The Latin Life of the Jura Fathers describes how a monk from Condat twice tried to abscond from the monastery after the devil inflamed him with pride. The first time he left but returned after he was chastened by the taunting of the possessed outside the church of *Martin (ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397, S00050) at Tours; the second time his departure was pre-empted by the prayers of *Lupicinus (5th c. ascetic of the Jura, ob. c. 475, S00003); c. 455/c. 475. Written at Condat in the Jura mountains (modern Saint-Claude in eastern Gaul), 512/525.
Evidence ID
E05918
Type of Evidence
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives
The Life of the Jura Fathers 87-91 (Life of Saint Lupicinus the Abbot)
Summary:
Once a monk called Dativus gradually became inflamed with pride, prompted by the devil. He eventually left the monastery in secret, and travelled to Tours, where he went to pray at Martin's shrine. When he entered the forecourt of the basilica and was going into the church to pray (cumque ingressus atrium basilicae beatissimi Martini, aulam quoque ipsam reverenter oraturus intrasset), one of the possessed there cried out to him by name that he belonged among the possessed and was now tamed by the devil. The chastened monk immediately prayed and then returned to the monastery. For a time he shut out the devil, but two years later he was again tempted to leave the monastery. This time Lupicinus perceived that he was about to leave, and prayed that he would not be lost. When he did so, the monk stood stupefied in the courtyard of the monastery, then he collapsed, expelling (exsufflans) the devil from himself. The monk leapt with joy and embraced everyone in the monastery.
Text: Martine 1968, 332, 334 and 336.
Summary: Katarzyna Wojtalik, David Lambert.
Cult PlacesVisiting graves and shrines
MiraclesMiracle during lifetime
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - abbots
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityVisiting graves and shrines
Prayer/supplication/invocation
MiraclesMiracle during lifetime
Exorcism
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - abbots
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
The socially marginal (beggars, prostitutes, thieves)
Demons
Source
The Life of the Jura Fathers (Vita patrum Iurensium) consists of three vitae – of Romanus (ob. 455/460; PCBE 4, 'Romanus 3'), Lupicinus (ob. 472/475; PCBE 4, 'Lupicinus 4'), and Eugendus (ob. 512/515; PCBE 4, 'Eugendus'). Romanus and his brother Lupicinus were the founders of the ascetic communities which grew up in the 5th century in remote rural areas in the Jura mountains of eastern Gaul; Eugendus was their eventual successor in the late 5th century. Romanus' community was located at Condat (Condadisco), modern Saint-Claude, where he seems to have settled sometime in the 430s (to judge from the not always clear chronology of his Life); within a few years he was joined by his younger brother Lupicinus. As the size of the community grew, Lupicinus eventually established his own settlement nearby at Lauconnus (modern Saint-Lupicin). Romanus also founded a female monastic community, headed by his sister (whose name is unknown), at Balma (La Balme, modern Saint-Romain-des-Roches), a few miles from Condat.The Life of the Jura Fathers was written after the death of Eugendus, which occurred in the period 512/515 (the date is established by Avitus of Vienne, Letter 19), probably soon after. François Massai pointed out that in spite of the author's demonstrative reverence for Eugendus, the Life attributes no posthumous miracles to him (Massai 1971, 57), suggesting that it was composed only a short time after his death. More debatably, Massai argued (Massai 1971, 50, 56) that references in the text to the shrine of the Theban Legion at Saint-Maurice-d'Agaune – notably the preface (E05898) and § 44 (E07851) – seem to depict it before its refoundation by the Burgundian prince Sigismund in 515. While not dating the work quite so early, Martine 1968, 56, argued that it influenced the Life of the Abbots of Agaune (E06267), which he dated to the mid 520s.
The Life of the Jura Fathers is anonymous, but the author discloses various details about his life: he seems to have been a native of the Jura region, and he himself was a member of the community at Condat. He knew Eugendus personally, and regularly emphasises that he was a witness of events in Eugendus' time and was told about many earlier events by Eugendus himself. His knowledge of Romanus and Lupicinus came from the traditions of the community and the reminiscences of Eugendus and other older monks (by the time the Life of the Jura Fathers was written, thirty to forty years had passed since the death of Lupicinus, and fifty to sixty since the death of Romanus). On the author, and the information that can be established about him, see Martine 1968, 45-53; Vivian et al. 1999, 48-52.
The author was well-read in Latin ascetic literature: he was certainly familiar with the works of Sulpicius Severus on Martin of Tours, which he sometimes quotes directly. Allusions and references in his work suggest that he also knew the Life of Antony (probably the Latin version by Evagrius, E00930), Jerome's ascetic Lives, Rufinus' Latin version of Eusebius' Church History, and works by Basil of Caesarea (in translation) and John Cassian. See Vivian et al. 1999, 50-51.
For full discussion of the text, author, and date, see primarily the introduction to Martine 1968; see also Vivian et al. 1999, 47-61. For brief accounts of the sites associated with Romanus, Lupicinus and Eugendus, see Vieillard-Troiekouroff 1976, 249-250, 262-264, 273-274. The lives of Romanus and Lupicinus are also recounted by Gregory of Tours in his Life of the Fathers 1 (see E00003, E00004).
(David Lambert)
Discussion
For the possessed (and other people seeking healing or alms) who gathered around Martin's basilica at Tours, see (among many others), E02257, E02935, E03090. For the atrium/forecourt, of which this story is the earliest evidence, see Pietri 1983, 390-398.Bibliography
Edition:Martine, F., Vie des pères du Jura (Sources Chrétiennes 142; Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 1968).
English translation:
Vivian, T., Vivian, K., and Russell, J.B. The Life of the Jura Fathers (Cistercian Studies Series 178; Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1999).
Further reading:
Massai, F., "‘La «Vita patrum iurensium» et les débuts du monachisme à Saint-Maurice d’Agaune," in: J. Autenrieth and F. Brunhölzl (eds.), Festschrift Bernard Bischoff zu seinem 65. Geburtstag (Stuttgart, 1971), 43-69.
Pietri, L., La ville de Tours du IVe au VIe siècle: naissance d’une cite chrétienne (Collection de l’École française de Rome 69; Rome 1983).
Pietri, L. and Heijmans, M., Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire, 4 Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne (314-614), 2 vols. (Paris 2013), vol. 1, 679-683, 'Eugendus', vol. 2, 1194-1199, 'Lupicinus 4', and 1620-1625, 'Romanus 3'.
Vieillard-Troiekouroff, M., Les monuments religieux de la Gaule d'après les œuvres de Grégoire de Tours (Paris, 1976).
Record Created By
David Lambert, Katarzyna Wojtalik
Date of Entry
08/07/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00003 | Romanus and Lupicinus, brothers and founders of the Jura monasteries, mid 5th c. | Certain | S00050 | Martin, ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397 | Martinus | Certain |
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