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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world


Two relic labels at Solignac (south-west Gaul), datable by their script to the 7th or 8th c., for relics of *Iunianus (abbot of Mariacum, 6th c., S03022) and *Genovefa (ascetic of Paris, ob. c. 502, S01156). Written in Latin, perhaps at Solignac, or at an earlier stage in their transmission.

Evidence ID

E08316

Type of Evidence

Documentary texts - Relic label

Late antique original manuscripts - Parchment sheet

Chartae Latinae Antiquiores, XIX, no. 683

i.
] reliquias s(an)c(t)o Iuniano de Mairago monastir(io) [et] est fistiuitas s(an)c(t)a quod facit minsus agustus [die tr]edece.

'[...] relics of Saint *Iunianus of the monastery of Mariacum (abbot, 6th c., S03022). And his holy feast day is 13 August.'


iii.
S(an)c(t)e Genuoeffe.

'Of Saint *Genovefa (ascetic of Paris, ob. c. 502, S01156).'


Text: Atmsa, Vezin and Marischal 1987, 60-61.
Translation: B. Savill.

Festivals

Saint’s feast

Cult Places

Cult building - monastic

Relics

Unspecified relic
Collections of multiple relics
Transfer, translation and deposition of relics

Source

These labels (authentiques), written on small parchment strips, were originally attached to relics kept at the abbey of Saint-Pierre de Solignac. Twenty-seven were discovered in the course of an inventory in 1953, of which ten can be dated to pre-800 and are now published in Chartae Latinae Antiquiores (Atmsa, Vezin and Marischal, 1987). We have included in our database only the two of these which, according to the editors, might be datable to as early as the 7th c. (although an 8th c. dating is also possible); both are written in a Merovingian cursive hand.

For further Gallic/Frankish collections of relic labels, see those extant from Saint-Maurice d'Agaune (E07438, E08075, E08076, E08077, E08078, E08079), Sens (E08315), the Roman Sancta sanctorum (E08362) and Cantù (E08363). The other major surviving collection, that of the nunnery of Chelles, does not include any items datable to before 700.

For full discussion of this category of evidence, see Smith 2020.

Discussion

If dated correctly, item (i) may provide the earliest known evidence for the cult of Iunianus/Junien of Mairé, a saint of reasonable significance in the Poitou region, whose extant Life (BHL 4562) was only written up as late as c. 830.

Bibliography

Edition and facsimiles

Chartae Latinae Antiquiores XIX. France VII, ed. H. Atsma, J. Vezin and R. Marischal (Dietikon-Zurich, 1987).

Further reading


Aubert, R., 'Junien (2),' in idem, ed., Dictionnaire d'histoire et géographie ecclésiastiques, 28 (Paris, 2003),

Smith, J.M.H., 'The Remains of the Saints: the Evidence of Early Medieval Relic Collections,' Early Medieval Europe, 28 (2020), 388-424.


Record Created By

Benjamin Savill

Date of Entry

15/08/2022

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S01156Genovefa/Geneviève, ascetic of Paris, ob. c. 502GenuoeffaCertain
S03022Iunianus, abbot of Mariacum (Mairé-Levescault), 6th c.Iunianus de MairagoCertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Benjamin Savill, Cult of Saints, E08316 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E08316