The Latin Life of the Jura Fathers recounts how *Martin (ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397, S00050) appeared in a vision to *Eugendus (ascetic of the Jura, ob. 512/515S02182), and revealed to him the arrival of a monk from his monastery; Condat, c. 496. Written at Condat in the Jura mountains (modern Saint-Claude in eastern Gaul), 512/525.
Evidence ID
E05947
Type of Evidence
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives
The Life of the Jura Fathers 157-160 (Life of Saint Eugendus the Abbot)
Summary:
157. After describing Eugendus' encounter with three apostles (E05946), the author describes how Eugendus saw Martin of Tours, and was able to describe 'his face and appearance' (uultum atque abitum). Once, when the area around the monastery was being ravaged by attacks by the Alamanni, some monks, intending to obtain salt, therefore travelled as far as the Mediterranean to seek it, encouraged by Eugendus.
158-9. When the men had not returned after two months, some of the monks began to blame Eugendus. Eugendus began to pray for the missing monks. One night as he slept he was surrounded by a bright light, and saw Martin standing by his bed. Martin asked him if all was well, and Eugendus expressed his fears for the missing men.
160. The saint reminded Eugendus that he had commended the monks in prayer to him, and revealed that they were spending the night in a nearby district and one of them would come to the monastery the following day. Then Eugendus announced the revelation to the community. The monk arrived at Condat as predicted.
Text: Martine 1988, 406, 408 and 410.
Summary: Katarzyna Wojtalik, David Lambert.
Non Liturgical ActivityOral transmission of saint-related stories
MiraclesMiracle after death
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - abbots
Oral transmission of saint-related stories
Prayer/supplication/invocation
MiraclesMiracle after death
Miracles experienced by the saint
Apparition, vision, dream, revelation
Revelation of hidden knowledge (past, present and future)
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - abbots
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
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
Martine (407, n. 3) dated this story to the beginning of Eugendus' abbacy because its depiction of the Alamanni as posing a serious threat to the Jura region seems to fit the period before their defeat by Clovis, dated to 496 (the fifteenth year of the reign of Clovis) by Gregory of Tours (Histories 2.30).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. 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
Katarzyna Wojtalik
Date of Entry
12/07/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00050 | Martin, ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397 | Martinus | Certain | S02182 | Eugendus, ascetic in the Jura mountains, ob. 512/515 | Eugendus | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Katarzyna Wojtalik, Cult of Saints, E05947 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E05947