A highly fragmentary papyrus document from the gesta municipalia of Ravenna (north-east Italy) may have recorded a grant of property by Maria, an 'honourable woman' (spectabilis femina), to Bishop Iohannes/John (I) of Ravenna, with which she hoped to secure her (and a relative's?) burial in the basilica dedicated to *Laurence (deacon and martyr of Rome, S00037). Written in Latin in Ravenna, January 491.
E08416
Documentary texts - Charter or diploma
Documentary texts - Donation document
Late antique original manuscripts - Papyrus sheet
Tjäder P. 12 (excerpt)
[...] Domin[o sancto ac beatissimi Papa Iohanne Maria sp. f.] [... .hu]militas fusis praecibus supplicauit, ut intra b[asilicam Sancti Laurenti.. cum locum nobis ubi corpuscula nostra requiescerent] [...] [... donauimus ut nobis beatitudo ipsius locum dare dignaretur intra basilicam Sancti Laurenti ubi corpuscula nostra requiescerent...] [...]
'... To the holy and blessed lord Pope Iohannes: Maria, honourable woman... humilty... requested with an outpouring of prayers, that within the basilica of Saint Laurence... to us... a place where our little bodies might rest... We have granted this so that his blessedness might deign to grant to us a place within that basilica of Saint Laurence where our little bodies might rest ...'
Text: Tjäder 1955-82: i. 294-9.
Translation: B. Savill
Bequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Source
Thirty-eight papyrus documents (plus a further four of less certain provenance) dating from the years 445 to c. 700 survive today from the archives of the church of Ravenna. Most were produced in the city, although some appear to have come to Ravenna via interested parties after originally being issued at other centres (e.g. Faenza, Syracuse, Nepi). An exceptionally rare witness to late antique documentary culture, the Ravenna papyri constitute the single largest corpus of Latin papyri documents still extant, although the collection is now dispersed between a number of libraries across Europe and North America. The standard modern edition is Tjäder 1955-82. We have included in our database the eight documents from this corpus which provide evidence for saints' cults before c. 700.This papyrus (220 x 215 mm) is now Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Acquisti e doni 447.
Discussion
This is one of several documents of its kind which have been transmitted with the Ravenna papyri, probably an official copy of an entry made into the gesta muncipalia (city archives) on behalf of an interested party. This particular papyrus is so badly damaged that its text can now only be reconstructed via Luigi Gaetano Marini's 18th-century edition.For a much later attestation of this church and a possible connection to the pontificate of this same Bishop John/Iohannes, see E05783, and for a probable reference to it in a sermon by Augustine of Hippo, see E03660.
Bibliography
EditionDie nichtliterarischen lateinischen Papyri Italiens aus der Zeit 445-700, ed. J.-O. Tjäder, 2 vols (Lund and Stockholm, 1955-82).
Benjamin Savill
04/03/2023
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00037 | Laurence/Laurentius, deacon and martyr of Rome | Laurentus | Certain |
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Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Benjamin Savill, Cult of Saints, E08416 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E08416