The Passio Vincentii transmitted in the texts of Prudentius

Contenu principal de l'article

William Clemence

Résumé

The following article analyzes the texts of Prudentius, a famous Christian poet, which presents Vincent’s figure, a martyr from the 5th century, and narrates his martyrdom in reason to his non-submission to the order of denying the Christian faith by sacrificing to the gods. This narrative is found in a collection of


poems called Peristephanon, but specifically in the books IV-V, in which the poet initially praises the eighteen martyrs of Saragossa; afterwards he remains in Saint Vincent’s passion, that consists in a series of verbal confrontations, when his executioner, Dacian, tries to persuade him through flattering or threatening words, and of physical confrontations, being his adversary full of rage and with cruelty, but nothing of this is capable of corrupting his inner-self, thus elevating Saint Vincent to glory of martyrdom. The motivations of Prudentius’s writing of those poems on the martyrs were his ascetic ideal, which corresponds to a kind of daily martyrdom, his stay in Italy, where the cult of martyrs was strongly celebrated, and his bishop’s encouragement to introduce the martyr’s cult in the Church of Spain; all this resulted in these poems of singular style and piety.

Details de l'article

Comment citer
Clemence, W. (2022). The Passio Vincentii transmitted in the texts of Prudentius. Brasiliensis, 11(20), 23-53. https://doi.org/10.64205/brasiliensis.11.20.2022.180
Rubrique
Articles

Comment citer

Clemence, W. (2022). The Passio Vincentii transmitted in the texts of Prudentius. Brasiliensis, 11(20), 23-53. https://doi.org/10.64205/brasiliensis.11.20.2022.180

Références

AUGUSTINUS. s. 53/A; 64; 94/A; 275; 283-340/A in PL 38 - PLS 2.

DELEHAYE, H. Les Origines du Culte des Martyrs, Bruxelles, 1912.

Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity, edited by A. Di Berardino volumes one (A-E), two (F-O), and three (P-Z), Downers Grove, 2014.

FONTAINE, J. Naissance de la Poésie dans l’Occident Chrétien. Esquisse d’une Histoire de la Poésie Latine Chrétienne du IIIe au VIe Siècle (Études Augustiniennes), Paris, 1981, pp. 144-159. 178-194.

FUX, P.-Y. Les Sept Passions de Prudence. (Peristephanon 2. 5. 9. 11-14). Introduction générale et commentaire, Fribourg, 2003.

Gli Inni Quotidiani. Le Corone dei Martiri, introduzione, traduzione e note a cura di M. Spinelli, Roma, 2009, (Collana dei Testi Patristici 209), pp. 173-196.

Le Livre des Couronnes (Peristephanon Liber). Dittochaeon. Épilogue, Texte établi et traduit par M. Lavarenne, Tome IV, Paris, 1963, (Collection des Universités de France), pp. 64-92.

MARKUS, R. The End of Ancient Christianity, Cambridge, 1990.

PRUDENTIUS. Peristephanon IV-V in Carmina, edited by I. Bergman, Vindobonae, 1926, (CSEL 61), pp. 326-354.

__________ . Praefatio in CSEL 61.

ROBERTS, M. Poetry and the Cult of the Martyrs. The Liber Peristephanon of Prudentius, Michigan, 1993.

SAXER, V. La Passion de S. Vincent. Version de Saint-Germain-des-Prés (BHL 8628, 8630, 8633) dans Saint Vincent: Diacre et Martyr. Culte et Légendes Avant l’An Mil (Subsidia Hagiographica 83), Bruxelles, 2002, pp. 300-315.The Poems of Prudentius, translated by Sister M. C. Eagan, Washington, 1962, (The Fathers of the Church 43), pp. 137-167.

TOLETANUS, Eugenius. Opusculorum, Praefatio VIII in PL 87.