Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 695
Funerary inscription of Bishop Andrew of Formia (Southern Italy), formerly a presbyter in Rome. Formia (Southern Italy), AD 529.
Pande tuas paradise fores sedemque beatam
Andreae meritum suscipe pontificis
cultor iustiti(a)e doctrin(a)e et pacis amator
quem vocat ad summum vita beata bonum
plenus amore d(e)i nescivit vivere mundo
ad famulo Chr(ist)i gloria Chr(ist)us erat
quae meditata fides et credita semper inhesit
haec te usque ad caelos et super astra tulit
numquam de manibus tibi lex divina recessit
eloquium d(omi)ni vixit in ore tuo
Romanamque prius decoravit presbyter urbem
culminis auctus honor hic dedit esse patrem
districtus sub iure pio et moderamine certo
utque bonus pastor texit ab hoste gregem
hospitib(us) gratus se ipsum donabat egenis
illos eloquio hos satiabat ope
praesule sub tanto florens {A}ec(c)lesia mater
crevit muneribus crevit et officiis
vixit ann(os) p(lus) m(inus) LXX presb(yter) Romanus ann(os) XII et in ep(iscopatu)
an(nos) XXVIII m(enses) X d(ies) XX requievit in pace XIIII Kal(endas) Nov(embres)
cons(ulatu) Deci Iun(ioris)
 
(ed. Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby, no. EDCS-20800171)
O, paradise, open the gates and your blessed see,
and accept the merits of the pontiff Andrew,
the cultivator of justice and the doctrine, the lover of peace,
he was called to the highest good, to the blessed life.
Full of divine love, he did not know how to live in the world.
Christ was the glory for the servant of Christ.
You meditated on the faith and you held firmly to what you believed.
It bore you to the heavens, above the stars.
The divine law has never slipped away from your hands.
The Lord’s eloquence lived in his mouth.
Firstly, as the presbyter, he was an ornament of the city of Rome.
Promoted to the highest place he was given the dignity of being a father.
He followed the law. He was pious and moderate.
As the good shepherd he protected his flock from the enemy.
He was benevolent towards strangers, he was giving himself to the poor.
His words were very nourishing.
Mother Church flourished under him
and promoted him to many offices.
He lived for more or less 70 years, 12 years as the presbyter in Rome and as the bishop
28 years, 10 months, and 20 days. He reposed in peace on the 14th day before the Kalends of November,
under the consulate of Decius Junior.
 
(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

As we can read from this inscription, Andrew was a Roman priest for twelve years (AD 490502), and later the bishop of Formia (where his funerary inscription was found) for twenty nine years (AD 502529).
 

Place of event:

Region
  • Italy south of Rome and Sicily
  • Rome
City
  • Formia
  • Rome

About the source:

Origin: Formia (Italy south of Rome and Sicily)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The inscription has been lost.
Edition:
Trismegistos no. 538682
Epigraphik-Datenbank  Clauss / Slaby, no. EDCS-20800171.
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 10, 6218.
E. Diehl (ed.), Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres, vol. 1, ed. 2., Berlin 1961, no. 1024.
Carmina Latina Epigraphica, hrsg. v. F. Bücheler - E. Lommatzsch, Leipzig 1930, no. 1371.
Bibliography:
Formianum. Atti del Convegno di studi sull'antico territorio di Formia, III, Marina di Minturno 1995, pp. 71-74 (L. Gasperini).
Storia illustrata di Formia, I, Avellino 2000, p. 224 (S. Orlandi).

Categories:

Ecclesiastical transfer
Further ecclesiastical career - Bishop
Functions within the Church - Urban presbyter
Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
Reverenced by
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER695, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=695