The Penitential of Finnian refers to 'basilicas of the saints' in Ireland, which the clergy have an obligation to serve. Written in Latin in Ireland, c. 550/91.
E07431
Canonical and legal texts
Penitentialis Vinniani
32. Captiuis redimendis communicandum esse precipimus et exortamur. Ecclesiastico dogmate egen[en]is et pauperibus fenerandum est.
33. Et basilicas sanctorum ministrandum est et ex facultatibus nostris omnibus qui sunt in necessitatibus constituti conpatiendum est nobis et in domibus nostris suscipiendi sunt nobis peregrini, sicut preceptum est a Domino; infirmi s<unt> uisitandi et in uinculis constitutis ministrandum est et omnia Christi mandata a minoribus usque ad maiora implenda sunt.
'32. We prescribe and urge contributing for the redemption of captives. By the teaching of the Church, money is to be spent fruitfully on the poor and needy.
33. We are also obliged to serve the basilicas of the saints and, within our means, have pity on all those who are in need; pilgrims are to be received into our houses, as the Lord has commanded; the infirm are to be visited; those who are in chains are to be ministered to; and all commandments of Christ are to be performed, from the least unto the greatest.'
Text and translation: Bieler 1963, 86-7; translation lightly modified.
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityPilgrimage
RelicsUnspecified relic
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics – unspecified
Prisoners
The socially marginal (beggars, prostitutes, thieves)
Source
The Penitential of Finnian (or Vinnian/Uinnianus) is the earliest surviving Irish penitential. The Penitential of Columbanus silently quotes the text, thereby providing us with a terminus ante quem of c. 591 (Bieler, 1963, 5-6). 'Finnian' probably composed his penitential in Ireland not long after c. 550, although he may have originally come from Britain (Sharpe, 2002, 136).Discussion
Sharpe suggested that, if basilica in this context 'could be used both for a principal church and for a grave or tomb, we can infer that the late Latin sense of 'relic-church' lies behind both uses and may well have been the sense intended by the Penitential... The basilicas of Britain and Ireland are likely to be churches that contained relics, but whose relics or what kind of relics is not implied by the word itself. The critical problem is not the interpretation of basilica but the identity of the saints' (Sharpe, 2002, 140-41).Bibliography
Edition and translationThe Irish Penitentials, ed. and trans. L. Bieler (Dublin, 1963).
Further reading
R. Sharpe, 'Martyrs and Local Saints in Late Antique Britain,' in A. Thacker and R. Sharpe, eds., Local Saints and Local Churches in the Early Medieval West (Oxford, 2002), 136-41.
Benjamin Savill
08/03/2019
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00518 | Saints, unnamed | sancti | Certain |
|---|
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