Gregory of Tours, in his Miracles of Julian (48), recounts how a possessed man and girl were exorcised with relics of *Julian (martyr of Brioude, S00035), that were being carried by Nannius, a priest; the man at the church near Brioude of *Ferreolus (soldier and martyr of Vienne, S01893). Written in Latin in Clermont and Tours (central and north-west Gaul), 573/587.
Evidence ID
E05268
Type of Evidence
Literary - Hagiographical - Collections of miracles
Major author/Major anonymous workGregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours, Miracles of Julian (Liber de passione et virtutibus sancti Iuliani martyris) 48
Summary:
Nannius, a priest of the domus Vibriacensis, acquired some relics (reliquias) of Julian [from his shrine at Brioude] at the command of Avitus [bishop of Clermont]. While journeying back, at the church of Saint Ferreolus near Brioude, a possessed man was cured, and, further on in his journey, a possessed girl.
Text: Krusch 1969, 133.
Summary: Katarzyna Wojtalik.
Cult PlacesMiracle after death
RelicsEcclesiastics - lesser clergy
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityVisiting graves and shrines
MiraclesMiracle after death
Exorcism
RelicsUnspecified relic
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - lesser clergy
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Other lay individuals/ people
Children
Source
Gregory, of a prominent Clermont family with extensive ecclesiastical connections, was bishop of Tours from 573 until his death (probably in 594). He was the most prolific hagiographer of all Late Antiquity. He wrote four books on the miracles of Martin of Tours, one on those of Julian of Brioude, and two on the miracles of other saints (the Glory of the Martyrs and Glory of the Confessors), as well as a collection of twenty short Lives of sixth-century Gallic saints (the Life of the Fathers). He also included a mass of material on saints in his long and detailed Histories, and produced two independent short works: a Latin version of the Acts of Andrew and a Latin translation of the story of The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus.The Miracles of Julian, full title Martyrdom and Miracles of the Martyr Saint Julian (Liber de passione et virtutibus sancti Iuliani martyris), consists of 50 chapters. It opens with a brief account of Julian's martyrdom and of the discovery of his head in Vienne (chapters 1 and 2), followed by 48 chapters of miracles effected by the saint, primarily at his tomb in Brioude (south of Clermont, central Gaul), but also through relics distributed in other areas of Gaul (and in one case, chapter 33, even in an unnamed 'city of the East').
Brioude and the shrine of Julian are within the ancient territory of Clermont, Gregory's native city, and the attachment that he and his wider family felt towards Julian is manifest in a number of stories in the Miracles, including evidence that Gregory often attended the feast of the saint on 28 August. In chapter 50 Gregory addresses Julian as his patron and asks for his support through the remainder of his life.
Gregory wrote the Miracles of Julian over an extended period, very possibly starting before he became bishop of Tours in 573. Statements he makes in chapters 32 and 34 suggest that he initially planned to draw the book to a close with less chapters than the fifty we have, and that this was soon after his consecration to Tours; but, learning later of more miracles (primarily from Aredius of Limoges, chapters 41-45) and himself witnessing a further miracle (chapter 46a), he extended the book to 50 chapters, completing these in the early or mid 580s. Chapter 50 addresses the reader in a valedictory tone, with a personal invocation of Julian; but it is possible that the work was never published in Gregory's lifetime.
For discussion of the work, see:
Krusch B., Gregorii Turonensis Gregorii episcopi Turonensis Miracula et opera minora (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum I.2; 2nd ed.; Hannover, 1969), 2.
Monod G., Études critiques sur les sources de l’histoire mérovingienne, 1e partie (Paris, 1872), 42–45.
Van Dam, R., Saints and their Miracles in Late Antique Gaul (Princeton, 1993), 162-163.
Shaw R., "Chronology, Composition and Authorial Conception in the Miracula," in: A.C. Murray (ed.), A Companion to Gregory of Tours (Leiden/Boston, 2015), 102–140.
Discussion
The location of this domus Vibriacensis, where Nannius was the priest and where the relics were to be placed cannot be identified. For more details, see Vieillard-Troiekouroff 1976, 352.The church of Ferreolus was near Brioude, at the spring where Julian's head had been washed and collected by Ferreolus, after Julian's decapitation: see Miracles of Julian 25 (E05203).
Bibliography
Edition:Krusch B., Gregorii episcopi Turonensis Miracula et opera minora (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum I.2; 2nd ed.; Hannover 1969), 112–134.
Translation:
de Nie. G., Lives and Miracles: Gregory of Tours (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 39; Cambridge MA, 2015).
Van Dam, R., Saints and their Miracles in Late Antique Gaul (Princeton, 1993), 200–303.
Further reading:
Murray A.C. (ed.), A Companion to Gregory of Tours (Leiden and Boston, 2015).
Shanzer, D., "So Many Saints – So Little Time ... the Libri Miraculorum of Gregory of Tours," Journal of Medieval Latin 13 (2003), 19–63.
Vieillard-Troiekouroff, M., Les monuments religieux de la Gaule d’après les oeuvres de Grégoire de Tours (Paris, 1976).
Record Created By
Katarzyna Wojtalik
Date of Entry
26/03/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00035 | Julian, martyr of Brioude (southern Gaul) | Certain | S01893 | Ferreolus, soldier and martyr of Vienne | Ferreolus | Certain |
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Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
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