Paulinus of Pella
Paulinus of Pella
Christian poet of the fifth century; b. at Pella in Macedonia, but of a Bordelaise family. He was the son of an official, which explains his birth in Macedonia and his sojourn at Carthage while he was a child. He soon returned to Bordeaux. He was probably the grandson of the poet Ausonius. At the age of eighty-three he composed an account of his life: “Eucharisticon Deo sub ephemeridis meae textu”. His autobiography is a thanksgiving, although illness, loss of property, and dangers from invasion occupy more space in it than do days of happiness. The account is interesting, for it presents a sincere picture of the period, and the expression of exalted sentiments. Unfortunately the style and versification do not always correspond to the sincerity and the height of inspiration. The date is uncertain. The passage which apparently gives it (474 sqq.) is altered but may be between 459 and 465. The very name of the author has not been preserved by the single MS. of the poem. We know it only through Margarin de La Bigne, the author of the “Bibliotheca Patrum” (Paris, 1579, appendix, VIII), who had handled another manuscript giving the name of Paulinus. The “Eucharisticon” was published by W. Brandes in vol. I of “Poetae Christiani minores” (1888).
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TEUFFEL, Gesch. d. rom. Literatur, &474, 4; EBERT, Gesch. d. Literatur des Mittelalters, I (Leipzig, 1889), 405; DUCHESNE, Fast. epis. de 1’ancienne Gaule, II (2nd ed., Paris, 1900), pt. II.
PAUL LEJAY Transcribed by Joseph E. O’Connor
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XICopyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Paulinus Of Pella
surnamed the Penitent, was born in A.D. 376, at Pella, in Macedonia. He was the son of Hesperius, proconsul of Africa. He was taken at three years of age to Bordeaux, where he appears to have been educated. An illness at the age of fifteen interrupted his studies, and the indulgence of his parents allowed him to pursue a life of ease and pleasure, in the midst of which, however, he kept up a regard for morality. At the age of twenty he married a lady of ancient family and of some property. At thirty he lost his father, whose death was followed by a dispute between Paulinus and his brother, who wished to invalidate his father’s will to deprive his mother of her dowry. In A.D. 414 Paulinus joined Attalus, who attempted to resume the purple in Gaul under the patronage of the Gothic prince Ataulphus, and from whom he accepted the title of Comes Rerum Privatarum, thinking thus to be secure from the hostility of the Goths. He was, however, disappointed. The city where he resided (apparently Bordeaux) was taken, and his house plundered; and he was again in danger when Vasates (Bazas), to which he had retired, was besieged by the Goths and Alans. He proposed now to retire to Greece, where his mother had rich estates, but his wife would not consent. He then thought of becoming a monk, but his friends diverted him from this plan. Misfortunes now thickened about him: he lost his mother, his mother-in-law, and his wife; his children forsook him, with the exception of one, who was a priest, and who suddenly died soon after. His estates in Greece yielded him no revenue; and he retired to Massilia (Marseilles), where he hired and farmed some land, but this resource failed him, and alone, destitute, and in debt, he was reduced to depend on charity. During his residence at Massilia he became acquainted with many religious persons, and their conversation combined with his sorrows and disappointments to impress his mind deeply with religious sentiments. He was baptized in A.D. 422, in his forty-sixth year, and lived at least till his eighty-fourth year (A.D. 460), when he wrote a poem embodying his Christian sentiments. Some have supposed, but without good reason, that he is the Benedictus Paulinus to whose questions of various points of theology and ethics Faustus Reiensis wrote an answer (Histoire Litteraire de la France, 2:343, etc., 461, etc.). See also Fabricius, Biblioth. Med. et Infim. Latinit. v. 206, ed. Mansi; and Cave, Hist. Litt. 1:290, in his article on Paulinus Nolanus. Smith, Dict. of Gr. and Romans Biog. and Mythol. s.v.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Paulinus of Pella
Paulinus (12), son of a prefect (probably a vicarius) of Illyricum; born at Pella. His father soon afterwards went to Carthage as proconsul, and Paulinus was before long sent to Bordeaux to be brought up by his grandfather. In his 84th year (probably c. 460) he wrote a poem called “Eucharisticon Deo sub Ephemeridis meae textu,” in which he returns thanks to God for his preservation and for many blessings throughout a long and rather eventful life. The poem throws some light on the history of his time, particularly on the movement of the northern nations. It has been erroneously attributed to St. Paulinus of Nola. It is in De la Bigne, Bibl. Patr. (App. Col 281, Paris, 1579), and was ed. by Daumius (Lips. 1686). Hist. Litt. de la France, ii. 363, where the events of his life are traced in some detail, from the account given in the poem itself; Alzog, Handb. der Patrol.; Ebert, Gesch. der Chr. Lat. Lit.; Cave, Hist. Litt. i. 290; Teuffel, vol. ii. Cf. also J. Rocafort, De Paul Pell. vita et uv. (Bordeaux, 1890).
[H.A.W.]