E05092: Paulinus of Nola, writing in Latin in c.396 in Nola (southern Italy), invites Sulpicius Severus to join him at Nola, under the protection of *Felix (priest and confessor of Nola, S00000).

online resource

posted on 2018-02-19, 00:00 authored by frances

Paulinus of Nola, Letter 5.15

Summary:

Paulinus invites Sulpicius Severus to join him and his community in Nola. The community is defined by its vicinity to Felix’s tomb, and the saint is referred to as its patron (patronus).

Summary: Frances Trzeciak.

History

Evidence ID

E05092

Saint Name

Felix, priest and confessor of Nola (southern Italy) : S00000

Saint Name in Source

Felix

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/Felix_priest_and_confessor_of_Nola_southern_Italy_/13729117

Type of Evidence

Literary - Letters

Language

Latin

Evidence not before

395

Evidence not after

397

Activity not before

395

Activity not after

397

Place of Evidence - Region

Italy south of Rome and Sicily

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Nola

Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)

Nola Adriatic Sea Adriatic Sea Adriaticum Mare

Major author/Major anonymous work

Paulinus of Nola

Cult activities - Places

Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Visiting graves and shrines

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy

Source

Letter 5 in the letter collection of Paulinus of Nola (ob. 431). It is one of many letters which Paulinus addressed to aristocratic and ascetic Roman circles in the later fourth and early fifth centuries. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Paulinus did not curate a collection of his letters: instead collections were compiled by friends and admirers. This letter dates from roughly 396 and in it Paulinus invites his friend Sulpicius Severus, who was based in Primuliacum (modern Prémillac) in southern Gaul, to join him in Nola. This was not the only time Paulinus would make such a request; yet Severus did not join him. In later letters Paulinus expresses impatience over this, and even suggests that Severus’ unwillingness to even visit Nola is disrespectful to Felix (see E02874).

Discussion

For a fuller discussion of Paulinus’ desire to characterise Felix as a special protector of Nola and its surrounding area, see E04767.

Bibliography

Edition Hartel, W., Sancti Pontii Meropii Paulini Epistulae, 2nd ed., revised M. Kamptner (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 29; Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna, 1999). Translation Walsh, P.G., Letters of St. Paulinus of Nola, vol. 1 (Ancient Christian Writers 35; Westminster MD: Newman Press, 1967). Further Reading Conybeare, Catherine, Paulinus Noster: Self and Symbols in the Letters of Paulinus of Nola (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000). Trout, Dennis, Paulinus of Nola: Life, Letters and Poems (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999).