Page:Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature (1911).djvu/828

 the history of this protracted schism see of Calaris;  (3) of Antioch;  (3) of Antioch;  (93) of Vercelli;  (4). The death of Paulinus may be dated 388.

[E.V.]

Paulinus (7), writer of the Life of St. Ambrose, a work which he says he undertook at the request of St. Augustine. He was well qualified for his task by his intimate acquaintance with St. Ambrose and attendance upon him in his last illness, and by information gathered from well-informed persons, especially his sister Marcellina. He seems to call himself the bishop's secretary (notarius) and he was certainly with him at his death (cc. 33, 35, 38, 42, 47). In his introduction he expresses his great anxiety to adhere strictly to the truth and to deliver what he has to say impartially, and this he appears to have done. After the death of St. Ambrose he went to Africa, where he was well received by the church, and distinguished himself by defending the memory of his friend and patron against an attack upon him by Muranus, bp. of Bollita. It was perhaps this which led to his acquaintance with St. Augustine, and his becoming the biographer of St. Ambrose. He took a prominent part in the proceedings of the council of Carthage, 412, against Celestius. Morcelli, ''Afr. Chr.'' iii. pp. 57, 80; Cave; ''Hist. Lit.'' i. p. 402; Ceillier, vol. vii. p. 533, viii. 549, ix. 453.

[H.W.P.]

Paulinus (8), St., bp. of Nola, one of a patrician family of whom some had been Christians (Ausonius, Ep. xxiv. 103; Paulin. Ep. xl. Prudentius, Symm. i. 558, 560; Baronius, 394, 78, 99). They had property in Aquitania, and probably resided there habitually (Ambros. Ep. lviii. 1). His father was praefectus praetorio of Gaul, had large possessions in the province in which he lived, and was the founder of the town of Burgus (Bourg) on the Dordogne, and, as well as his wife, appears to have been a Christian.

I. First Period (353–394).—Besides Paulinus, his parents had an elder son and a daughter. He was probably born at Bordeaux, 353 or 354, and his tutor was Ausonius, who thought very highly of him as a pupil, regarded him with warm affection, and addressed to him many of his poetical epistles. The affection of Ausonius was fully returned by his pupil, who declares that he owed to him all the distinction he had attained.

Whatever merit his Latin compositions possess, he was by his own admission not strong in Greek, and in a letter to Rufinus, 408, regrets his inability to translate accurately an epistle of St. Clement (Ep. xlvi. 2). He entered early into public life, became a member of the senate, and filled the office of consul for part of the official year in the place of some one who had vacated it; in what year is not known, his name not appearing in the Fasti, but before 379 when Ausonius held the office and says that his pupil attained the dignity earlier than himself (Aus. Ep. xx. 4, xxv. 60). Paulinus has been supposed also to have been prefect of New Epirus, a supposition consistent with his own mention of frequent and laborious journeys by land and sea, but of which there is no direct evidence, though an edict of the joint emperors Valentinian, Valens, and Gratian undoubtedly exists, addressed to a prefect of that province of his name, 372. He certainly held a judicial office, for in one of his poems he expresses satisfaction at having condemned no one to death during his tenure of it. Lebrun conjectures that after his consulship he became consularis of Campania and resided at Nola (Carm. xxi. 396; Tillem. vol. xiv. p. 8). Possessed of easy fortune and enjoying the best society, he lived a life free from outward reproach, but one for which he afterwards found great fault with himself. His health was never good, and he suffered much from fatigue in his journeys (Carm. x. 134; xiii. 2, 10; Ep. v. 4). In the course of them he fell in with Victricius bp. of Rouen and Martin bp. of Tours at Vienne in Gaul, and ascribed to the latter the restoration of his sight, the loss of which was threatened, apparently by cataract (Ep. xviii. 9; Sulpic. Sev. Vit. S. Mart. xix. 3, ed. Halm.). He also regarded St. Ambrose with great veneration, calling him "father" (Ep. iii. 6). But his chief object of veneration was Felix of Nola, to whom he devoted himself specially when he visited Nola at about 26 or 27 years of age, 379 (Carm. xiii. 7, 9; xxi. 350, 381). About this time, but not later than 389, he and his brother received baptism at Bordeaux, from Delphinus, the bishop there (Epp. iii. 4; xx. 6; xxxv.; xxxvi.). Not long after he began to think of retiring from the world, and in 389 or ago went to Spain, residing chiefly at Barcelona. During this time he married a Spanish lady of good fortune and irreproachable character, named Therasia, and a son was born to them, who died after a few days (Prudentius, Peristeph. v. 41, 44; Dexter, Chron. 296; Carm. v. 66; xxi. 400; xxxv. 599, 610). There seems good reason for placing the violent death of his brother about this time, when not only his brother's property was in danger of confiscation, but that of Paulinus himself and even his life (Carm. xxi. 414–427; Buse, vol. i. p. 157). It was perhaps partly due to these events that during his stay in Spain he was led to give up the senate and worldly business and refused to take any further interest in "profane" literature (Ep. iv. 2; xxii. 3; Carm. x. 304, 316). But he continued to write verses on sacred subjects to the end of his life. Determined to renounce the world, he parted with a large portion of his property and his wife's, spending some of the money in redeeming captives, releasing debtors, and the like. In compliance with a sudden popular demand, he was ordained priest, but without any especial cure of souls, by Lampius, bp. of Barcelona, on Christmas Day, 393 (Epp. i. 10; ii. 2; iii. 4). He appears to have been already well acquainted with some of the most eminent African clergy, Alypius, Augustine, Aurelius, and others. In a letter to St. Augustine he mentions his work against the Manicheans, i.e. probably his de Doctrina Christiana, together with the single volume de Vera Religione in which Manichean doctrine is discussed (Aug. Ep. xxvii. 4). In the same letter Paulinus speaks of his own abandonment of the world, and requests Augustine to instruct and direct him.