Paulinus of Nola (353-431) has never come to my attention hitherto. He was a contemporary of St. Augustine and lived through the times of the fall of Rome. His works consist of poems and letters. The poems include anti-pagan material which must therefore be of value for late paganism. His works were translated in the Ancient Christian Writers series by P. Walsh during the late 60’s and 70’s.
Rather to my surprise I can find no trace of any of his works online in English. There must be few fathers of that period so under-represented!
Among the material sent to me about the bruma is this from carmen 14, v.13 (p. 46):
ergo dies, tanto quae munere condidit alto
Felicem caelo, sacris sollemnibus ista est,
quae post solstitium, quo Christus corpore natus
sole nouo gelidae mutauit tempora brumae
atque salutiferum praestans mortalibus ortum
procedente die se cum decrescere noctes
iussit, ab hoc quae lux oritur uicesima nobis,
sidereum meriti signat Felicis honorem.
Linking the birth of Christ and the bruma, it would be interesting to know what it says.
UPDATE: Here it is, from the Walsh translation, p.77:
13. So the day which bestowed so great a gift by setting Felix in the heights of heaven is the day of our yearly ritual. It comes after the solstice, the time when Christ was born in the flesh and transformed the cold winter season with a new sun, when He granted men His birth that brings salvation, and ordered the nights to shorten and the daylight to grow with Himself. The twentieth day that dawns on us after the solstice marks the heavenly glory which Felix merited.
De la Cerda believed that solstitium only meant summer solstice, in the purest Latin. But by the time of Paulinus this was clearly no longer so. This identifies the day of Christmas with the solstice, solstitium (“after the solstice … the twentieth day” is the martyrdom of Felix, not Christmas).
UPDATE: A preview of the Walsh translation is here.
There is a Paulinus translation on line somewhere. I had to refer to it because his is one of the earliest mentions of the martyrdom tradition of St. Mark in Alexandria.
Hi Stephan, can you name the source for St. Mark’s Alexandria martyrdom? And when you say “one of the earliest mentions”, are there older sources? Thank you in advance.
If you can find it, please post a link here or email me.
Hans, I can send you my article when it appears in the Journal of Coptic Studies in the next few weeks. I try to show that there is a confusing nexus of stories related to the martyrdom of St. Mark in Alexandria where – ultimately – the body of Peter I, seventeenth Patriarch of Alexandria was taken to Venice and presumed to be that of St. Mark owing to its association with the Evangelist’s cathedra. Schneemelcher puts forward the possibility that an early Latin version of the Passio Petri Sancti might have been produced just before Paulinus’ reference to Mark being in a struggle with Serapis:
http://books.google.com/books?id=v6IqqnEoN3QC&pg=PA462&dq=paulinus+of+nola+mark+sarapis&ei=UE8jS5jeOIzSkwSem6XLCw&cd=2#v=onepage&q=paulinus%20of%20nola%20mark%20sarapis&f=false
Here is Paulinus of Nola’s reference to the details of the martyrdom (p. 134):
http://books.google.com/books?id=T2pNj8rVeAUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=paulinus+of+nola&ei=MUsjS83AOI6GlQSTrfXLCw&cd=2#v=onepage&q=serapis&f=false
Roger, when I found this reference I was so happy that I could read the letter that I needed to read that assumed that the whole book was available. It turns out it’s one of those ‘limited previews’ from Google.
Thanks Stephan!
One more thing has to be said. Michael the Syrian identifies Paneas (modern Banias) as St. Mark’s final resting place. Theodore Weeden argues at great length that the Gospel of Mark was written in this city (his recent paper goes well beyond that arguing that Matthew and John were written from this geographic locale). Even though Michael is a late witness there might be something to this report. I’d like to know if anyone has come across any earlier witnesses that might have been Michael’s ultimate source for this information?
You’d think it would be in Post-Nicene Fathers! and therefore at CCEL. (But it isn’t). If he doesn’t blather on endlessly like some of those guys, I wouldn’t mind putting him up; but it’ll take a few weeks.
I’ve seen some of his stuff, and it is tedious blather if ever I saw it. Doubtless that is why no-one ever felt like doing him.
@Stephan: Thank you for the info.
@Roger & Bill:
I haven’t read him yet, but the bruma source is quite striking, I think: He directly associates Christmas and the solstice and even connects the two festivals theologically.
An awful lot of PN’s poems is up at http://tinyurl.com/ye3qz6e (but notice the ominous “temporar.php” in the true URL: I say grab it while you can); the brumal connection with Christmas is in Poem 14 on the Feast of Felix Martyr — among several dozen martyrs either truly or conventionally called “Felix”, this one’s feast is obviously the 14th of January — and the Christmas digression reads:
Nam post solstitium, quo Christus corpore natus
Sole novo gelidae mutavit tempora brumae,
Atque salutiferum praestans mortalibus ortum.
Procedente die secum decrescere noctes
Jussit, ab hoc quae lux oritur vicesima nobis
Sidereum meriti signat Felicis honorem.
and then continues with the praises of Felix
The material is from Intratext, I think:
http://www.intratext.com/IXT/LAT0609/
Yes, the Paulinus statement directly links Christmas (at a date when this must mean 25 Dec.) with the winter solstice, and links it to the “bruma season”.
We must also not forget that there is some drift going on in the calendar. Whatever Julius Caesar stated for 45 BC, four centuries on the calendar will be a couple of days behind. (Before Julius, of course, it was all over the place). But the solstice is observable. These calendar problems may be why we find so few people linking the paper calendar directly to the astronomical and agricultural solstice.
But I think the combination of Paulinus and … was it Censorinus who gave bruma as viii kal. jan? … is enough to indicate that in Roman imperial times, 25 Dec. was the winter solstice or near enough so.
Mind you, we’re still stuck with Julian the Apostate who says that the “Heliaia” takes place AFTER the solstice, at the time when the change becomes visible to the farmers (in his Hymn to King Helios). But a look at the original text would seem advisable; I have found that the translations of Julian in the Loeb series are not entirely reliable.
Prudentius’ Cathemerinon hymn is titled as “Hymnus VIII. Kalendas Ianuarias”, but I don’t know if that was in the original or what.
The Christmas one, that is. Hymn 11.
Thank you Maureen, that is very interesting. Must look at that, then.
I don’t know whether the title is original either, but the question is worth asking.
Umm Roger, does that mean that you need a Greek text of that passage in Julian? (p428 in the facing Greek of the same Loeb) — If so, holler.
And Censorinus merely says “aliis a novo sole, id est a bruma, aliis ab aestivo solstitio [… etc.] incipere annus naturalis videtur.” No date.
Thanks for the offer, but I have the Loeb Julian somewhere, including the Greek, so I’m fine.
It must be someone else who gives a date. I’m harried at work at the moment, so haven’t a moment to do anything, which is why my notes are so short! 🙂
There is a date, in Censorinus plus other sources, when read in conjunction: novus sol = bruma = VIII Kal Ian = 25 Dec (Julian). Servius + Censorinus + Plinius etc. pp.
Susan’s just put an English version of the Life of St. Felix at http://www.elfinspell.com/MedievalMatter/Bede/Giles-MinorHistoricalWorks/SaintFelix.html
Oh, and reading this thread, I just noticed this: Intratext may be the source of some things, but in general I’ve found them on the contrary to crib from others — including, if I remember aright, stuff of mine with its trace-useful typos. . . .
You’re right about Intratext — indeed they wrote and asked for permission to copy my Latin texts ages ago, which I gave them since that’s my thing. But they must have *some* original content … mustn’t they?
I never quite worked out what Intratext is. Do you suppose they make money off that lot somehow?
Thanks for the link to Bede’s “Life of Felix.” I think Bede is generally too late for my collection (well, I have to draw the line somewhere!) but interesting all the same. Mind you, I think it is permissible to wonder about the “divine providence” origin of that fire in a neighbouring cottage!
Yeah, I posted too fast; at the time I hadn’t more than glanced at it, and didn’t realize it isn’t the original of Paulinus’ “Life of Felix”, but a translation of Bede’s version of it. Still, grist for the mill at this season of the year.
Better than nothing, certainly.
Just noticed I didn’t answer a question of yours Roger: I don’t believe “Intratext”, whatever it is, has anything original at all. I have no idea what the site is about, and even less whether it might be making bundles of cash from everyone else’s work. I kinda doubt it.
Thanks!
I don’t know much about Intratext, but if their work makes stuff available to people who might not otherwise access it, then I’m all for it. The people from there have been very friendly when I’ve swapped emails with them.