Jonas' Life of *Iohannes/John (abbot of Réomé, 5th/6th c., S02829) records the life, miracles, death and translation of the saint at Réomé (eastern Gaul). Written in Latin, probably at Réomé or Marchiennes (north-east Gaul), 659 (or shortly after).
E07669
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives
Jonas of Bobbio
Jonas, Life of John, Monk and Abbot (Vita sancti Iohannis monachi et abbatis, BHL 4424)
(First preface) An introductory notice states that Jonas was asked to compose the work by the monks of Saint John at Réomé in November 659, when he stopped there on his way to meet Queen Balthild at Chalons. (Second preface) Jonas remarks on the importance of laying out the deeds of the saints as examples for imitation.
(1) On Iohannes' upbringing at Tonnerre, near Langres. (2) How hearing a Gospel reading at church on the feast of *John the Baptist (S00020) inspired him to live in the 'wilderness' (eremus), where he built a monastery near Semur-en-Auxois. (3-4) How, seeking greater discipline, he joined the community at Lérins for eighteen months, after which Bishop Gregory of Langres summoned him back to his own monastery, (5) where he imposed the Rule of Macarius. (6) How he refused a visit from his mother.
(7) How, through his prayer, the thief of his monks’ axes came forward and confessed. (8) How he preached to and encouraged a poor man foraging in the woods. (9) How he appeared to the vir Agrestius in a dream, and accused him of blasphemy. (10) How Clarus, who spat on a letter sent by the saint, was struck ‘by divine vengeance’ (divina ultio) in the mouth and throat so that he could not eat or receive the Eucharist for a long time. (11) How through his prayers Iohannes exorcised a servant (famulus) of Nicasius, (12) and another demoniac, who had been struck dumb. (13) How he miraculously fed the poor during a famine. (14) How it was divinely revealed to him that the venerable man Segonus had entered the church by night. (15) How Iohannes sent the Eucharist to a man dying of quartan fever, who then began to recover. (16) How one of his monks, guarding the corn by night, witnessed a ball of light fill the sky and bring an early dawn. (17) How a man was healed of his ulcers by drinking from a well the saint had blessed.(18) On Iohannes' fast and vigils, and how he was honoured and venerated by the king of the Franks and his nobles.
(19) On his death, aged approximately 120 years old, on 28 January. How he was succeeded by Silvester, Mummolinus, and Leudebardinus, who translated Iohannes' body (reliquie sancti corporis) ‘to the place in which it now stands’ (in loco in quo nunc est). (20) On the translation: how, unable to move the sarcophagus, the monks undertook a three-day fast; and how on the third day – 22 September, the feast of *Maurice and his companions (martyrs of Agaunum (Gaul), S00339) – they were able to succeed, following an old man’s vision of Iohannes and Silvester in the church. How the body is now situated ‘next to the holy altar, as agreed in discussion with the bishops,where the host of Christ is offered and the office of prayers is fulfilled, and where the cures of the sick, and the consolations of boons for their prayers are granted, [by Christ] to whom is honour and glory, for ever and ever, Amen.’ (ad sanctum altarium cum consilio episcoporum, quo Christi hostiae litantur atque orationum officia persolvuntur, ubi et remedia egris et quorumque votis solamina beneficiorum accommodantur, cui est honor et gloria in seculorum secula. Amen.).
Text: Krusch 1905, 326-44.
Translation: O'Hara and Wood 2017, 240-64.
Summary: B. Savill.
Service for the saint
FestivalsSaint’s feast
Dating by saint’s festival
Cult PlacesCult building - monastic
Altar
Burial site of a saint - sarcophagus/coffin
Places Named after SaintMonastery
Non Liturgical ActivityVisiting/veneration of living saint
Fast
Composing and translating saint-related texts
Visiting graves and shrines
MiraclesMiracle during lifetime
Revelation of hidden knowledge (past, present and future)
Punishing miracle
Exorcism
Miraculous sound, smell, light
Healing diseases and disabilities
Saint aiding or preventing the translation of relics
Miracle after death
RelicsTransfer, translation and deposition of relics
Bodily relic - entire body
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Aristocrats
Slaves/ servants
Relatives of the saint
The socially marginal (beggars, prostitutes, thieves)
Source
The Life's date and its attribution to Jonas - better known for the Life of Columbanus (E07615) - are both stated in the work's first preface. It is unclear whether Jonas composed the entire work during his stay at Réomé (now Moutiers-Saint-Jean), or, as seems more likely, at his own monastery (at this time, probably Marchiennes).Discussion
The historicity of Jonas' depiction of the 5th/6th-century abbot Iohannes/John of Réomé has had its recent critics (Diem, 2008) and cautious defenders (O'Hara and Wood, 2017, 61-8); either way the Life is best treated primarily as evidence for seventh-century ideas about sanctity, rather than fifth- or sixth-century events.Bibliography
EditionIonae Vitae Sanctorum: Columbani, Vedastis, Iohannis, ed. B. Krusch, MGH Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarium, [37] (1905).
Translation and commentary
Jonas of Bobbio, Life of Columbanus, Life of John of Réomé, and Life of Vedast, trans. A. O'Hara and I. Wood (Liverpool, 2017).
Further reading
Albrecht Diem, 'The Rule of an "Iro-Egyptian" Monk in Gaul: Jonas' Vita Iohannis and the Construction of a Monastic Identity,' Revue Mabillon, NS 19 (2008), 5-50.
Martin Heinzelmann, 'L'hagiographie mérovingienne: panorama des documents potentiels,' in M. Goullet, M. Heinzelmann and C. Veyrard-Cosme, eds., L'hagiographie mérovingienne à travers ses réécritures (Ostfildern, 2010), 83-102.
Alexander O’Hara, Jonas of Bobbio and the Legacy of Columbanus: Sanctity and Community in the Seventh Century (Oxford, 2018).
Benjamin Savill
08/11/2019
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00020 | John the Baptist | Iohannes Baptista | Certain | S00339 | Theban Legion, commanded by Maurice, martyrs of Agaune, Gaul | Mauricius martiris cum sociis suis | Certain | S02829 | Iohannes/John, abbot of Réomé (Moutiers-Saint-Jean), 5th/6th c. | Iohannes | Certain |
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