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ch. 17.]

[

18.]

[3 Supr.ch.

37.]

[ Supr.ch.

38.]

5

ap.S.Aug. Ep. 24.

Ibid.

unanimita

A. D. 394. in 387. Hearing of his conversion, he sent to him, about the p.625-8.] year 394, five of St. Augustine's works against the Manichees, Epist. 27. $5. [Scr. which probably were his books, On the Manners of the Church', 395.tom.2] Supra, On Free-will, On the True Religion, On the Profitableness of Faith', Supr.ch. and that On the Two Souls'. St. Paulinus' returned St. Alypius thanks, and at the same time begged him to send him the history of his life in writing. He sent at the same time with this letter, another for St. Augustine, in which he says that he was delighted with his works, and commends' himself [scr. 394.] to his prayers. He sent each of them a loaf of bread by way Ep. 25. of eulogia, that is to say, of blessing". Both letters bore the 7 $ 3. [Seulogiam names of Paulinus, and of Therasia or Theresa his wife, esse. Ep.24 who had with him quitted the world. In the letter to Alypius, tis indicio. St. Paulinus commends himself to the brethren who are in Ep. 25.] the churches and monasteries at Carthage, at Thagaste, at Hippo, and other places; which shews how monasticism had already spread in Africa. St. Augustine, in answering this letter says among other things, "Suffer not yourself to be so "carried away with what the Truth speaks by me, as not to "take heed to what I say myself; lest, receiving too greedily "that good food which, bestowed on me, I dispense to others, you should forget to pray for the sins and errors which I "commit myself"." And afterwards. "He is indeed better, § 4. [scr. A.D. 395.]" (who can deny it?) who is rich in the greatest gifts from "GOD than the man who is rich in the fewer and lower I gifts, but it is better to return thanks to God for a moderate "gift than to desire to be commended oneself for a great one." After this he promises the life of Alypius, which that holy Bishop could not be persuaded to write himself; and as he sent this letter by Romanianus his old friend, he commended to him Licentius who was Romanianus' son. He could not disengage this young man from worldly pleasures and expectations, which made him very uneasy in regard to 1 Ep. 26. his salvation, as appears in the letter' which he wrote to him [Ed. Be- and sent at the same time with this to St. Paulinus. tit. et Ep. St. Paulinus was every way worthy of the friendship of St. Augustine. He was descended of the noblest families Uran. Ep. in Rome, had a large estate in Aquitania, and was born at init. [Apud Bourdeaux3: for the Roman nobility had considerable possessions in the provinces, and sometimes lived there. Paulinus,

9 Ep. 27.

ned. ad

27. 6.]

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Surium.

tom. 3.
p. 733-5.
Jun. 22.]

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20. init.

who is sometimes called Pontius and Meropius, was in- A. D. 394. structed in human learning by the famous Ausonius, who always retained his friendship; and he became one of the most polite writers of his time, both in prose and verse. He was preferred to great employments, even to that of the Consulship', although his name is not found in the Fasti. 'Auson.Ep. His wife had a fortune suitable to his, and there wanted nothing to complete their temporal happiness, but children. After having long desired them, they had a son, who died eight days after he was born, whilst they were at Complutum2 in [' Alcala.] Spain, and they buried him near some Martyrs. Whilst they were in this condition they determined, after they had long considered it, to quit the world and to give themselves up entirely to God. The wife, far from opposing it, encouraged her husband. He was baptized by St. Delphinus Bishop of Bourdeaux, when he was thirty-eight years of age, about the year 392; so that he was of the same age with St. Augustine, and born about the year 354. As he had deferred his baptism till he was entirely converted, he soon embraced a monastic life, and retired with his wife into Spain, whom he looked upon no otherwise than as his sister. The retreat of so celebrated a man made a great noise in the world; many Auson. blamed him, and among the rest his friend Ausonius, who re- Ep. 23. 4 Ibid. Ep. proached him for suffering himself to be governed by his wife, 25. and with having become melancholy'. But St. Paulinus knew Poem. 11, very well how to answer him, and did so in verse, as Ausonius 12. [10, 11.

had written to him".

3

"Op. S.Paul.

scr. sub fin. an. 393.

6

p.361-377.]

Letter of

linus.

S. Paul.

When Vigilantius, a Priest belonging to the Church at LVI. Barcelona, went to Jerusalem, St. Paulinus gave him a letter St. Jerome for St. Jerome, whom he consulted concerning the manner in to St. Pauwhich he ought to live in his retirement, and congratulated S. Hier. Ep. 13. [49. him on the happiness he enjoyed in living in the Holy Land. scr. 395. p. 566.] He sent him at the same time a discourse which he made at ad Paulin. the request of one of his friends, in defence of the Emperor Ep.9.al. 28. Theodosius against the calumnies of the Pagans, which he [P. 175.] had not published. Vigilantius found him in Palestine, Gennad. in during an earthquake', which is thought to be one of those ap. S. Hier. which preceded the death of Theodosius, about the end of the year 394. St. Jerome answered St. Paulinus, and said to him among other things: "Think not that any thing is wanting

ad Sever.

Paul. [$ 49.

tom. 5.

? S. Hier. in

8

Vigilant. c. 4. [p. 286.] 1bid. Ep. 13. [49.] c.2. [p.564.]

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A. D. 394. " in your faith, because you have not seen Jerusalem, nor suppose that I am the better for living in Bethlehem; "I would only have you in furtherance of your design, leave "the cities and live in the country. Jerusalem is a large city, which has its public Council, its Court, Officers, Actors, "Jesters, and victims of impurity, like other cities, a great "crowd of people, and a continual concourse from all parts "of the world; so that you would find there all that you "might elsewhere escape."

1 c. 3. [p.

565.]

[2 Monachus, μóvos.]

Therasia.

Bened.]

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He then shewed' him the difference between the life of a Clerk and a Monk; "If" (he says) "you would follow the "office of a Priest or a Bishop, live in the cities and towns, "and work out your own salvation by procuring that of

others; but if you merit in the least the name you bear, "that is, a solitary, what would you do in cities, which are "the habitation of the multitude? Every one has his own "patterns to live by; the Bishops and the Priests ought to "imitate the Apostles and Apostolic men; our leaders are the Pauls, the Antonies, the Hilarions, and to go back to the Scriptures, Elias, the sons of the Prophets and the Rechabites. I would have you, therefore, since you are united [His wife," to your holy sister, and not entirely free, to shun public "assemblies, and feasts, and offices of civility. Eat not until " evening, and then cheap things, as herbs or pulse. You "have the books against Jovinian', where I have discoursed "at large of the contempt of luxurious living, but let the Holy Scriptures always be in your hands. Frequent be your watchings, frequent your prayers. Distribute your "alms yourself. Do not take upon you to distribute those "of others, and give your own with caution and discretion, "as being no more than the steward of your goods." He afterwards commended his discourse on Theodosius, which was a panegyric, to shew that he had vanquished the tyrants,

[Supra, ch. 42.]

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"St. Paul, of Thebes in Egypt, retired into the desert at the time of the Decian persecution (A.D.249-251.), the period of St. Anthony's birth. In A.D. 340, St. Anthony, by revelation, visited him, and buried him.

p See bk. 18. ch. 20. note s.

4 St. Hilarion was born of idolatrous parents, about A. D. 292. near Gaza, and educated at Alexandria. On his

conversion he visited St. Anthony, and adopted a solitary life near his birthplace, in Palestine, (A.D. 307). He began to work miracles A.D. 329. He assembled a monastic community near Gaza, and led to the establishment of many others in Palestine and Syria, which he annually visited. He died about A.D. 370.

rather by faith than arms, and that he had reconciled sove- A. D. 394. reign power with Christian humility. St. Jerome considered this discourse to be judicious, agreeable, and composed according to all the rules of art. He exhorts St. Paulinus to improve his talent for eloquence, and to cultivate it by reading the Holy Scripture and the Ecclesiastical authors, whom he criticises cursorily.

al. 10. ad

ser. A. D.

About the same time St. Jerome was also consulted' by '[Ep. 47. Furia a Roman lady of the highest rank, descended from Fur. p. 554. the Camilli, and a connection of St. Paula. She was a widow, 396.1 young, and without children, and asked his advice how she should behave in this state. St. Jerome exhorted her to continue in it, notwithstanding the solicitations of her father Lætus, and her attendants, who urged her to marry again. He represented to her the inconveniences of a second marriage, and advised her to abstain from wine, and not only from flesh but from most sorts of pulse, and to apply herself to reading, prayer, and alms, and to live in the most retired manner. He referred her also to his books against Jovinian, written two years before.

Retreat of

linus.

Once when St. Paulinus was at Barcelona and present at LVII. the service of the Church on Christmas-Day, the people St. Pauinflamed with zeal suddenly fell upon him, and presenting [ S. Paul.] him to Lampius, the Bishop, obliged him to consecrate him Ep. 10. [45. al. 3. § 4. Priest. St. Paulinus3 was unwilling to submit to it, because ad Alyp.] 3 Ep. 1. al.6. he thought of nothing but retirement, and the obscurity of a ad Sever. monastic life. He had long resolved to pass his life at Nola [$10.] Ep. 2. al. 23. in Italy, near the tomb of St. Felix, and therefore would only ad Amand. suffer himself to be ordained upon condition that he should not be attached to the Church of Barcelona, but admitted to the Priesthood without a title; and this is likely one of the instances of a free ordination, without the ordained person being attached to any particular church. He seems likewise

St. Jerome seems to have had this privilege granted him as well as Paulinus, having licence, when he was ordained, to continue a Monk and return to his monastery. See Bingham, bk. 4. ch. 6. § 3. and supra 17. ch. 53. Besides these, and the cases of Barses and Eulogius, two Monks of Edessa, (who, according to Sozomen, were ordained Bishops without any see), and Mace

S

donius, the Syrian Anchorite, ordained
Priest, Bingham says he remembers
none. Ibid. The Church custom, that
no man should be ordained without a
title (ἀπολελυμένως), was confirmed at
Chalcedon. Ibid. § 2. This rule was
transferred into the body of the canon
law; and afterwards into the constitu-
tion of the English Church by Egbert,
Archbishop of York, (A.D. 732–767),

[' sacram servitutem]

bk. 7. ch.

tom. 3.

S

A. D. 394. to have been immediately s ordained Priest, without going through the inferior degrees; for he called God to witness, that he was so far from despising the rank of a Priest, he could wish to have begun with serving the Church' in the office of door-keeper. After this, that he might devote him[*ædituus] self more entirely to GoD, St. Paulinus disposed of all his [Hooker, estate, which he had already begun to do, and distributed it 23. § 9.] to the poor. He opened his granaries' and his store-houses 4 Uran. to all that came, and not thinking the poor of his own neighEpist. c. 4. [apud Sur. bourhood sufficient, he assembled them from all parts that he p. 734.] might feed and clothe them. He redeemed numbers of imprisoned captives and debtors, who were reduced to slavery for want of means to pay, and he discharged the debts of numbers of other bankrupts. Having thus disposed of his affairs he came into Italy, and passed through Milan where S. Paulin. St. Ambrose' wished to detain him, and place him among his Ep. 3. al. 45. ad Alyp. clergy, so that, wherever he happened to be, he might be looked upon as a Priest of Milan. St. Paulinus did not, however, consent to it, but continued his journey and came to Rome, where he was better received by the people than the Clergy, part of whom, and even the Pope himself, would have no intercourse with him. St. Paulinus yielded to their Ep. 1.al.5. envy and retired, but when he wrote to his friend Severus

[§ 4.]

ad Sever.

[§ 13.]

he could not forbear complaining of it. The Pope may have been displeased that St. Paulinus had been ordained Priest, being but a Neophyte and a simple layman, contrary to the rules, the observation of which he recommends in one of his S. Siric. letters; but the force that was used to St. Paulinus might Ep. ad Orthod. [p. well excuse him.

scr. circ.

• Natal. 2.

395.14°Jan.

662. Coust. He at last retired to Nola and there spent the remainder A.D. 386.] of his life, as he had desired eighteen years before. He was [Scr. A.D. persuaded to it by the devotion he felt for St. Felix the Martyr, whose miracles drew a great concourse of people from all parts of Italy. St. Paulinus had an intimate knowledge of this, because his paternal estate was near Nola. So that from his youth he looked upon St. Felix as his patron and

p. 380.]

and it was accordingly prohibited in
the several bodies of our Canons, made
since the Reformation and before the
Canons of 1603. See Keble's Note to
Hooker, bk. 5. ch. 80. § 3. Read the

whole Chapter of Hooker.

s Compare the cases of St. Ambrose (bk. 17. ch. 21), Nectarius (bk. 18. ch. 5), and St. Cyprian; and see Bingham, bk. 2. ch. 10. § 7.

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