At the beginning of his Miracles of Hilary, Venantius Fortunatus explains that he recorded the contemporary miracles of *Hilary (bishop of Poitiers, ob. 367, S00183) to prevent them being forgotten, as Hilary's past miracles had been. Written in Latin in Poitiers (western Gaul), 567/569. Overview entry
E07839
Literary - Hagiographical - Collections of miracles
Venantius Fortunatus
Venantius Fortunatus, Miracles of Hilary (Libri de virtutibus sancti Hilarii) 1-2 (3-5)
(3) ... Praesertim ubi diversa diversarum partium videtur esse causa mercedum, quod gentiles fructum laboris sui in inanitatum favore voluerunt consistere, nos autem oporteat in beatorum virorum intercessione plantare, quibus hic verba si solvimus, illic gaudia comparamus. (4) Idcirco reddat illi mobilis lingua praeconium, a quo prius pectora conceperunt affectum; nam bonis eius aperte credetur invideri, si quae de illo cognovimus, silentio videantur abscondi. merito itaque cum ceteris et me de se loqui compellit, qui etiam mutos ut loquantur absolvit. (5) Sed quam plura superstis in corpore fecerit vel quanta operatus sit, postquam aeterna in requie plaudentibus angelis ad Christum victor de mundi certamine transmigravit, etsi non potui annorum vetustate subripiente contingere, attamen vel quae praesenti tempore miracula misericors praebuit, cupio indigenti memoriae non fraudare: ut quisquis haec fideli sicut condecet auditu perceperit. et praeterita recognoscere gaudeat et similia fieri virtute confessoris in futuro confidat.
'(3.) ... Distinctions between the different factions seem especially to be the reason for [different] rewards: while pagans have preferred to entrust the fruit of their labor to the support of ineffective men, it is necessary to entrust ourselves to the intercession of the blessed men whose joy we share there [in heaven] if we address words to them here [on earth]. (4.) Therefore let the nimble tongue of heralds again speak about that [Hilary] for whom my heart previously developed an affection; for he is clearly believed to be envied for his good deeds [even] if what I know about him seems to be concealed in silence. As a result he who healed the mute so that they might speak has in addition deservedly compelled me to speak about himself. (5.) But the passage of the years was a thief, and I was unable to discover his many deeds while he was alive in his body and his great accomplishments after he migrated to Christ and the angels who applaud him in eternal rest as a victor from the struggles of this world. Therefore I do not wish to cheat our impoverished memory of the miracles that [Hilary] in his mercy has displayed during the present time. Then everyone who listens to these miracles as is proper with trusting ears either may rejoice in recognizing past events or may believe that similar miracles will happen in the future through the confessor’s power.'
Fortunatus' then recounts the following miracles, for which we have created separate entries:
3) Probianus, a boy at the point of death, is cured in the church of Hilary (E05413).
4) Two lepers from Cahors are cured by dust from Hilary's tomb (E05414).
5) A girl with a crippled hand is cured at the tomb (E05415).
6) A blind man is cured on entering the church (E05416).
7-8) Hilary aids Clovis in his campaign against the Arians (E05417).
9) A woman whose hand was paralysed after she worked on a Sunday is cured at the tomb (E05418).
10) A paralysed girl is healed at the shrine (E05419).
11) The saint rejects the gift of a reluctant donor (E05420).
12) A burning candle does no damage to the cloth covering Hilary's tomb (E05421).
Text: Krusch 1885.
Translation: Van Dam 1993.
Composing and translating saint-related texts
MiraclesMiracle after death
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Theorising on SanctityConsiderations about the veneration of saints
Considerations about the nature of miracles
Source
Venantius Fortunatus was born in northern Italy, near Treviso, and educated at Ravenna. In the early 560s he crossed the Alps into Merovingian Gaul, where he spent the rest of his life, making his living primarily through writing Latin poetry for the aristocracy of northern Gaul, both secular and ecclesiastical. His first datable commission in Gaul is a poem to celebrate the wedding in 566 of the Austrasian royal couple, Sigibert and Brunhild. His principal patrons were Radegund, the subject of this Life, and Agnes, the first abbess of Radegund's monastery of the Holy Cross at Poitiers, as well as Gregory, the historian and bishop of Tours, Leontius, bishop of Bordeaux, and Felix, bishop of Nantes, but he also wrote poems for several kings and for many other members of the aristocracy. In addition to occasional poems for his patrons, Fortunatus wrote a four-book epic poem about Martin of Tours, and several works of prose and verse hagiography. The latter part of his life was spent in Poitiers, and in the 590s he became bishop of the city; he is presumed to have died early in the 7th century. For Fortunatus' life, see Brennan 1985; George 1992, 18-34; Reydellet 1994-2004, vol. 1, vii-xxviii; Pietri and Heijmans 2013, 801-822, 'Fortunatus'.Fortunatus' Miracles of Hilary (Liber de virtutibus sancti Hilarii) consists of thirteen very short chapters describing only nine miracles. The work is a complement to his Life of Hilary (see E06713). Both the Miracles and the Life are dedicated to Pascentius, bishop of Poitiers, which enables us to date their composition with some precision to 567/569, since Fortunatus almost certainly arrived in Poitiers in 567, while Pascentius died, and was succeeded as bishop by Meroveus, in 568/569. Gregory of Tours used the Life and Miracles, in Glory of the Confessors 2 (see E02452) and Histories 2.37 (see E02032).
Discussion
Venantius Fortunatus begins the Miracles of Hilary by offering it to Bishop Pascentius of Poitiers, followed by a passage of self-justification, in which he compares his own literary endeavours to those of pagan authors who are admired even though their worldly subject matter is inferior to the deeds of the saints. He goes on, in the passage quoted here, to mention the intercessory power of the saints, before describing how he has a duty to preserve the memory of Hilary's miracles in his time and not to allow them to be forgotten as those in Hilary's own lifetime have been.Bibliography
Edition:Krusch, B., Venanti Honori Clementiani Fortunati presbyteri Italici Opera pedestria (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi 4.2; Berolini: Apud Weidmannos, 1885).
Translation:
Van Dam, R., Saints and Their Miracles in Late Antique Gaul (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993).
Further reading:
Pietri, L. and Heijmans, M., Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire, 4 Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne (314-614), 2 vols. (Paris 2013).
David Lambert
10/12/2019
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00183 | Hilarius/Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, ob. 367 | Certain |
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