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E05638: Venantius Fortunatus, in a poem On the basilica of *George (soldier and martyr, S00259) in Mainz (north-east Gaul), praises Sidonius, bishop of Mainz, as its founder, in 530/550. Poem 2.12, written in Latin in Gaul, 565/576.

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posted on 2018-06-03, 00:00 authored by kwojtalik

Venantius Fortunatus, Poems 2.12 (De basilica Sancti Georgi, 'On the church of Saint George')

Martyris egregii pollens micat aula Georgi,
   cuius in hunc mundum spargitur altus honor:
carcere caede fame vinclis site frigore flammis
   confessus Christum duxit ad astra caput;
qui virtute potens orientis in axe sepultus                       5
   ecce sub occiduo cardine praebet opem.
Ergo memento preces et reddere vota, viator:
   obtinet hic meritis quod petit alma fides.
Condidit antistes Sidonius ista decenter,
   proficiant animae quae nova templa suae.                  10

'The mighty church of the noble martyr George is aglow, a saint whose high honor spreads as far as this realm. Through prison, beatings, hunger, chains, thirst, cold, and flames, making confession of Christ, he raised his head up to the stars. (5) Strong in his powers, though buried in eastern climes, behold, here under western skies he proffers his aid. Therefore be mindful, traveler, to give him your prayers and your vows; here true faith secures by his merits the petitions it makes. Bishop Sidonius founded this building with fitting display; may this new church win due profit for his soul.'

Text: Leo 1881, 41. Translation: Roberts 2017, 101.

History

Evidence ID

E05638

Saint Name

George, soldier and martyr : S00259

Saint Name in Source

Georgius

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/George_soldier_and_martyr_and_Companions/13729822

Type of Evidence

Literary - Poems

Language

Latin

Evidence not before

565

Evidence not after

576

Activity not before

530

Activity not after

550

Place of Evidence - Region

Gaul and Frankish kingdoms

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

Tours Tours Toronica urbs Prisciniacensim vicus Pressigny Turonorum civitas Ceratensis vicus Céré

Major author/Major anonymous work

Venantius Fortunatus

Cult activities - Places

Cult building - independent (church)

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Ecclesiastics - bishops

Source

Venantius Fortunatus was born in northern Italy, near Treviso, and educated at Ravenna. In the early 560s he crossed the Alps into Merovingian Gaul, where he spent the rest of his life, making his living primarily through writing Latin poetry for the aristocracy of northern Gaul, both secular and ecclesiastical. His first datable commission in Gaul is a poem to celebrate the wedding in 566 of the Austrasian royal couple, Sigibert and Brunhild. His principal patrons were Radegund and Agnes, the royal founder and the first abbess of the monastery of the Holy Cross at Poitiers, as well as Gregory, the historian and bishop of Tours, Leontius, bishop of Bordeaux, and Felix, bishop of Nantes, but he also wrote poems for several kings and for many other members of the aristocracy. In addition to occasional poems for his patrons, Fortunatus wrote a four-book epic poem about Martin of Tours, and several works of prose and verse hagiography. The latter part of his life was spent in Poitiers, and in the 590s he became bishop of the city; he is presumed to have died early in the 7th century. For Fortunatus' life, see Brennan 1985; George 1992, 18-34; Reydellet 1994-2004, vol. 1, vii-xxviii; PCBE 4, 'Fortunatus', 801-822. The eleven books of Poems (Carmina) by Fortunatus were almost certainly collected and published at three different times: Books 1 to 7, which are dedicated to Gregory of Tours, in 576; Books 8 and 9 after 584, probably in 590/591; and Books 10-11 only after their author's death. A further group of poems, outside the structure of the books, and known from only one manuscript, has been published in modern editions as an Appendix to the eleven books. For further discussion, see Reydellet 1994-2004, vol. 1, lxviii-lxxi; George 1992, 208-211. Almost all of Fortunatus' poems are in elegiac couplets: one hexameter line followed by one pentameter line. For the cult of saints, Fortunatus' poems are primarily interesting for the evidence they provide of the saints venerated in northern Gaul, since many were written to celebrate the completion of new churches and oratories, and some to celebrate collections of relics. For an overview of his treatment of the cult of saints, see Roberts 2009, 165-243.

Discussion

Sidonius is documented as bishop of Mainz during the reign of Theudebert, who reigned between 533 and 547. For Sidonius see PCBE 4, 'Sidonius 2', p. 1801. For the church of George in Mainz, see Gauthier 2000, 41.

Bibliography

Editions and translations: Leo, F., Venanti Honori Clementiani Fortunati presbyteri Italici opera poetica (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi 4.1; Berlin: Apud Weidmannos, 1881). Roberts, M., Poems: Venantius Fortunatus (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 46; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2017). George, J., Venantius Fortunatus, Personal and Political Poems (Translated Texts for Historians 23; Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1995). Reydellet, M., Venance Fortunat, Poèmes, 3 vols. (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1994-2004). Further reading: Brennan, B., "The Career of Venantius Fortunatus," Traditio 41 (1985), 49-78. Gauthier, N., "Mayence," in: N. Gauthier, B. Beaujard, and F. Prévot (eds.), Topographie chrétienne des cités de la Gaule des origines au milieu du VIIIe siècle, vol. 11: Province ecclésiastique de Mayence (Germania Prima) (Paris, 2000), 21-43. George, J., Venantius Fortunatus: A Latin Poet in Merovingian Gaul (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992). Roberts, M., The Humblest Sparrow: The Poetry of Venantius Fortunatus (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2009).

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S00259 History

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