Paulinus of Périgueux, in Book 6 of his verse Life of Saint *Martin (ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397, S00050), recounts twelve miracles of the saint, which had been collected by Bishop Perpetuus of Tours. Written in Latin, presumably in Périgueux, 458/471. Overview entry.
E08130
Literary - Hagiographical - Collections of miracles
Paulinus of Périgueux, Life of Saint Martin, Book 6
Summary (Miracles 5, 8, 9, 10 and 12, which are particularly interesting on cult practices, are covered in detail in other entries - see the links below):
Verses 1-24: Paulinus addresses Martin, as an ever-present saint able to assist those who ask; he alludes to the five books he has already written about the deeds of Martin, his patron.
25-33: Perpetuus [bishop of Tours] has reliably collected miracles of Martin.
34-52: Demons within the possessed quail before Martin.
53-70 [Miracle 1. Curing the possessed in his church]: Demoniacs are hurled through the air in the church at Tours and cast into the font; but are unharmed, thanks to Martin.
71-94 [Miracle 2. A demoniac safely crosses the Loire and is cured]: A possessed man is driven by his demon into the Loire; but crosses the river safe and dry, to the amazement of those at Marmoutier [Martin's cell on the opposite bank], where he is cured.
95-110: An excursus on how demoniacs speak languages they do not know, and how the demons within them can be forced to speak.
111-51 [Miracle 3. Aegidius, besieged in Arles, is rescued; this is learned concurrently in Tours through a demoniac]: 111-20: Aegidius [magister militum of Gaul], besieged by a mighty army in Arles is saved by the Lord. 121-51: A demon who has travelled in no time between Arles and Tours is compelled by Martin and Perpetuus to reveal this fact; when a messenger eventually arrives from Arles, he confirms all the details that the demon revealed.
152-64: The sick and infirm are cured at Martin's shrine, by prayer, not surgery or medicines. The blind, the lame and the deaf are specifically mentioned.
165-214 [Miracle 4. The healing but eventual death of a paralytic girl]: 165-184: A wholly paralysed girl is brought to the shrine by her parents, who tearfully entreat the saint on her behalf. 'Hardly had the light touch of the blessed oil reached the girl’s wretched limbs' (vix levis artus attigerat miseros benedicti tactus olivi), when she regained her strength. 185-214: The grateful parents promise to support the poor at the shrine; but the father then seeks out the 'rites of idols' (idolicos ritus) and his daughter dies.
215-49 [Miracle 5. A Hun who steals a crown from Martin's church, is struck blind, repents, and has his sight restored]: see E08132.
250-64 [Miracle 6. The demoniac murderer who kills himself]: A demoniac [presumably at the shrine] kills with his sword another possessed man; but then immediately kills himself with the same sword, as punishment for this sin.
265-90 [Miracle 7. The man who sought to hinder the decoration of the shrine]: The people were bringing 'beautiful columns' (pulchras columnas) to the shrine. But one man sought to hinder this effort - he falls from his horse and is drowned in a shallow stream.
291-7: After these stories of punishment, you will now hear pleasant stories.
298-319: [Miracle 8. The health-giving dust from the tomb, mixed with oil]: see E08133.
320-36: [Miracle 9. Wax from the shrine protects a field of crops from hail]: see E08134.
337-50: The poet expresses his inadequacy, but invokes Martin as his muse.
351-415: [Miracle 10. Pilgrims crossing the Loire to visit Martin's cell at Marmoutier are saved from drowning]: E08135.
416-460: [Miracle 11. A stranded ship is brought to safety]: A ship, blown out by a storm to the middle of the sea, was then stranded there, unable to move. A sailor invoked the God of Martin and a wind got up, carrying the ship safely to shore.
461-6: The poet expresses his inadequacy to describe such great miracles.
467-99: [Miracle 12. A candle from the shrine is able to extinguish a house-fire]: see E08136.
499-504: The reader is exhorted to note the greatness of the deeds described, not the inadequacies of the poet.
505-6: 'It is well known no power over Martin had been permitted to death, since he is proven to be alive. In perpetuity will the city of Tours rejoice with Martin as its bishop.' (nil morti licuisse, palam cum vita probetur. / perpetuo urbs Turonum Martino antistite gaudet.) ['Perpetuo', a punning reference to Bishop Perpetuus.]
Text: Petschenig 1888.
Summary and translation: Maurus Mount.
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
MiraclesMiracle after death
Punishing miracle
Exorcism
Healing diseases and disabilities
Miraculous interventions in war
Miraculous protection - of people and their property
Miraculous protection - of church and church property
Revelation of hidden knowledge (past, present and future)
RelicsContact relic - wax
Contact relic - dust/sand/earth
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.Paulinus' principal surviving work is his substantial six-book Life of Saint Martin (De vita Sancti Martini) written in hexameters (E06355). This is based on the writings of Sulpicius Severus, except for the final volume, Book 6 (presented here), which consists of an account of posthumous miracles of the saint. Other than the Life of Martin, the only known works of Paulinus are a letter to Perpetuus of Tours, accompanied by two poems, both also related to Martin (see E08121 for a full text and English translation of these).
There is considerable debate over the origins of Books 1-5 of the Life of Saint Martin: whether Paulinus wrote them independently as an act of personal devotion, or whether he wrote all, or some of them at the prompting of Bishop Perpetuus, who was very active at this time in promoting the cult of Martin, in particular by rebuilding and decorating on an elaborate and grand scale the saint's burial church (see, for instance, E02023, E02805 and E08119). But there is no doubt about the origins of Book 6, because in a poem on the subject (E08121, Poem 2) Paulinus tells us that Perpetuus had supplied him with a document (charta) with an account of twelve posthumous miracles of Martin, which Paulinus was to put into verse - these are the miracles that make up Book 6.
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, must post-date the beginning of the Perpetuus' 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.
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.
Maurus Mount
13/07/2021
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00050 | Martin, ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397 | Martinus | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Maurus Mount, Cult of Saints, E08130 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E08130