The Presbyters Project

Dialogue 2.12.6-7

Nihil ex his, quae uirgo uenerabilis miserat, refutauit, dicens benedictionem illius a sacerdote minime respuendam, quae esset multis sacerdotibus praeferenda. Audiant, quaeso, uirgines istud exemplum, ut fores suas, si eas malis obsistere uolunt, etiam bonis claudant, et, ne ad se inprobis sit liber accessus, non uereantur excludere etiam sacerdotes.

(ed. Fontaine 2006: 272)

Dialogue 2.12.6-7

Nevertheless, he refused nothing from those things that the venerable virgin had sent, saying that the blessing of a woman who was to be preferred to many priests should certainly not be refused by a priest. I hope that the virgins hear of this example, so that they also might close their doors - even to the good - if they want to resist the evil. In order to prevent the wicked from accessing them freely, they should not fear to exclude even priests.

(trans. Goodrich 2015: 221)

Place of event:

Region

Gaul
East

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 AD 400 (the year of Origenist controversy, to which Sulpicius makes a reference), and the years 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 404 and 406, judging by the comment of one of the interlocutors that eight years have passed since Martin`s death (in 397) and no allusion to the barbarian invasions of Gaul in 406-407. 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 - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς

Relation with - Monk/Nun

Relation with - Woman

Theoretical considerations - On priesthood

Theoretical considerations - On church hierarchy

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: J. Szafranowski, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1021, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1021