The Presbyters Project

Dialogue 2.2.1-2

Quo quidem die - mira dicturus sum - cum iam altarium, sicut est sollemne, benediceret, globum ignis de capite illius uidimus emicare, ita ut in sublime contendens longum admodum crinem flamma produceret. Et licet celeberrimo factum die in magna populi multitudine uiderimus, una tantum de uirginibus et unus de presbyteris, tres tantum uidere de monachis. Ceteri cur non uiderint, non potest nostri esse iudicii.

(ed. Fontaine 2006: 216)

Dialogue 2.2.1-2

On the same day - I am about to tell you something amazing - when he was blessing the altar, as is customary, we saw a sphere of fire shining around his head, and as the flame climbed toward heaven, it produced a long tail of fire. And although we saw this happen on an important feast day among a great throng of people, only one virgin, one presbyter, and three monks saw [what happened]. I am not able to judge why the others did not see it.

(trans. Goodrich 2015: 213, changed by J. Szafranowski)

Place of event:

Region

Gaul
East

City

Tours

About the source:

Author: Sulpicius Severus
Title: Dialogues, Dialogi, Gallus sive dialogi de virtutibus sancti Martini, Dialogorum libri II
Origin: Primuliacum (Gaul)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

Sulpicius Severus` hagiographical corpus concerning Martin of Tours cosists of the Life itself, three letters, and three Dialogues. The Dialogues were composed between the year AD 400 (the year of Origenist controversy, to which Sulpicius makes a reference), and the year AD 410-412 when Jerome`s Commentary on Ezekiel was published, in which Jerome mentions the Dialogues. Stancliffe (Stancliffe 1983: 81) suggests that the Dialogues were composed between AD 404 and 406), judging by the comment of one of the interlocutors that eight years have passed since Martin`s death (in AD 397) and no allusion to the barbarian invasions of Gaul in 406-407 AD. The work was likely published in two separate volumes, with volume 1 containing the first and second Dialogue and volume 2 the third and last one. It can be proven by both early mansuscript tradition and the account of Gennadius (see [670]).

Edition:

Sulpicius Severus, Gallus: dialogues sur les “vertus” de Saint Martin, ed. and transl. J. Fontaine, Sources Chrétiennes 510, Paris 2006.

Translation:

Sulpicius Severus, The Complete Works, transl. R.J. Goodrich, Ancient Christian Writers 70, New York 2015.

Bibliography:

C. Stancliffe, St. Martin and his hagiographer: history and miracle in Sulpicius Severus, Oxford 1983.

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

Ritual activity - Blessing

Devotion - Supernatural experience

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: J. Szafranowski, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1009, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1009