Hilary of Arles, in his Sermon on the Life of Honoratus, describes how, when *Honoratus (founder of Lérins and bishop of Arles, ob. 429/30, S00418) took possession of the island of Lérins, he miraculously banished serpents from the island and brought forth a spring of fresh water. Written in Latin at Arles, c. 430.
E06073
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives
Hilary of Arles, Sermon on the Life of Saint Honoratus (Sermo de vita sancti Honorati) 15 and 17
For an overview of the Sermon on the Life of Saint Honoratus, see E06026.
(15.) [...] Vacantem itaque insulam ob nimietatem squaloris et inaccessam venenatorum animalium metu, Alpino haud longe iugo subditam, petit, praeter secreti opportunitatem sancti ac beatissimi in Christo viri Leontii episcopi oblectatus vicinia et caritate constrictus, plurimis a tam novo ausu retrahere conantibus. Nam circumiecti accolae terribilem illam vastitatem ferebant, et suis illum occupare finibus fidei ambitione certabant. Verum ille humanae conversationis inpatiens, et circumcidi a mundo vel obiectu freti concupiscens, illud ore et corde gestabat, nunc sibi, nunc suis proferens: Supra aspidem et basiliscum ambulabis et conculcabis leonem et draconem; et in evangeliis Christi ad discipulos suos factam promissionem: Ecce dedi vobis potestatem calcandi supra serpentes et scorpiones. Ingreditur itaque inpavidus, et pavorem suorum securitate sua discutit. Fugit horror solitudinis, cedit turba serpentium. At quae non tenebrae illud lumen refugerunt? Quae non illi medicamento venena cesserunt? Inauditum vere illud et plane inter miracula ac merita illius deputandum reor, quod tam frequens, ut vidimus, in illis ariditatibus serpentium occursus, marinis praesertim aestibus excitatus, nulli umquam non solum periculo, sed nec pavori fuit. [...]
(17.) Industria illic sua sufficiens electis Dei ecclesiae templum excitatur, apta monachorum habitaculis tecta consurgunt; negatae saeculis aquae largiter fluunt, in uno ortu suo duo veteris testamenti miracula praeferentes. Nam cum e saxo erumperunt, in media maris amaritudine dulces profluebant. [...]
'(15.) ... He therefore seeks out an island unoccupied because of its excessive wildness and unapproachable from fear of poisonous animals, lying not far from the ridge of the Alps. Apart from the opportunity for isolation he was attracted by the nearness and drawn by love of the holy man, most blessed in Christ, Bishop Leontius [of Fréjus], though very many were trying to draw him back from such new daring. For the inhabitants round about spoke of that terrible wilderness, and struggled, with the ambition of faith, to keep him within their borders. But he, impatient of human society and wishing to be cut off from the world by the barrier of the strait, carried that saying in his mouth and in his heart, now pronouncing it to himself, now to those with him: Thou shalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk, and thou shalt trample underfoot the lion and the dragon [Ps. 90:13 (Vg. 91:13)]; and the promise made by Christ to his disciples in the Gospels: Behold, I have given you the power to tread upon serpents and scorpions [Luke 10:19]. He therefore enters without fear and shakes away the fear of his companions with his own confidence. The horror of solitude flees, the horde of serpents yields. But what kinds of darkness did not flee from that light? What poisons did not yield to that medicine? I consider it something truly unheard of and clearly something to be counted among his miracles and merits that encounters with serpents, which were, as we have seen, so numerous in those dry places and were especially called forth by sea winds, were not only no danger to anyone, but not even a worry. ...
(17.) Through his labour a church building is raised sufficient for the elect of God, buildings rise up suitable for the dwellings of monks; waters, denied to the secular, flow abundantly, in their single arising offering two miracles of the Old Testament. For when they burst out of the rock, they flowed forth sweetly in the midst of the bitterness of the sea. ...'
Text: Cavallin 1952, 59-60.
Translation: David Lambert.
Place associated with saint's life
MiraclesMiracle during lifetime
Power over elements (fire, earthquakes, floods, weather)
Miracle with animals and plants
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Ecclesiastics - abbots
Source
The Sermon on the Life of Honoratus was delivered on an early anniversary, probably the first, of the death of Honoratus (ob. 429 or 430), the founder of the monastery of Lérins and, in the last two years of his life, bishop of Arles (PCBE 4, 'Honoratus 1'). The author of the Sermon was Hilary (401-449), Honoratus' successor as bishop, who was also his relative and had been his protégé at both Lérins and Arles (PCBE 4, 'Hilarius 3').For full discussion of the Sermon on the Life of Honoratus and bibliography, see its overview entry: E06026.
Discussion
This passage describes the arrival of Honoratus on the island of Lérins (today Saint-Honorat), just off the coast of Provence, and the foundation of his monastic community there. Hilary has already described how the young Honoratus converted to asceticism together with his brother and left his wealthy family in Gaul, seeking an eremus (desert or wilderness) in which to settle (see the full summary of the Sermo de vita sancti Honorati at E06026). He and his brother travel to Greece, where his brother dies; Honoratus then returns to Gaul via Italy. Just after crossing into Gaul he hears about the uninhabited island of Lérins. According to Hilary he chose to settle there because of its isolation but also because it was close to Leontius of Fréjus, a bishop who is known to have been sympathetic to the ascetic movement (like Honoratus, he was one of the dedicatees of John Cassian's Conferences). The date when Honoratus settled on Lérins is not recorded, but is placed by most modern scholars around 400/410 (for general accounts of the early history of the community, see Labrousse et al. 2005, 28-48; Ripart 2021, 134-150).Hilary attributes two miracles to Honoratus during the foundation of Lérins: the expulsion of the poisonous serpents which had previously infested the island (§ 15) and the bringing forth of a spring of fresh water (§ 17). The water miracle is compared by Hilary to two miracles of Moses in the Old Testament: striking water from a rock (Exodus 17:6) and sweetening bitter waters (Exodus 15:25). These are the only miracles of Honoratus which Hilary mentions in his sermon, and he clearly felt that the lack of other miracles was something that had to be explained (see E06098). At least one strand of opinion at Lérins, however, rejected the importance of miracles as a criterion of holiness, a view expressed in a surviving sermon from Lérins which takes issue with these passages from Hilary's Sermon (see E00781, E00851, E00722).
Bibliography
Edition:Cavallin, S., Vitae sanctorum Honorati et Hilarii episcoporum Arelatensium (Lund, 1952), 49-78.
Further reading:
Labrousse, M., et al., Histoire de l'abbaye de Lérins (Bellefontaine, 2005).
Ripart, L., Les déserts de l’Occident. Genèse des lieux monastiques dans le sud-est de la Gaule (fin IVe - milieu VIe siècle) (Turnhout, 2021).
David Lambert
06/03/2023
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00438 | Honoratus, founder of Lérins and bishop of Arles, ob. 429/30 | Certain |
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