Anonymous Latin sermon ('Eusebius Gallicanus', Sermones extravagantes 1) on the discovery of the relics of *Stephen (the First Martyr, S00030), including passages in which the preacher attacks those who say there is no biblical authority for venerating martyrs. Probably composed in Gaul in the 5th century.
E06039
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Eusebius Gallicanus
[Eusebius Gallicanus], Sermones extravagantes 1: On the revelation of the body of the blessed Stephen (De revelatione corporis beati Stephani)
Summary:
(1.) The preacher begins by saying that, in the reading, they have just heard about a vision celebrated by all the churches, one that was proved true by events [i.e. the vision which revealed Stephen's tomb]. Where are those who say that the martyrs should not be honoured? Why, when Stephen had long been in paradise, was his body revealed by God, except as a command that he should be honoured?
(2.) The account of his discovery says that birds and beasts did not harm his body. So those who believe the bodies of martyrs should not be honoured are more cruel than wild animals.
(3-6.) The preacher narrates Stephen's martyrdom as given in Acts 6-7.
(7-8.) Yet someone says there is no authority in Scripture for honouring the martyrs. The preacher quotes from the Psalms: How greatly are your friends to be honoured by me, God? [Vulgate text of Psalm 138]. Honouring God's friends [i.e. the martyrs] is honouring God. Similarly the saying: Who does this for one out of these least of mine, does it for me [Matt. 25:40].
The preacher concludes by explaining the benefits the martyrs provide for those who honour them:
(7.) [...] Humanis ergo infirmitatibus hos medicatores prouidentia diuina constituit, ut mutuo iucundoque commercio et intercessor cultore et cultor intercessore suo <honoretur>. (8.) Quae cum ita sint, carissimi, sacros ac uenerandos martyrum cineres tota qua possumus uirtute ueneremur, ut ueniam delictorum nostrorum, quam nostris meritis obtinere non ualemus, eorum suffragiis impetremus [...]
'(7.) ... Divine providence has therefore established these physicians for human weaknesses, so that by a mutual and pleasing exchange, both the intercessor is honoured in their worshipper and the worshipper in their intercessor. (8.) Since these things are so, dearly beloved, we should honour the sacred and venerable remains of the martyrs with all the strength we can, so that forgiveness of our sins, which we are not capable of obtaining through our own merits, we may be granted through their patronage ...'
Text: Glorie 1971, 821-4.
Summary: David Lambert.
Sermon/homily
FestivalsSaint’s feast
Cult PlacesBurial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Rejection, Condemnation, SceptisismScepticism/rejection of the cult of saints
Rejection of the cult of relics
Non Liturgical ActivitySaint as patron - of an individual
RelicsBodily relic - entire body
Theorising on SanctityConsiderations about the veneration of saints
Considerations about the validity of cult forms
Source
This is one of nine additional sermons (the sermones extravagantes) printed by Glorie as an appendix to his edition of Eusebius Gallicanus. These sermons were not transmitted as part of the Eusebius Gallicanus collection, but Glorie included them because he thought they originated from the same general milieu in 5th or 6th century Gaul (Glorie 1970, xxi).The sermon is attributed in the manuscripts to a 'Bishop Faustus', presumably Faustus of Riez (ob. c. 485), but it is not clear how reliable this is. There is no other indication as to authorship or place of origin.
Discussion
This sermon would have been preached on Stephen's feast day, 26 December. It evidently followed a reading of one of the Latin versions of the story of the discovery of Stephen's tomb (E07606, E07864). The sermon is striking not for what it says about Stephen (§§ 3-6), a conventional rhetorical elaboration of incidents from the account of his martyrdom in the Acts of the Apostles, but for the way in which it is directed at an imagined opponent who rejected the cult of martyrs and the veneration of relics. The opening of the sermon (§§ 1-2) cites the discovery of Stephen's remains long after his death as proof that God had preserved and then revealed them for veneration. It closes (§§ 7-8) by responding to the objection that veneration for the martyrs is not commanded in the Bible by citing biblical passages (whose relevance is actually somewhat tenuous), and finally praising the role of the martyrs as patrons and intercessors.It is not clear precisely who the preacher was aiming at in these passages. Glorie (note on p. 821) identifies the target as Vigilantius, a Gallic priest who wrote a book criticising the veneration of relics (among other things). This does not survive, and is known only through Jerome's Contra Vigilantium, written to attack it (see E08325). This identification raises a number of problems, however. The controversy over Vigilantius' ideas took place at the very beginning of the 5th century, around 404-406, and there is no evidence that it persisted. This sermon was preached only after the discovery of Stephen's relics in 415, and the subsequent availability of an account of this event in Latin, perhaps long after (we have no way of telling). One of the arguments it addresses, that there is no scriptural authority for the veneration of relics, is also one that was not made by Vigilantius (or at any rate not mentioned by Jerome in his response). On the other hand, no one else with views similar to Vigilantius is known in Gaul on the 5th or 6th century. It may be that the preacher had no particular opponent in mind, though that raises the question of why he felt it worth devoting so much of a sermon to attacking ideas that (as far as we can tell) had no significant following.
Bibliography
Edition:Glorie, F., Eusebius 'Gallicanus'. Sermones extravagantes (Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 101B; Turnhout: Brepols, 1971), 821-824.
Further reading:
Glorie, F., "Prolegomena," in: Eusebius 'Gallicanus'. Collectio Homiliarum I (Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 101; Turnhout: Brepols, 1970), vii-xxiii.
David Lambert
30/11/2023
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00030 | Stephen, the First Martyr | Stephanus | Certain |
|---|
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