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Paulinus was from a notable senatorial family with possessions in Aquitaine, northern Spain, and southern Italy. He was educated in Bordeaux, where his teacher the poet Ausonius? also became his friend. His normal career as a young member of the senatorial class did not last long - he served as governor of the south Italian province of Campania, but returned to Bordeaux where he became a serious Christian - in Paulinus’s day the upper classes were in large part Christian, but not strongly observant. When their only child, a son, died in infancy, he and his wife Therasia seem to have considered withdrawing from secular life, and began the process by moving from Bordeaux to Barcelona in about 390. |
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Paulinus was from a notable senatorial family with possessions in Aquitaine, northern Spain, and southern Italy. He was educated in Bordeaux, where his teacher the poet Ausonius? also became his friend. His normal career as a young member of the senatorial class did not last long - he served as governor of the south Italian province of Campania, but returned to Bordeaux where he became a serious Christian - in Paulinus's day the upper classes were in large part Christian, but not strongly observant. When their only child, a son, died in infancy, he and his wife Therasia seem to have considered withdrawing from secular life, and began the process by moving from Bordeaux to Barcelona in about 390. |
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Like Augustine, who had been ordained against his will in Hippo Regius in 391 by a crowd cooperating with Bishop Valerius, Paulinus was persuaded in Barcelona by a crowd at Christmas time in about 395 to receive ordination. Paulinus refused to remain in Barcelona, though, and he and his wife moved to Campania. Married priests were not uncommon even in the West in the early church, but Paulinus had definite interests in monasticism. |
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Like Augustine of Hippo, who had been ordained against his will in Hippo Regius in 391 by a crowd cooperating with Bishop Valerius, Paulinus was persuaded in Barcelona by a crowd at Christmas time in about 395 to receive ordination. Paulinus refused to remain in Barcelona, though, and he and his wife moved to Campania. Married priests were not uncommon even in the West in the early church, but Paulinus had definite interests in monasticism. |
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Paulinus had developed a fondness for the 4th century martyr St. Felix of Nola when he had lived in Campania before, and they settled near Felix’s tomb; Paulinus rebuilt the complex, greatly enlarging the shrine and building guest houses for pilgrims. Paulinus wrote an annual hymn in honor of St. Felix for the feast day when processions of pilgrims were at their peak. In these hymns we can understand the personal relationship Paulinus feels between himself and his ‘invisible friend’ Felix, his advocate in heaven. His poetry shares with much of the work of the early 5th century a ornateness of style that classicists of the 18th and 19th century found cloying and dismissed as decadent. |
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Paulinus had developed a fondness for the 4th century martyr St. Felix of Nola when he had lived in Campania before, and they settled near Felix's tomb; Paulinus rebuilt the complex, greatly enlarging the shrine and building guest houses for pilgrims. Paulinus wrote an annual hymn in honor of St. Felix for the feast day when processions of pilgrims were at their peak. In these hymns we can understand the personal relationship Paulinus feels between himself and his `invisible friend' Felix, his advocate in heaven. His poetry shares with much of the work of the early 5th century a ornateness of style that classicists of the 18th and 19th century found cloying and dismissed as decadent. |
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Many of Paulinus’s letters to his contemporaries, including Ausonius and [Sulpicius Severus]? in southern Gaul, [Victricius of Rouen]? in the northern Gaul, and Augustine in Africa are preserved. Paulinus may have been indirectly responsible for Augustine’s Confessions: Paulinus wrote to Alypius?, Bishop of Thagaste and close friend of Augustine, asking about his conversion and taking up of the ascetic life. Alypius’s autobiographical response does not survive; Augustine’s answer to that question is the Confessions. |
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Many of Paulinus's letters to his contemporaries, including Ausonius and [Sulpicius Severus]? in southern Gaul, [Victricius of Rouen]? in the northern Gaul, and Augustine in Africa are preserved. Paulinus may have been indirectly responsible for Augustine's Confessions: Paulinus wrote to Alypius?, Bishop of Thagaste and close friend of Augustine, asking about his conversion and taking up of the ascetic life. Alypius's autobiographical response does not survive; Augustine's answer to that question is the Confessions. |
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