Paulinus of Nola

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Paulinus von Nola as patron of the bell founders in the "Bell consecration" window in Linz Cathedral

Pontius Meropius Anicius Paulinus or Paulinus von Nola (* around 354 in Bordeaux , † June 22, 431 in Nola near Naples ) was a late antique bishop and writer.

Life

Paulinus comes from a well-known Roman senatorial family with possessions in Aquitaine , northern Hispania and southern Italy . He was raised in Bordeaux by the poet Ausonius , who became his friend. Paulinus became governor of Campania in southern Italy, but soon returned to Bordeaux when he turned seriously to Christianity - at this time the upper class was largely Christian, if not strictly observant. When his only child, a son, died young, he and his wife Theresia appear to have withdrawn from worldly life, a process that began with a move from Bordeaux to Barcelona around 390.

Like Augustine of Hippo , who was ordained against his will in Hippo Regius in 391 by a crowd cooperating with Bishop Valerius , Paulinus was persuaded by a crowd around 395 at Christmas time to be ordained. Paulinus refused to stay in Barcelona and moved to Campania with his wife. Married priests were not uncommon in the early Church, but Paulin's interests centered on monasticism.

Already during his first stay in Campania he had developed a fondness for the martyr Felix of Nola ( 4th century ), and they now settled near his grave; Paulinus had the complex rebuilt, the shrine enlarged and guest houses built for pilgrims. Every year he wrote a hymn in his honor for the day of the saint's remembrance, when the pilgrims were at their height, from which one can sense the personal relationship between Paulinus and his invisible friend and heavenly advocate.

Many of Paulin's letters to his contemporaries, including Ausonius and Sulpicius Severus in southern Gaul , Victricius of Rouen in northern Gaul, and Augustine in Africa, have survived. Paulinus could also be directly responsible for the Augustine Confessiones : he wrote to Alypius , Bishop of Thagaste and close friend of Augustine, asking about his conversion and how he started his ascetic life. Alypius' autobiographical answer is not known - Augustine's answer, however, is the Confessiones .

Around 410 Paulinus was elected Bishop of Nola. Like an increasing number of aristocrats of the late 4th and early 5th centuries who would rather join the clergy than pursue the usual careers in imperial administrative service, Paulinus also donated a large part of his fortune to the church and city of his choosing.

The buildings erected for Saint Felix are known from literature and archaeological evidence, in particular from his long letter to Sulpicius Severus, in which he describes the arrangement of the buildings and their decoration, including a detailed description of the mosaics in the apse above the main altar and a long inscription for the wall below the image. By explaining how he intends to give visitors an understanding of the image above the altar, Paulinus gives a rare glimpse into the intentions of an art patron in the late Roman Empire.

Remembrance day

Text output

  • Pontius Meropius Paulinus: Epistulae - letters. Translated and introduced by Matthias Skeb (= Fontes Christiani. Vol. 25, part volumes 1–3). Herder Verlag , Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 1998, DNB 954719786 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Paulinus von Nola  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Paulinus von Nola in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints , accessed on December 6, 2017.
predecessor Office successor
Paolo Bishop of Nola
409-431 		Paulinus II.
personal data
SURNAME Paulinus of Nola
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Paulinus, Pontius Meropius Anicius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Governor of Campania, Bishop of Nola
DATE OF BIRTH at 354
PLACE OF BIRTH Bordeaux
DATE OF DEATH June 22, 431
Place of death Nola near Naples