Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 1034
Presbyter Brictio was raised in the monastery by Martin of Tours. He is angry with Martin, because the latter reproached him for buying horses and slaves. Account in the "Dialogues" by Sulpicius Severus, writing in Primuliacum (Gaul), ca AD 406.
Dialogue 3.15.2
 
Nec mora: Brictio furibundus inrupit; ibi plenus insaniae euomit in Martinum mille conuicia. Obiurgatus enim pridie ab eo fuerat, cur, qui nihil umquam ante clericatum (quippe qui in monasterio ab ipso Martino nutritus) habuisset, equos aleret, mancipia conpararet. Nam illo tempore arguebatur a multis non solum pueros barbaros, sed etiam puellas scitis uultibus coemisse.
 
(ed. Fontaine 2006: 350)
Dialogue 3.15.2
 
Without delay the frenzied Brictio burst in. There overflowing with madness, he spewed out thousand charges against Martin. Martin had scolded him the day before, for Brictio, who had nothing before he had become a presbyter - because he had been raised in the monastery by Martin himself - was keeping horses and buying slaves. At that time, many people were denouncing him for buying not only barbarian boys but also girls with pretty faces.
 
(trans. Goodrich 2015: 245-246, changed by J. Szafranowski)

Discussion:

The information about Brictio's upbringing in the monastery is also repeated in the Dialogue 3.15.4.

Place of event:

Region
  • Gaul
  • East
City
  • Marmoutier
  • 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 consists of the Life itself, three letters, and three Dialogues. The Dialogues were composed between the year 400 (the year of the Origenist controversy, to which Sulpicius makes a reference), and the year 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 Dialogues and volume 2 the third and last. It can be proved by both early manuscript 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:

Education - Monastic education
Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
Economic status and activity - Indication of wealth
Economic status and activity - Slave ownership
Conflict
Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior
Relation with - Slave/Servant
Relation with - Woman
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: J. Szafranowski, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1034, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1034