Agnellus of Ravenna, writing in 830/846 in his Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiae Ravennatis (22), states that Bishop Liberius III (ob. c. 405) built and was buried in a monasterium at Ravenna (northern Italy) dedicated to *Pullio (martyred lector of Cibalae in Pannonia, S00694). Written in Latin at Ravenna.
Evidence ID
E05770
Type of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Major author/Major anonymous work
Agnellus of Ravenna
Agnellus of Ravenna, Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiae Ravennatis 22
Sepultus que est in monasterio sancti Pullionis, quem suis temporibus aedificatum est, non longe a porta quae uocatur Noua; cuius sepulchrum nobis cognitum est.
‘And he [Liberius III, bishop of Ravenna, ob. c. 405] was buried in the monasterium of St Pullio, which was built in his time, not far from the gate which is called the Porta Nova; his tomb is known to us.’
Text: Deliyannis 2006
Translation: Deliyannis 2004
Cult PlacesCult building - monastic
Non Liturgical Activity
Cult building - monastic
Cult building - dependent (chapel, baptistery, etc.)
Non Liturgical ActivityBurial ad sanctos
Source
Agnellus of Ravenna (ob. c. 846) was a deacon of the cathedral in Ravenna. He wrote his Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiae Ravennatis between 830 and 846, following the model of the Roman Liber Pontificalis, with biographies of all the bishops of Ravenna from the legendary founder bishop Apollinaris to those active in his own day. The text is preserved in two manuscripts: one from the 15th c. (Modena, Biblioteca Estense Cod. Lat. 371 X.P.4.9.) and a fragmentary manuscript from the 16th c. in the Vatican Library (MS Vat. Lat. 5834). Agnellus based his account of the lives of the late-antique bishops on documents preserved in Ravenna, stories which had been transmitted orally, and on the inscriptions and mosaics which were visible in his day.For our purposes, Agnellus is most important as an author who recorded the dedicatory inscriptions and mosaics of the late-antique churches of the city and its surroundings, often transcribing inscriptions verbatim and thereby preserving the text of many inscriptions that are now lost. Comparison between Agnellus' transcriptions and the text of inscriptions that survive show him to have been an essentially accurate observer and transcriber.
Agnellus also records many late-antique dedications to saints, without quoting, or even citing, his source. These references are, of course, far less reliable than the instances when he quotes an original text. We have included several of these in our database, since Agnellus was well-informed, particularly when it came to ecclesiastical buildings, but have been careful to flag them as potentially unreliable.
Discussion
J. M. Stansterre and E. Morini have both convincingly shown that, throughout Agnellus’ account, monasterium can be used to mean any foundation – for example a chapel or church. In this case Agnellus is probably describing a funerary chapel. The information he gives about the date of this chapel is likely to be accurate, but whether it was, from its origin, dedicated to Pullio, the martyr of Cibalae, is less certain.Agnellus is likely to have derived the date from an inscription - very possibly the epitaph on Liberius' tomb, a tomb which he had seen. That the chapel was from the time of its foundation dedicated to Pullio is possible but less certain: it could have acquired this dedication at some point in the intervening centuries up to Agnellus' day.
Bibliography
Text:Deliyannis, Deborah Mauskopf, Agnelli Ravennatis Liber pontificalis ecclesiae Ravennatis (Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis 199; Turnhout, 2006).
Translation:
Deliyannis, Deborah Mauskopf, The Book of Pontiffs of the Church of Ravenna (Washington D.C., 2004).
Further Reading:
Deichmann, Friedrich Wilhelm, Ravenna, Hauptstadt des spätantiken Abendlandes, vol. 1-3, (Wiesbaden, 1958-89).
Deliyannis, Deborah Mauskopf, Ravenna in Late Antiquity (Cambridge, 2010).
Mackie, Gillian, Early Christian Chapels in the West: Decoration, Function and Patronage (Toronto, 2003).
Moffat, Ann, "Sixth Century Ravenna from the Perspective of Abbot Agnellus," in: P. Allen and E.M. Jeffreys (eds,), The Sixth Century – End or Beginning? (Brisbane, 1996), 236-246.
Morini, E., "Le strutture monastische a Ravenna," in: Storia di Ravenna, 2.2, Dall’età bizantia all’ età ottania, ed. A. Carile (Ravenna, 1992), 305-312.
Schoolman, Edward, Rediscovering Sainthood in Italy: Hagiography and the Late Antique Past in Medieval Ravenna (Basingstoke, 2016).
Stansterre, J. M., "Monaci e monasteri greci a Ravenna," in: Storia di Ravenna, 2.1, Dall’età bizantia all’ età ottania, ed. A. Carile (Ravenna, 1992), 323-329.
Verhoeven, Mariëtte, The Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna: Transformations and Memory (Turnhout, 2011).
Record Created By
Frances Trzeciak
Date of Entry
13/07/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00694 | Pullio, martyred lector of Cibalae in Pannonia | Pullio | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Frances Trzeciak, Cult of Saints, E05770 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E05770