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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world


Paulinus of Périgueux writes a six-book Life of Saint Martin (ascetic and bishop of Tours, E00050) in verse, the first five books being a rendition of Sulpicius Severus' Life of Saint Martin and Dialogues, the sixth an account of twelve posthumous miracles; the work was perhaps dedicated to bishop Perpetuus of Tours. Written in Latin, presumably in Périgueux, 450/471.

Evidence ID

E06355

Type of Evidence

Literary - Hagiographical - Lives

Literary - Hagiographical - Collections of miracles

Paulinus of Périgueux, Life of Saint Martin

Very brief account:

The
Life of Martin is a long poem of 3,622 hexameter verses, divided into six books.

Books 1-3 are based on Sulpicius Severus'
Life of Martin (our E00692), and Books 4-5 on his Dialogues (E00845), closely following the order in which Sulpicius presented his material. Some elements of Sulpicius' story that were no longer relevant (for instance, debates over whether an ascetic could make a good bishop, and clashes with other churchmen) are omitted in Paulinus' work, and there is more emphasis on Martin as a good bishop and patronus, with, for instance, the statement in Sulpicius' work (Dialogues 2.4.1-3), that Martin lost some of his miraculous powers on taking office, omitted. (For an account of how Paulinus adapted Sulpicius' story, see Labarre 1998, 25-34.) The writing of a great verse epic on Martin was a significant moment in the enhancement of his cult, but it seems that there is little in Books 1-5 that sheds specific light on the growing veneration of the saint; we have therefore not looked at these books in detail.

We have, however, looked closely at Book 6, an account of twelve posthumous miracles of the saint, collected by Bishop Perpetuus of Tours (458/9-488/9), since these provide important evidence for the development of Martin's cult: see E08130.

Non Liturgical Activity

Composing and translating saint-related texts

Source

Very little is known about Paulinus of Périgueux, all of it from his writings: he himself tells us he was called Paulinus, and manuscripts of his Life of Martin label him as 'of Petrocordium' (ancient Périgueux), though these are all from centuries after his death, so there is doubt over the accuracy of this statement. From his verse it is clear that he had enjoyed a thorough literary education, so must have come from a wealthy family; and from one of his poems we learn that he had an adult grandson and considered himself old in the mid- to late 460s. It is also, of course, clear that he was devoted to Martin of Tours, whom he describes as his patron. In a letter to Perpetuus, bishop of Tours (458/9-488/9), he refers to the bearer of the letter as 'my deacon' (see E08121), which suggests Paulinus was a priest, or even a bishop, at the time of writing. For the details of what is known of his life, see Labarre 1998, 14-18, and Pietri and Heijmans 2013.

Other than the
Life of Martin, the only known works of Paulinus are the letter and two poems presented (and fully translated) in E08121.

There is a dedication to Bishop Perpetuus that is conventionally printed at the beginning of Paulinus'
Life of Martin, but this is found in only one manuscript, and it is very uncertain whether it belongs with the whole work or just with Book 6, which Perpetuus certainly commissioned, providing Paulinus with a prose account of the miracles that the poet was to put into verse (see E08121 and E08130). Perpetuus is named or alluded to four times in the text of Book 6, but never in Books 1-5. Scholars are therefore divided over whether Books 1-5 were all encouraged by Perpetuus, encouraged in part by him, or written entirely independently (see, for instance, Pietri 1983, 735-44 and Van Dam 1986, 567-73, for divergent views). It is possible that Paulinus was an independent devotee of Martin, who turned Sulpicius Severus' Life and Dialogues into verse as an act of personal devotion, and only then attracted the attention of Perpetuus. (These issues are fully discussed by Labarre 1998, 21-28, and more briefly in Labarre 2016, 35-39.)

Because of the uncertainty over Bishop Perpetuus' role in encouraging the composition of the greater part of the
Life of Martin, there is no reliable way of dating the writing of Books 1-5. Book 6, however, which was certainly commissioned by Perpetuus, must post-date the beginning of the latter's episcopate in 458/459, and must have been complete, at the very latest, by 471, since it is referred to in a letter of Paulinus to Perpetuus (E08121), which accompanied a poem for the walls of Martin's new church, which was probably dedicated in that year. It may well have been written by 466, since, in his account of Miracle 3, Paulinus appears to refer to the Roman general Aegidius as if he were still alive, and he is known to have died in 465/466.

Whether or not Perpetuus played a role in patronising the writing of all six books, there is no doubt that he embraced the work with enthusiasm, as part of his wider project of enhancing the status of Martin in Tours, and within Gaul more widely, in particular by rebuilding on a grand scale the saint's burial church, and instituting a major new feast for Martin (see, for instance, E02023, E02805, E08119).



Bibliography

Editions:
Corpet, E.-F., Paulin de Périgueux, Oeuvres, Paris 1849. (Corpet's edition of the Latin is superseded by Petschenig and Labarre, but he also offers a French translation of the whole work, which is currently useful for Books 4-6.)

Labarre, S.,
Paulin de Périgueux, Vie de Saint Martin, vol.1 (Prologue and Books 1-3) (Sources chrétiennes 581), Paris 2016; with French translation. (Volume 2, at the time of writing, July 2021, is yet to appear.)

Petschenig, M., “Paulini Petricordiae quae supersunt”, in Petschenig, M. and others,
Poetae Christianae Minores (Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum 16; Vienna, 1888), 17-159.

Further reading:
Labarre, S., Le manteau partagé. Deux métamorphoses poétiques de la Vie de saint Martin chez Paulin de Périgueux (Ve s.) et Venance Fortunat (VI s.), Paris 1998.

Pietri, L.,
La ville de Tours du IVe au VIe siècle: naissance d’une cité 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. 2, 1450-52, 'Paulinus 6'.

Van Dam, R.,
"Paulinus of Périgueux and Perpetuus of Tours", Francia, no. 14 (1986): 567‑573.


Record Created By

Bryan Ward-Perkins, Maurus Mount

Date of Entry

12/7/2021

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00050Martin, ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397Certain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
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