For often, if advice does not direct rebels, at least blows compel them. Thereupon he dared to violate the altar of God with his profane step. Encouraged by a friend, he returns repentant to the church, restores the crown, and regains his sight.
Text: Petschenig Summary and translation: Maurus Mount. Welcome Search Contact. Type of Evidence Literary - Hagiographical - Collections of miracles. From his verse it is clear that he had enjoyed a thorough literary education, so must have come from a wealthy family; and from one of his poems we learn that he had an adult grandson and considered himself old in the mid- to late s.
It is also, of course, clear that he was devoted to Martin of Tours, whom he describes as his patron. For the details of what is known of his life, see Labarre , , and Pietri and Heijmans Paulinus' principal surviving work is his substantial six-book Life of Saint Martin De vita Sancti Martini written in hexameters E This is based on the writings of Sulpicius Severus, except for the final volume, Book 6 from which this extract comes , which consists of an account of posthumous miracles of the saint.
Other than the Life of Martin , the only known works of Paulinus are a letter to Perpetuus of Tours, accompanied by two poems, both also related to Martin see E for a full text and English translation of these.
There is considerable debate over the origins of Books of the Life of Saint Martin : whether Paulinus wrote them independently as an act of personal devotion, or whether he wrote all, or some of them at the prompting of Bishop Perpetuus, who was very active at this time in promoting the cult of Martin, in particular by rebuilding and decorating on an elaborate and grand scale the saint's burial church see, for instance, E , E and E But there is no doubt about the origins of Book 6, because in a poem on the subject E , Poem 2 Paulinus tells us that Perpetuus had supplied him with a document charta with an account of twelve posthumous miracles of Martin, which Paulinus was to put into verse - these are the miracles that make up Book 6.
