Paulinus of Nola, in a letter to Sulpicius Severus, of c. 400 (Letter 29), describes how he reads aloud the Life of Martin (ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397, S00050) to prominent guests at his monastery. Written in Latin at Nola (southern Italy).
E05103
Literary - Letters
Paulinus of Nola
Paulinus of Nola, Letter 29.14 (to Sulpicius Severus)
Extract:
Non tuli, frater, ut te ista nesciret. ut gratiam in te dei plenius nosceret, tuo te illi magis quam meo sermone patefeci. Martinum enim nostrum illi studiosissimae talium historiarum ipse recitaui. Quo genere te et uenerabili episcopo atque doctissimo Nicetae, qui ex Dacia Romanis merito admirandus aduenerat, et plurimis dei sanctis in ueritate non magis tui praedicator quam mei iactans reuelaui.
‘My brother, I could not allow her [Melania the Elder] to continue to be ignorant of you. So that she might more fully recognise the grace of God in you, I made you plain to her through your own words rather than mine, for with my own lips I declaimed to her our Life of Martin. She is most interested in such historical works. In the same manner I portrayed you to the most learned bishop Nicetas, who arrived from Dacia, a figure rightly admired by the Romans, and also to very many holy men abiding in God’s truth’.
Text: Hartel 1894.
Translation: Walsh 1967, lightly modified.
Transmission, copying and reading saint-related texts
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Source
Letter 27 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 fourth and early fifth 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.Discussion
In this passage, Paulinus refers to the Life of Martin of Tours, composed by Sulpicius Severus around 397 (E00692). Severus had sent the Life to Paulinus shortly after its composition (E05093).The rest of the letter narrates the sanctity of *Melania the Elder (Roman aristocrat and monastic founder in Jerusalem, ob. 410, S01185) using hagiographic tropes (see E05102). This reference to the Life of Martin -- should be understood as a continuation on this theme.
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 | S00050 | Martin, ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397 | Martinus | Certain |
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