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Pontius Meropius Anicius Paulinus, St. Paulinus of Nola (Bordeaux, c. 354 – June 22, 431 in Nola, outside Naples. Image File history File links Unbalanced_scales. ... Paulinus/Paullinus is a Roman cognomen that can refer to: Gaius Suetonius Paullinus, general who defeated Boudica Marcus Iunius Caesonius Nicomachus Anicius Faustus Paulinus, consul in 298 Sextus Anicius Faustus Paulinus, consul in 325 Amnius Manius Caesonius Nicomachus Anicius Paulinus, consul in 334 St. ... New city flag (traditional tri-crescent) City coat of arms Motto: The fleur-de-lis alone rules over the moon, the waves, the castle, and the lion Coordinates : , Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) Administration Département Gironde (33) Région Aquitaine Mayor Hugues Martin (UMP) (since 2004) Intercommunality Urban Community... June 22 is the 173rd day of the year (174th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 192 days remaining. ... Events June - Council of Ephesus: Nestorianism is rejected, the Nicene creed is declared to be complete. ... This article needs to be updated. ... Naples (Italian Napoli, Neapolitan Nàpule, from Greek Νέα Πόλις - Néa Pólis - meaning New City; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is the largest city in southern Italy and capital of Campania Region and the Province of Naples. ...

Paulinus was from a notable senatorial family with possessions in Aquitaine, northern Spain, and southern Italy. He was educated in Bordeaux, where his teacher, the poet Ausonius, also became his friend. His normal career as a young member of the senatorial class did not last long - he served as governor of the south Italian province of Campania, but returned to Bordeaux where he became a serious Christian - in Paulinus's day the upper classes were in large part Christian, but not strongly observant. When their only child, a son, died in infancy, he and his wife Therasia seem to have considered withdrawing from secular life, and began the process by moving from Bordeaux to Barcelona in about 390. The Roman Senate (Latin, Senatus) was a deliberative body which was important in the government of both the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. ... Capital Bordeaux Land area¹ 41,309 km² Regional President Alain Rousset (PS) (since 1998) Population  - Jan. ... Decimus Magnus Ausonius (c. ... Campania is a region of Southern Italy, bordering on Lazio to the north-west, Molise to the north, Puglia to the north-east, Basilicata to the east, and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west. ... A Christian is a follower of Jesus, whom they regard as a/the Christ. ... Barcelona – Greek: (Ptolemy, ii. ...

Like Augustine of Hippo, who had been ordained against his will in Hippo Regius in 391 by a crowd cooperating with Bishop Valerius, Paulinus was persuaded in Barcelona by a crowd at Christmas time in about 395 to receive ordination. Paulinus refused to remain in Barcelona, though, and he and his wife moved to Campania. Married priests were not uncommon even in the West in the early church, but Paulinus had definite interests in monasticism. Aurelius Augustinus, Augustine of Hippo, or Saint Augustine (November 13, 354 – August 28, 430) was one of the most important figures in the development of Western Christianity. ... Hippo Regius was the ancient name of the modern city of Annaba (or Bône), Algeria. ... Monasticism (from Greek: monachos—a solitary person) is the religious practice of renouncing all worldly pursuits in order to fully devote ones life to spiritual work. ...

Paulinus had developed a fondness for the 4th century martyr St. Felix of Nola when he had lived in Campania before, and they settled near Felix's tomb; Paulinus rebuilt the complex, greatly enlarging the shrine and building guest houses for pilgrims. Paulinus wrote an annual hymn in honor of St. Felix for the feast day when processions of pilgrims were at their peak. In these hymns we can understand the personal relationship Paulinus feels between himself and his 'invisible friend' Felix, his advocate in heaven. His poetry shares with much of the work of the early 5th century, an ornateness of style that classicists of the 18th and 19th century found cloying and dismissed as decadent.

Many of Paulinus's letters to his contemporaries, including Ausonius and Sulpicius Severus in southern Gaul, Victricius of Rouen in the northern Gaul, and Augustine in Africa are preserved. Paulinus may have been indirectly responsible for Augustine's Confessions: Paulinus wrote to Alypius, Bishop of Thagaste and close friend of Augustine, asking about his conversion and taking up of the ascetic life. Alypius's autobiographical response does not survive; Augustine's answer to that question is the Confessions. Saint Sulpicius Severus (born around 360, died between 420 and 425), wrote the earliest biography of Saint Martin of Tours. ... Alypius of Antioch was a geographer of the 4th century who was sent by the emperor Britain as first prefect. ... The word ascetic derives from the ancient Greek term askesis (practice, training or exercise). ...

Around 410 Paulinus was chosen bishop of Nola. Like a growing number of aristocrats in the late 4th and early 5th centuries who were entering the clergy rather than taking up the more usual administrative careers in the imperial service Paulinus spent a great deal of his money on his chosen church and city.

We know about his buildings for St. Felix from literary and archeological evidence, especially from his long letter to Sulpicius Severus describing the arrangement of the building and its decoration. He includes a detailed description of the apse mosaic over the main altar and gives the text for a long inscription he has written to be put on the wall under the image. By explaining how he intends the visitors to understand the image over the altar Paulinus provides rare insight into the intentions of a patron of art in the later Empire. This article is about an architectural feature; for the astronomical term see apsis. ... Mosaic is the art of decoration with small pieces of colored glass, stone or other material. ...

Modern Devotion St. Paulinus Today

The people of modern day Nola and the surrounding regions remain devoted to St. Paulinus. His feast day is celebrated annually in Nola during La Festa dei Gigli (the Feast of the Lilies), in which Gilgi, several large stautes in honor of the saint, are carried around the city. In the United States, the descendants of immigrants from Nola continue the tradition in Brooklyn, Harlem and on Long Island.

External links

• Giglio USA