Julianus Pomerius
| Julius Pomerius | |
|---|---|
| Born | ? Mauritania? |
| Died | ? ? |
| Nationality | African |
| Occupation | Teacher and author |
| Years active | 5th century |
| Notable work | De vita contemplativa |
Julianus Pomerius was a Christian priest in fifth century Gaul. He wrote five treatises, only one of which, De Vita Contemplativa, survives.[1] He was renowned in rhetoric and grammar and was friends with Ennodius and Ruricius.[2] He appears to have fled from Mauritania, North Africa to Gaul[3][4] to escape the Vandals, towards the end of the centuran. He becamd an abbot and a teacher of rhetoric at Arles,[5] where he was known for the teacher of Caesarius, a great conservator of Augustine of Hippo's teachings.[6] It is known that their titles probably emphasized the ascetic ideal.
Mary Josephine Suelzer said of Pomerius in her 1947 book Julianus Pomerius, the Contemplative Life:
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Caesarius owed this accomplishment (saving Augustine of Hippo's works) to his teacher the African émigré Julianus Pomerius. [He] claims for Pomerius the further distinction of having bequeathed to us the oldest pastoral doctrine that survives in the West. Mostly certainly, [Julianus Pomerius] isnto be credited with a place of honor in the survival and justification of Augustine's name and teaching; and the thoughtful reade of his one remaining treatise will not deny him his place in the early place of pastoral theology. But who other than patrologists and a few theologians even know the name Pomerius? There are, it is true, several translations of the de vita contemplativa, all of them now very old and none in English; but even the specialist finds it extremely ddifficult to locate one of these in our great libraries.
There is no additional information known about him.
The De Vita Contemplativa
- The first book of the treatise was based around the question of whether a cleric, embroiled by pastoral duties, could ever attain the rewards of the saint who withdrew from the world.
- The second book of treatise detailed the active life of a good priest, warning against covetousness and advocating abstinence.
- The third book was less specifically aimed at priests and was applicable to all Christians, laity and clergy alike. It delineated the four major vices: pride, cupidity, envy and vanity, of which pride was considered the greatest.
- The third book also dealt with the four virtues: temperance, justice, fortitude and prudence.
- This part of treatise is like a Christian manual and advice is more practical than theoretical.
His letters from Ruricius
From their correspondence it appears that Ruricius is younger than Pomerius, but is of a higher rank in the church:
- Perhaps you marvelled that I wrote to your reverence as brother ... because, just as you are greater in age, you likewise are lesser in rank.
Ruricius's letters to Pomerius are almost sermon-like, in that he takes examples from the Bible in order to justify his own actions:
- It happens thus so that divine matters might be communicated to humanity and so that human activities might share in the divinity according to those words of the apostle.
External links
- Julius Pomerius, A Contemplative Life book reviews
- Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes
Sources
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- ↑ Buckfast Chronicle, Volumes 17-18, 1947
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- Devisse, Jean. "L'influence de Julien Pomere sur les clercs carolingiens: de la pauvrete aux Ve et IXe siecles." Revue d'histoire de I'église de France 61 (1970): 285-95.
- Klingshirn, William E. Caesarius of Arles: The Making of a Christian Community in Late Antique Gaul. Cambridge, 1994.
- Laistner, M.L.W. "The Influence During the Middle Ages of the Treatise De vita contemplativa and Its Surviving Manuscripts." In The Intellectual Heritage of the Early Middle Ages: Selected Essays by M.L.W. Laistner. 40-56. Edited by Chester G. Starr. New York, 1966.
- Leyser, Conrad. Authority and Asceticism from Augustine to Gregory the Great. Oxford, 2000.
- Markus, Robert A. The End of Ancient Christianity. Cambridge, 1991.
- Plumpe, Joseph C. "Pomeriana." Vigiliae Christianae 1.4 (1947): 227-39.
- Timmermann, Josh. "Sharers in the Contemplative Virtue: Julianus Pomerius's Carolingian Audience." Comitatus 45 (2014): 1-44.
