Early Christian Biographies

Introduction

INTRODUCTION _ MONG THE MOST influential of the early monastic in. ~ stitutions in the West was that of the Island of Lerins, founded in the early part of the fifth century. A veritable stream of bishops and saints who by their holi. ness and learning did much to strengthen the Church in Gaul and other parts of western Europe went forth from this island monastery. Accordingly, we may rightly consider its founder, St. Honoratus, a person of genuine importance in the history of the Church. Accordingly, also, the sermon on the Life of St. Honoratus by Hilary of ArIes, the chief source for the life of St. Honoratus, is an important contribution to Christian biography. Hilary of ArIes was born in the early years of the fifth century somewhere in Gaul, but the exact date and place are unknown. Conjecture indicates the year as 401 and the place as northern Gaul. His family was prominent in the life of the region, and this fact, together with a gifted mind and a good education, foretold much worldly success for Hilary. But, when still a young man, he abandoned all these prospects and embraced the monastic life, having been won over to it by the pleading of his kinsman Honoratus, founder of the hermitage at Lerins. When Honoratus was summoned to the archbishopric of ArIes in 426 or 427, he took his protege, Hilary, with him. But Hilary preferred to return to his mono 355 356 ST. HILARY astic home and did so shortly after his arrival at Aries, only to be recalled two years later to Honoratus' deathbed. When, after the archbishop's death, he tried to return to Lerins, the people seized him and proclaimed him Honoratus' successor. Aries at this time was an important city. From it the Via Aureliana led to Rome; to it the Via Domitiana led from Spain. It was the commercial rival of its neighbor, Marseilles , and the center of transalpine Roman politics. Emperor Honorius designated it in 418 as the meeting place of the seven provinces of Gaul. Ecclesiastically, ArIes ranked as a metropolitan see. Sometime after Hilary's death, an admirer, not yet indentified , wrote a Life of St. Hilary of Aries (PL 50.1219-1246), a poor imitation of Hilary's own Life of St. Honoratus. Out of a mass of rhetorical bombast we get a picture of a man very strong in character, strict with himself, and not afraid to be strict with others when he judged it his duty. Consistent with this impression are the biographer's references to Hilary's love of poverty and the manual labor which he undertook to provide for the poor. The sermon on the Life of St. Honoratus was given by Hilary on the anniversary of Honoratus' death, as the opening sentences tell. Thus, it must be placed on January 18 (XVII Kal. Februarii, as the MSS. read), between 430 and 432. The former date is set by the fact that Honoratus died in 429, as we learn from a letter of St. Prosper; the latter date by the fact that Leontius, Bishop of Frejus, who died in 432, seems from the mention of him in section 15 of the Life, to be still alive at the time of the delivery of the sermon. The most natural date for the preaching of such a panegyric is on the first anniversary of the subject's death. This, accordingly , would be in all probability 430. It has been said that Hilary's Life of St. Honoratus was LIFE OF ST. HONORATUS 357 greatly inffuenced by Sulpicius Severus' Life of Blessed M artin . It is true that the Life of Martin was very popular in Hilary's day and was undoubtedly known to him, especially since its subject was the hero of a cause so dear to Hilary's heart, monasticism. Thus, in all probability, the popularity of the Life of Martin was a stimulus to Hilary to do like honor to his own monastic champion. But Sulpicius' work is chiefly an account of St. Martin's miracles and was written to be read, while Hilary'S is a sermon, mainly devoted to the praise of Honoratus' virtues. As a matter of fact, except for one instance, Hilary deliberately avoids the mention of miracles. Thus, the two Lives differ both in content and in form. Furthermore, there were already in existence not only models but...