nola (ob. c. 431); John’s gifts of prophecy and ability to cleanse the sins of others are emphasised. Written in Gaul, probably in the 5th c.
E04654
Literary - Poems
Literary - Hagiographical - Other saint-related texts
Paulinus of Nola
Pseudo-Paulinus, In Praise of St John
Summary:
Zachary, a priest, was told by an angel that he and his wife, Elizabeth were to bear a holy son who would possess many virtues and who would be called John. This son will cleanse sinners and be a paragon of sobriety (lines 27-107). This is followed by an account of the Annunciation to Mary (lines 108-138). John’s future greatness is revealed both within the womb – when he moved as the pregnant Mary came near (lines 139-172) – and throughout his childhood (lines 205-219). As he became an adult, John retreated to the wilderness and his bodily deprivations are described (lines 219-254). He is called by God to cleanse sinners with the waters of the river Jordan (lines 255-268). God’s mercy in cleansing sins is praised (lines 269-302). John is explicitly identified as a miracle worker and prophet who paves the way for Christ’s coming (lines 303-328).
Summary: Frances Trzeciak.
Composing and translating saint-related texts
Transmission, copying and reading saint-related texts
MiraclesMiracle during lifetime
Apparition, vision, dream, revelation
Unspecified miracle
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Relatives of the saint
Other lay individuals/ people
Angels
Source
This metrical account of the life of John the Baptist is largely based on the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke, with additional material on John’s childhood (lines 205-219). For a long time, it was attributed to Paulinus, bishop of Nola (ob. 431) and dated to around 389/90 when Paulinus was seeking a life of greater Christian commitment. It was edited as Paulinus' 'Carmen 6' by Wilhelm Hartel (1894), while Dennis Trout argued that Paulinus sent this poem to Jerome whose lukewarm response to it can be observed in Jerome's Letter 58.More recently, however, the attribution of this poem to Paulinus has been challenged, prominently by Franz Dolveck. The work is only attested in two manuscripts: Paris, BnF, lat. 8093 and Paris, BnF, lat. 7558 both of which were written in the ninth century in Lyon. In neither manuscript is the poem attributed to Paulinus. There is, in Dolveck’s view, too little evidence to connect the poem with Paulinus. Instead, he argues that it is a product of fifth-century Gaul with some ninth-century additions.
Bibliography
Edition:W. Hartel, Paulinus of Nola. Carmina, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 30 (Vienna, 1894), 7-18.
Translation:
P.G. Walsh, The Poems of Paulinus of Nola, Ancient Christian Writers (New York: Newman Press, 1975), 39-50.
Further Reading:
Franz Dolveck, "L’ultime commerce épistolaire d’Ausone et de Paulin de Nole," Mélanges de l’Ecole française de Rome. Antiquité, 127:1 (2015). Online: DOI : 10.4000/mefra.2789
Dennis Trout, Paulinus of Nola: Life, Letters and Poems (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999).
Franz Dolveck, Carmina, Paulini Nolani, Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 21 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2015).
Frances Trzeciak
23/01/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00020 | John the Baptist | Iohannes | Certain |
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Frances Trzeciak, Cult of Saints, E04654 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E04654