Verse epitaph of *Florentinus (abbot in Arles, ob. 553), with added text recording the subsequent translation of his body to a new tomb and healing miracles occurring there. Written in Latin at Arles (southern Gaul), in 563 and c. 600.
E07946
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions
Literary - Poems
Tomb inscription of Abbot Florentinus
37 hexameter verses, followed by a brief section of prose.
+ Fulgida regna petens, caelesti sorte uocatus,
Lucis et aetheriae penitrans fastigia laetus,
Optimus atque pius nunc Florentinus in isto
Resplendit tumolo, meritis sanctissimus abbas.
5 Effera qui quondam linguae descrimina calcans
Neq(ue) optare malum studuit nec laedere quemquam,
Terruit ipse tamen faciles sed publice uerbis,
lustitiae tramitem seruans cum pace paterna,
Nescia iurandi pandens conloquia cunctis.
10 Verba d(e)i sollers toto de pectore promsit,
Sancta quibus d(omi)ni resonant praeconia semper
Atque perassiduis concentibus aethera plaudent.
Bella gerens carnis pestifera uitia contra
Belligeransque palam saeuissima proelia uicit.
15 Ast hinc, celsa poli capiens iam praemia felix,
Sanctorum socius fruitur cum laude coronam.
+ Huius namque uiri corpus per cuncta sacratum
lamdudum aduectum d(omi)ni cum laudibus amplis
Constantinus ouans posuit faeliciter abbas
20 Intra beata crucis condens fastigia sacrae.
Nec non et tumuli pretiosa tegmina firmans
Praestruxit solida e crustato marmore fulchra.
Adtamen exactis iam septem denique lustris,
Condita quo fuerant praefati membra sepulchro,
25 Effulsere Petri tandem de sede beati
Quae propriis meritis pandunt hic signa salutis
Virtutumque simul, praestant et commoda larga
Infirmis ualidum dantes per cuncta uigorem.
Ergo, potens pastor, conpensa praemia uotis
30 Splendida, sed Xpo commenda saepe poetam,
Cuius parua tibi promserunt carmina laudem,
lanuarium exhoc, quem candida mente nutristi,
Tantillumque semul scalptorem marmoris huius,
Adnixis precibus d(omi)no per saecula cuncta,
35 More tuo placidus commenda iugiter, hinc iam
Esse quoque monachum nosti quem, s(a)n(c)te, benignum:
Nunc et in aeterno Hilarianum semper adorna.
+ Primus itaque fuit s(an)c(tu)s Florentinus abbas monasterio nostro per annos V
+ et menses VI, qui uixit annis pl(us) m(inus) LXX. Obiit prid(ie) id(us) april(es), duodecies p(ost) c(onsulatum) Basilii u(iri) c(larissimi) iunioris, indict(ione) prima. Post hunc secundus fuit domnus Redemtus abbas.
'+ Seeking the shining kingdom, summoned to a heavenly lot, and joyfully reaching the summit of light and sky, the excellent and pious Florentinus now shines in this tomb, through his merits a most holy abbot. (5) He who once, repressing careless outbursts of speech, strove neither to choose the bad nor to harm anyone, yet put fear into the easy-going with his words in public, keeping the path of justice with fatherly peace, offering to all conversation free of oaths. (10) Skilfully he poured forth the words of God with his whole heart, by which the holy praises of the Lord resound for ever and the heavens applaud with continuous song. Waging war against the deadly vices of the flesh, and waging war openly, he won the fiercest battles. (15) Thus, happily obtaining the supreme prizes of heaven, the companion of the saints enjoys with honour his crown.
+ The body, sacred in all things, of this man was long ago moved, with great praises of the Lord, by the rejoicing abbot Constantinus, and happily placed under the blessed roof of the Holy Cross. (21) Also, setting up a precious covering for the tomb, he built a solid resting place faced with marble. But after seven lustra had passed since the body of that man was placed in the grave, (25) at last from the seat of the blessed Peter things shone forth which, through his own merits, display here miracles of both healing and power, and offer great benefits to the sick, giving full strength in all things. So, great pastor, grant splendid returns for our prayers, (30) but commend often to Christ the poet whose humble verses offer you praise, Ianuarius whom you nurtured with your pure thoughts, and Tantillus as well, the sculptor of this marble, with fervent prayers to the Lord for all time, gently as is your way, continually commend. Henceforth also the monk whom, O Saint, you once knew here as a kind soul: now and through eternity always arm Hilarianus.
+ The holy Florentinus was the first abbot of our monastery for 5 years
+ and 6 months. He lived more or less 70 years. He died the day before the ides of April, in the twelfth year after the consulate of Basilius iunior, of clarissimus rank, in the first indiction [12 April 553]. After him lord Redemtus was the second abbot.'
The first letters of each verse spell out an additional message in an acrostic:
FLORENTINVS ABBAS
HIC IN PACE QVIESCIT AMEN
'Abbot Florentinus
Here in peace he rests. Amen.'
Text: Pietri and Pietri 1992, 46, with punctuation added (correcting, however, the typo which gives Florentinus' age as 'L' (fifty), rather than 'LXX' (seventy)).
Translation: Bryan Ward-Perkins and David Lambert.
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Non Liturgical ActivityRenovation and embellishment of cult buildings
MiraclesMiracle after death
Healing diseases and disabilities
RelicsBodily relic - entire body
Transfer, translation and deposition of relics
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - abbots
Source
The inscription was in the church of Sainte-Croix at Arles, on the lid of a marble sarcophagus. It disappeared in the 18th century, but is known through transcriptions made in the 17th century (Pietri and Pietri 1992; Heijmans 2003, 294-5).It was laid out in two columns, with the beginning of each marked by a cross: verses 1-16 in the first, verses 17-37 in the second, and the prose text below.
Discussion
Florentinus was the first abbot of a monastery at Arles, which is not named in his epitaph, but can be identified as a monastery established by Bishop Aurelianus of Arles in 547, apparently at the command of the Frankish King Childebert. A list of relics and a diptych, which includes a list of abbots, survive from this monastery (E07748), and the details they contain match those in the inscription. Florentinus, as his epitaph records, was abbot for five-and-a-half years, until his death on 12 April 553. Thanks to the survival of the diptych, we know the succession (but not the dates) of the first seven abbots: Florentinus, Redemtus, Constantinus, Himerus, Hilarinus, Ianuarius and Reparatus. Five of these men are named in our inscription.All who have written on the inscription have suggested (we think correctly) that the first sixteen lines of verse are the original epitaph of Florentinus, written and set up shortly after his death in 553 (though it must have been re-carved when more text, lines 17-37, was added and the whole was set out in two columns).
The full text reveals three stages in the development of a cult of Florentinus. In the first, presumably in 553, he was buried with an essentially conventional epitaph, praising his great virtues and expressing confidence that his soul had entered heaven. This was the work of his immediate successor, Redemtus, who is mentioned in the brief prose epilogue to the verses.
Subsequently, Constantinus (the third abbot of the monastery) built a marble tomb for Florentinus, set above ground, and translated his body to it (lines 17-22; detailed discussion, Pietri and Pietri 1992, 54-55). An enhancement of this kind, for which there are many parallels elsewhere in Gaul, was certainly carried out in the belief that Florentinus was a saint and merited cult. The tomb was in a building dedicated to the Holy Cross (line 20): this would have been the basilica of the monastery founded by Aurelianus, since its relic list is headed by a fragment of the Cross (E07748). The reference in line 25 to the 'seat of the blessed Peter' has been interpreted as also being a reference to this building, since the same relic list describes the basilica as being founded 'in honour of the holy apostles and martyrs', which Pietri and Pietri (1992, 49) take as including Peter (though other interpretations are possible – it may simply indicate 'heaven').
The third and final stage of the development of Florentinus' cult occurred after miracles were recorded at the grave (lines 23-28). To mark this, new verses were composed (lines 17-37) and carved on the lid of the tomb, set alongside the original epitaph. This occurred under the fifth abbot of the monastery, Hilarinus, for whom Florentinus' aid is invoked in the very final verses (lines 34-37). The verses also ask Florentinus to intercede on behalf of Ianuarius, the poet of the second inscription, and Tantillus, its carver (lines 30-33). Ianuarius is presumably the Ianuarius who succeeded Hilarianus as the sixth abbot of the monastery.
Precisely when this extended inscription was set up cannot be established with confidence, because, while the verses record a thirty-five-year gap between Florentinus' burial and the occurrence of miracles (lines 23-24), it is not clear whether this was thirty-five years after his original burial in 553 (and so in 588), or after his burial in the enhanced tomb built by Constantinus. The date must, however, have been after 588 and before too long into the 7th century (since it occurred under the fifth abbot of the monastery, Hilarinus). It has been suggested (e.g. by Pietri and Pietri 1992, 48, and Bernard 2003, 8-9) that our inscription might have been set up in 599, when, from a letter of Gregory the Great (Register 9.217), we know that the bishop of Arles requested from the pope confirmation of the monastery's privileges. Going back thirty-five years from 599, it has also been suggested that Abbot Constantius' first enhancement of the grave might have occurred around 564. These dates would fit the known succession of abbots, but are of course hypothetical.
Bibliography
Editions:Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum XII, 121, no. 944.
Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres, vol. 1, 319, no. 1644.
Le Blant, E., Inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule antérieures au VIIIe siècle (Collection de documents inédits sur l'histoire de France, Paris: Imprimerie impériale, 1856), vol. 2, 246, no. 512.
Pietri, C., and L. Pietri, "Un abbé arlésien promu à la sainteté: Florentinus," in: L. Holtz and J.-C. Fredouille (eds.), De Tertullien aux Mozarabes. Mélanges offerts à Jacques Fontaine, vol. 1 (Paris, 1992), 45-57. With French translation and full discussion.
Further reading:
Atsma, H., "Die christlichen Inschriften Galliens als Quelle für Kloster und Klosterbewohner bis zum Ende des 6. Jahrhunderts," Francia 4 (1976), 1-57.
Bernard, P., "Les diptyques du monastère des Saints-Apôtres d'Arles au VIIe siècle. Édition critique. Commentaire historique et liturgique," Revue d'histoire de l'Église de France, 89 (2003), 5-21.
Février, P.-A., "Arles," in: N. Gauthier and J.-Ch. Picard (eds.), Topographie chrétienne des cités de la Gaule, vol. 3: Provinces ecclésiastiques de Vienne et d'Arles (Viennensis et Alpes Graiae et Poeninae) (Paris, 1986), 73-86, at pp. 82-83, no. 11.
Heijmans, M., Arles durant l'Antiquité tardive. De la Duplex Arelas à l'Urbs Genesii (Rome, 2004).
Pietri, L. and Heijmans, M., Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire, 4 Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne (314-614), 2 vols. (Paris 2013), vol. 1, 785, 'Florentinus 2'.
Bryan Ward-Perkins and David Lambert
09/06/2023
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S02841 | Florentinus, abbot in Arles, ob. 553 | Florentinus | Certain |
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