Iberian Fathers, Volume 3

Introduction

1. Castigatae eloquentiae. A variant manuscript reading, accepted by some scholars, is castitate et eloquentia. In this case the passage should be translated as “Pacian . . . distinguished for his chastity and eloquence . . .” But since Pacian was married and had a son before his elevation to the see of Barcelona, this reading seems less appropriate and thus less likely to be authentic. Cf. Lisardo Rubio Fern ández, San Paciano. Obras (Barcelona: Universidad de Barcelona, 1958), 5; and Ángel Anglada Anfruns, Las obras de Paciano publicadas por V. Noguera y edición crítica del “Liber de paenitentibus” (Valencia: Universidad de Valencia, 1982), 14. 2. Valuable background on the history of Christianity in the city is available in J. Mas, Notes históriques del bisbat de Barcelona (Barcelona: J. Vives y La Renaixensa, 1906) and Sebastían Puig y Puig, Episcopologio de la sede Barcinonense (Barcelona: Balmes, 1929). 3. Peristephanon 4.33–34. 4. San Paciano, 5. Cf. canon 24 from the Council of Elvira: Omnes qui peregre INTRODUCTION St. Jerome, in chapter 106 of his De viris illustribus, furnishes most of the meager biographical data which we possess concerning the bishop and theologian Pacian of Barcelona. It reads as follows: “Pacian, bishop of Barcelona in the foothills of the Pyrenean mountains, a man of restrained eloquence1 and as distinguished for his life as for his words, wrote various short works among which are The Stag and Against the Novatianists, and died at an advanced age in the reign of the emperor Theodosius.” Barcelona (ancient Barcino) in the Roman province of Tarraconensis was known early on for its Christian connections.2 St. Cucuphas , celebrated by Prudentius as the “glory of Barcelona,”3 as well as the martyrs Eulalia and Severus were noteworthy in the history of the early Church. The city eventually became the suffragan diocese of Tarragona, and the succession of bishops in the fourth century included Praetextatus, Pacian, and Lampius. Although neither Jerome nor any other source explicitly indicates Pacian’s nationality, Lisardo Rubio Fernández makes the point that at this time prelates were chosen here, as in many locations, from among the local diocesan clergy.4 Thus, he supposes that 3 fuerint baptizati, eo quod eorum minime sit cognita vita, placuit ad clerum non esse promovendos in alienis provinciis. 5. Ep. 2.4: “And yet I had learned this verse [of Virgil] as a little child.” 6. In that year sources indicate that he was present at the Council of Sardica. 7. In Pacian’s initial letter to Sympronian (Ep. 1.3) he mentions the Apollinarians , among other heretical groups. Since they were not condemned until 377 in a church council convoked by Pope Damasus, this would seem to furnish the needed ante quem. Rubio Fernández, San Paciano, 14–16, prefers 380, based on the significance he attaches to Pacian’s statements that only orthodox Christians had the right to be called the “Catholic” Church—something not officially recognized until Theodosius’s edict of March 28, 380. Anglada Anfruns, Las obras, 16, rejects 377 for very different reasons. He argues that in Ep. 1.3 Pacian does not mention the Apollinarians, but the followers of Apelles. This is based on what he sees as the original, correct manuscript reading of Apelliacos (not Apollinariaeos). 8. De baptismo 6: “In other words, having put aside the errors of our former Pacian, a “son of the diocese of Barcelona,” was native to the region if not the city. On the matter of Pacian’s dating, it can be noted that Jerome’s catalog of Christian writers, De viris illustribus , was produced in 393. Since therein he speaks of Pacian as having died “at an advanced age” during Theodosius’s reign (379 –95), it appears that Pacian passed away sometime between 379 and 392 and may have been born in the first decade of the fourth century. (2) Judging from his extant writings as well as Jerome’s brief evaluation of his literary qualities, Pacian received a good education and solid literary training in his early life. Most likely such was provided by his parents who, in turn, were probably wealthy. Pacian himself admits his classical schooling in one of his letters to Sympronian.5 Of his subsequent life before his consecration as bishop of Barcelona little is known, except that he was married and had a son who was to figure prominently in the later political and literary history of the Empire. Even the date of his elevation to...