Paulinus of Nola, in a letter to Sulpicius Severus of c. 400 (Letter 29), describes the visit of *Melania the Elder (aristocrat of Rome, monastic founder in Jerusalem, ob. AD 410, S01185) to the shrine of *Felix (priest and confessor of Nola, S00000) at Nola/Cimitile (southern Italy). Her sanctity is referred to using hagiographic tropes and her clothes are believed to impart spiritual benefit. Written in Latin at Nola.
E05102
Literary - Letters
Paulinus of Nola
Paulinus of Nola, Letter 29 (to Sulpicius Severus)
Throughout this letter, Paulinus draws attention to Melania’s asceticism and sanctity using hagiographic tropes. She is a 'soldier of Christ with the virtues of Martin' [of Tours]’ (virtutibus Martini miles Christi) (6) and is likened to *John (the Baptist, S00020) (7). Paulinus describes her childhood and ascetic conversion (8-10); her persecution under the Emperor Valens (ob. 378) (11); and her humility and ascetic virtues (12).
Paulinus contrasts her humble clothing with that of her children, dressed in silk, and describes the spiritual benefits they, the children, hope to gain from touching Melania and her garments (12):
Illi sericati et pro suo quisque sexu toga aut stola soliti splendere filii crassam illam uelut spartei staminis tunicam et uile palliolum gaudebant manu tangere, et uestimenta sua uelleris auro et arte pretiosa pedibus eius substernere pannis que conteri gestiebant, expiari se a diuitiarum suarum contagio iudicantes, si quam de uilissimo eius habitu aut uestigio sordem conligere mererentur.
'Those silk clad children of hers, though accustomed to the splendour of a toga or a dress according to their sex, took joy in touching that thick tunic of hers, with its hard threads like broom, and her cheap cloak. They longed to have their woollen garments, so valuable with their golden embroidery, trodden down beneath her feet or worn away with the rubbing of her rags. For they thought that they were cleansed from the pollution of their riches if they succeeded in gathering some of the dirt from her tawdry clothing or her feet.'
Text: Hartel 1894.
Translation: Walsh 1966-7.
Summary: Frances Trzeciak.
Cult building - secondary installation (fountain, pilgrims’ hostel)
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityComposing and translating saint-related texts
Pilgrimage
Visiting graves and shrines
RelicsContact relic - dust/sand/earth
Touching and kissing relics
Contact relic - saint’s possession and clothes
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Relatives of the saint
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Source
Letter 29 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. This letter dates from c. 400.Bibliography
Edition:Hartel, W., Sancti Pontii Meropii Paulini Epistulae, 2nd ed., revised M. Kamptner (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 29; Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna, 1999).
Translation:
Walsh, P.G., Letters of St. Paulinus of Nola, vol. 2 (Ancient Christian Writers 35; Westminster MD: Newman Press, 1967).
Further Reading:
Conybeare, Catherine, Paulinus Noster: Self and Symbols in the Letters of Paulinus of Nola (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000).
Trout, Dennis, Paulinus of Nola: Life, Letters and Poems (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999).
Frances Trzeciak
20/02/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00000 | Felix, priest and confessor of Nola | Felix | Certain | S00020 | John the Baptist | Iohhanes | Certain | S00050 | Martin, ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397 | Martinus | Certain | S01185 | Melania the Elder, aristocrat of Rome, monastic founder in Jerusalem, ob. 410 | Melania | Certain |
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