Evidence ID
E08288
Type of Evidence
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Avitus of Vienne, Homily 28/29.
The homily, which survives only in fragmentary form, is entitled:
DICTA IN DEDICATIONE
'SPOKEN AT THE DEDICATION'
The text of the homily is fragmentary, but speaks clearly of Peter and Paul, who must have been the patrons of the church being dedicated. Within the surviving text there is a passage about the chains of Peter, from which he was miraculously freed.
Text: Peiper 1883, 149-150.
Summary: Bryan Ward-Perkins.
Cult PlacesContact relic - instrument of saint’s martyrdom
Cult building - independent (church)
RelicsContact relic - instrument of saint’s martyrdom
Contact relic - other object closely associated with saint
Division of relics
Transfer, translation and deposition of relics
Transfer/presence of relics from distant countries
Source
Alcimus Ecdicius Avitus was born into a prominent Gallo-Roman senatorial family, succeeding his father, Hesychius, as bishop of the important see of Vienne at some point before 494/496. He died in 517/518, probably in February 518.Avitus was the author of a long poem De spiritualis historiae gestis in five books (telling the story of the Old Testament from the Creation to Exodus, accompanied by interpretative passages), and a poem for his sister De consolatoria castitatis laude. He is, however, now best known for his letters: an epistolary corpus of ninety-six letters, which are in no chronological order, nor ordered by recipient. The collection ranges from the personal to the official (several were written on behalf of the Burgundian King Sigismund). Avitus corresponded with many important people of his age and his letters are of considerable importance for the ecclesiastical and political history of the years between around 495 and 518 in the Burgundian kingdom. In the letters, information relating to the churches or relics of saints is occasionally mentioned, and has been collected by us in the database.
Avitus was also the author of homilies, several relating to saints' churches. His homilies are all lost in their complete form, except for two, one of which (Homily 25; E07115) is of particular importance for the cult of saints, being delivered in 515 at the dedication of Sigismund's monastery at Agaune for the martyrs of the Theban Legion. Other homilies, some relating to the dedication of churches, have survived in fragments: preserved either in a damaged sixth-century papyrus manuscript in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, or in excerpts copied by later medieval authors.
For more on Avitus' biography, his works, and on their dating see: Shanzer and Wood 2002, 3-85 and 377; and the full biography in PCBE, 242-263, 'Avitus 2', 242-263.
Discussion
There is no indication in the text as to where precisely, or when, this sermon was delivered; but it was presumably somewhere in the wider region of Vienne, during Avitus' episcopacy.The reference to the chains of Peter could be because the church was endowed with relics of these chains (filing from which were sometimes distributed by the bishops of Rome, as a mark of high favour to privileged individuals).
Bibliography
Edition:Peiper, R., Alcimi Ecdicii Aviti Viennensis episcopi operae quae supersunt (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi VI.2; Berolini: Apud Weidmannos, 1883).
Further reading:
Avitus of Vienne, Letters and Selected Prose, trans. D. Shanzer and I. Wood (Translated Texts for Historians, Volume 38; Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2002).
Pietri L., M. Hejmans, Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire, vol. 4: La Gaule chrétien, Paris 2013 (PCBE).
Record Created By
Bryan Ward-Perkins
Date of Entry
13/05/2022
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00008 | Paul, the Apostle | Paulus | Certain | S00036 | Peter, the Apostle | Petrus | Certain |
|---|
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Bryan Ward-Perkins, Cult of Saints, E08288 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E08288