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The Cult of the Saints in the Late Roman Empire:
A Bibliography

Compiled by Thomas Head
Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY


Contents: 1) General studies; 2) Christian holy people and the cult of saints; 3) Non-Christian holy people in late antiquity; 4) Martyrs and their cults; 5) Burial in late antiquity; 6) Pilgrimage to the Holy Land; 7) Christianisation of Roman society; 8) Regional studies of the early cult of saints; 9) Latin hagiographers of the late antiquity.

General studies.

Peter Brown, who practically invented the concept of the "late antique" world, has also provided one of the most readable introductions in The World of Late Antiquity, 150-750 (London, 1971). Another excellent introduction is Averil Cameron, The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity, AD 395-600 (London, 1993). For historical background on the development of the Mediterranean oikumene during antiquity, consult F. E. Peters, The Harvest of Hellenism: A History of the Near East from Alexander the Great to the Triumph of Christianity (New York, 1970). On political and institutional questions in the late antique Roman Empire, see Chester Starr, The Roman Empire, 27 B.C.-A.D. 476: A Study in Survival (Oxford, 1982) and A. H. M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire, 284-602: A Social, Economic, and Administrative Survey (Baltimore, 1986).

Christian holy people and the cult of saints.

The pioneering work on the early Christian cult of saints was done by Hippolyte Delehaye: "Les premiers libelli miraculorum," Analecta Bollandiana, 29 (1910), pp. 427-34; Les passions des martyrs et les genres littéraires (Brussels, 1921); "Les recueils antiques de miracles des saints," Analecta Bollandiana, 43 (1925), pp. 5-85; Sanctus: Essai sur le culte des saints dans l'antiquité (Subsidia hagiographica, 17; Brussels, 1927); "Loca sanctorum," Analecta Bollandiana, 48 (1930), pp. 5-64; L'Origine du culte des martyrs, second edition (Subsidia hagiographica, 20; Brussels, 1933). The work retains much interest and importance, although some of Delehaye's perspective is necessarily dated.

The most influential modern work on the origins of the cult of Christian saints is that of Peter Brown, The Cult of the Saints. Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity (Chicago, 1981). There have, however, been critical responses: see, in particular, Jacques Fontaine, "Le culte des saints et ses implications sociologiques, réflexions sur un récent essai de P. Brown," Analecta Bollandiana, 100 (1982), pp. 17-42 and Charles Pietri, "Les origines du culte des martyrs (d'après un ouvrage récent)," Rivista di archeologia cristiana, 60 (1984), pp. 293-319.

Similarly, the article which has cast the scholarly paradigm for the study of late antique saints is Peter Brown, "The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity," in idem, Society and the Holy in Late Antiquity (Chicago, 1982), pp. 103-52. In this case, be sure to consult Brown's own ongoing reconsideration of his work in "The Saint as Exemplar in Late Antiquity," in Saints and Virtues, ed. John Hawley (Berkeley, 1987), pp. 3-14 and, even more fully, in "Arbiters of the Holy: The Christian Holy Man in Late Antiquity," in idem, Authority and the Sacred: Aspects of the Christianisation of the Roman World (Cambridge, 1995), pp. 57-78.

Non-Christian holy people in late antiquity.

The scholarly tradition of charting the origin of the cult of saints in the cult of ancient heroes has largely been discredited. Two classic statements are E. Lucius and G. Anrich, Die Anfänge des Heiligenkultes in der christlichen Kirche (Tübingen, 1904) and P. Saintyves (E. Nourry), Les saints successeurs des dieux (Paris, 1907). The later work of Theodor Klauser has not entirely lost its value: "Vom Heroon zur Märtyrbasilika. Neue archäologische Balkanfunde und ihre Deuting," Kriegsvorträge der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität, Bonn, 62 (1942), pp. 275-91; Christlicher Märtyrkult, heidnischer Heroenkult und spätjüdische Heiligenverehrung. Neue Einsichten und seue Probleme (Arbeitsgemeninschaftr für Forschung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, Geisteswissenschaften, 91; Cologne, 1960) (note: actually a brief lecture which occupies pp. 27-38). For more bibliography on the "pagan origins" thesis see the annotated bibliography in Wilson, Cult of the Saints, p. 325 ff.

Aline Rousselle has offered a powerful new interpretation of the continuities and discontinuities between pagan and Christian means of access to the sacred in Croire et guérir. La foi en Gaule dans l'Antiquité tardive (Paris, 1990). Beside curing shrines, other areas of late antique religious ritual serve as important background to the Christian practice of the cult of saints: Annie Dubourdieu, Les origines et le développement du culte des pénates à Rome (Collection de l'Ecole française de Rome, 118; Rome, 1989); Roland Delmaire, Largesses sacrées et 'Res Privata'. L''Aerarium' impérial et son administration du IVe au VIe siècle (Collection de l'Ecole française de Rome, 121; Rome, 1989). On the Roman ritual calendar, see Michel Meslin, La Fête des Kalendes de janvier dans l'empire romain (Collection Latomus, 115; Brussels, 1970), and for its continued power in a Christian empire, Michele Salzman, On Roman Time: The Codex-Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity (Berkeley, 1991).

A number of scholars have recently adapted Brown's idea of the "holy man" for studying late antique paganism: Henri Crouzel, "L'Imitation et la suite de Dieu et du Christ dans les premiers siècles chrétiens ainsi que leurs sources gréco-romaines et hébraique," Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum, 21 (1978), pp. 7-41; Garth Fowden, "The Pagan Holy Man in Late Antique Society," Journal of Hellenic Studies, 102 (1982), 33-59; Robert Kirschner, "The Vocation of Holiness in Late Antiquity," Vigiliae Christianae, 38 (1984), pp. 105-24; Patricia Cox, Biography in Late Antiquity: A Quest for the Holy Man (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983); Glen Bowersock, Fiction as History: Nero to Julian (Berkeley, 1994). Pagan teachers and priests could act as arbiters of the sacred without having personal reputations as "holy men": A. F. Norman, "Libanius: The Teacher in an Age of Violence," in Libanios, ed. Georgios Fatouros and Tilman Krischer (Wege der Forschung, 621; Darmstadt, 1983); Richard Gordon, "The Veil of Power: Emperors, Sacrificers and Benefactors," in Pagan Priests, ed. M. Beard and J. North (Ithaca, NY, 1990).

On Jewish holy men and women of this period, see Martin Godman, "The Roman State and the Jewish Patriarch in the Third Century," in The Galilee in Late Antiquity, ed. Lee Levine (Cambridge, MA, 1992), pp. 127-59; Ross Kraemer, "Monastic Jewish Women in Greco-Roman Egypt: Philo Judaeus on the Therapeutrides," Sisters and Workers in the Middle Ages, eds. Judith Bennett, Elizabeth Clark, Jean O'Barr, B. Anne Vilen, and Sarah Westphal-Wihl (Signs, 14.2; Winter, 1989; published separately, Chicago, 1989), pp. 342-70.

For an interesting study of late antique attitudes on spiritual beings, see Charles Pietri, "Saints et démons: L'héritage de l'agiographie antique," in Santi e demoni nell'alto medioevo occidentale (secoli V-XI), 2 vols. (Settimane di studio del centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo, 36; Spoleto, 1989), 1:15-90.

Martyrs and their cults.

The standard edition of the basic texts may be found in Acts of the Christian Martyrs, ed. and trans. Herbert Musurillo (Oxford, 1972). For further information on the texts, consult Timothy Barnes, "Pre-Decian Acta Martyrum," Journal of Theological Studies, 19 (1968), pp. 509-31 and Gary Bisbee, Pre Decian Acts of Martyrs and Commentarii (Harvard Dissertations in Religion, 22; Philadelphia: Fortress Press). W. H. C. Frend has provided a good contextual history in Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church (Oxford, 1965). Theofried Baumeister has collected a number of primary sources on the concept of martyrdom in Genese und Entfaltung der altkirchlichen Theologie des Martyriums (Traditio Christiana, 8; Bern: Peter Lang, 1991) [FT as Genese et evolution de la théologie du martyre dans l'église ancienne (Traditio Christiana, 8; Bern: Peter Lang, 1991)]. Paul-Albert Février has considered the connection between martyrdom and sanctity in "Martyre et sainteté," in Les fonctions des saints dans le monde occidental, IIIe-XIIIe s. (Rome, 1991), pp. 51-80. Glen Bowersock's Martyrdom and Rome (Cambridge, 1995) provides an intriguing meditation on the concept in both its pagan and Christian contexts. On the parallel tradition of martrydom in Donatist Christianity, see Paolo Mastandrea, "Passioni di martiri donatisti (BHL 4473 e 5271)," Analecta Bollandiana, 113 (1995), pp. 39-88. And note that the work of Hippoloyte Delehaye discussed above remains crucial for an understanding both of the passions of the early martyrs and the development of their cult.

Theodor Baumeister has explored the scriptural and antique backgrounds to the early Christian concept of martyrdom in Die Anfänge der Theologie des Martyriums (Münsterische Beiträge zum Theologie, 45; Münster: Aschendorff, 1980). On biblical themes in these texts, see Victor Saxer, Bible et hagiographie: Textes et theme bibliques dans les Actes des martyrs authentiques de prèmiers siècles (Bern: Peter Lang, 1986); Marc van Uytfanghe, "La controverse biblique et patristique autour du miracle et ses répercussions sur l'hagiographie dans l'antiquité tardive et le haut moyen âge latin," in Hagiographie, cultures, et sociétés. IVe-XIIe siècles, ed. Evelyne Patlagean and Pierre Riché (Paris, 1981), pp. 205-33; Maureen Tilley, "Scripture as an Element of Social Control: Two Martyr Stories of Christian North Africa," Harvard Theological Review, 83 (1990), pp. 383-97.

On the early cult accorded to martyrs' relics, see: André Grabar, Martyrium. Recherches sur le culte des reliques et l'art chrétien antique, 2 vols. (Paris, 1946 and London, 1972); Richard Krautheimer, "Mensa, coemeterium, martyrium," Cahiers archéologiques, 11 (1960), pp. 15-40; Bernhard Kötting, Die frühchristliche Reliquienkult und die Bestattung im Kirchengebäude (Cologne, 1965); Friedrich Deichmann, "Märtyrerbasilika, Martyrion, Memoria und Altargrab," Mitteilungen des deutschen archaeologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung, 77 (1970), pp. 144-69; and, most recently, the essays collected in Martyrium in Multidisciplinary Perspective (Bibliotheca Ephemeridae theologicarum Lovanensium, 117; Leuven, 1995). Victor Saxer provides a thorough listing and examination of the relevant texts from North Africa in Morts, martyrs, reliques en Afrique chrétienne aux premiers siècles. Les témoinages de Tertullien, Cyprien, et Augustin à la lumière de l'archéologie africaine (Théologie historique, 55; Paris, 1980). On the placement of relic in the altar, the early work of Jean Gagé, "Membra Christi et la dépostion des reliques sous l'autel," Revue archéologique, fifth series, 29 (1929), pp. 137-53 remains of interest.

Studies of the Passion of Perpetua include: Thomas Heffernan, "The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas and the Imitatio Chrsiti," in Sacred Biography. Saints and Their Biographers in the Middle Ages (Oxford, 1988), pp. 185-230; Brent Shaw, "The Passion of Perpetua," Past and Present, 139 (1993), pp. 3-45.

Burial in Late Antiquity.

A good introduction to the subject is provided in Michel Vovelle, "Les attitudes devant la mort: Problèmes de méthode, approches, et lectures différentes," Annales. E.S.C., 31 (1976), pp. 120-32. For an interesting general consideration of funerary monuments, see Howard Montagu Colvin, Architecture and the After Life (New Haven, CT, 1991). On traditional Roman burial practices, see A.D. Nock, "Cremation and Burial in the Roman Empire," Harvard Theological Review, 25 (1932), pp. 321-59 and J.M.C. Toynbee, Death and Burial in the Roman World (Ithaca NY, 1971), pp. 39-42. A thorough survey and analysis of Christian practices may be found in several articles by Paul-Albert Février: "Le culte des morts dans les communauté chretiennes durant le IIIe siècle," Atti del IXo Congresso internazionale di archeologia cristiana 2 vols. (Vatican City, 1977), 1:212-74; "La morte Chrétienne," in Segni e riti nella chiesa altomedievale occidentale, 2 vols. (Settimane di studio del Centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo, 33. Spoleto, 1987), pp. 880-942; "La tombe chretienne et l'au-dela," Le temps chretien de la fin de l'antiquite au moyen age iiie-xiiie siecle (Colloques internationaux du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 604; Paris, 1984), pp. 163-83.

The basic study of burial near the tombs of saints in early Christianity is Yvette Duval, Auprès des saints, corps et âme: L'inhumation "ad sanctos" dans la chrétienté d'Orient et d'Occident du IIIe au VIIe siècle (Etudes Augustiniennes; Paris, 1988). On the changes in burial practices following the Germanic migrations, see Bailey Young, "Exemple aristocratique et mode funéraire dans la Gaule mérovingienne," Annales. E. S. C., 41 (1986), pp. 379-407; Michel Colardelle, Sépulture et traditions funéraires du Ve au XIIIe siècle d'après J. C. dans les campagnes des Alpes françaises du Nord (Drome, Isere, Savoie, Haute-Savoie) (Grenoble, 1983); Jean-Charles Picard, Le souvenir des évêques. Sépultures, listes épiscopales et culte des évêques en Italie du Nord, des origines au Xe siècle (Rome, 1988); Raymond Lantier, "Coutume funéraires dans le cimetière wisigothique d'Estagel," in Hommages à Joseph Bidez et à Franz Cumont (Brussels, n. d.), pp. 177-82.

For a collection of inscriptions from Christian sarcophagi referring to burial customs and beliefs about the afterlife, see the article "Ad sanctos" by Henri Leclercq in the Dictionnaire d'archéologie chretienne et de liturgie and Gabriel Sanders, "Le tombe et l'éternité: categories distincts où domains contigus? Le dossier épigraphique latin de la Rome chrétienne," Le temps de la fin de l'antiquité au moyen âge. IIIe-XIIIe siècles (Colloques internationaux du CNRS, 64; Paris, 1984), pp. 185-218. Jean-Pierre Caillet has studied mosaic epigraphy from the same period in L'Evergétisme monumental chétien en Italie et à ses marges d'après l'épigraphie des pavements de mosaique (IVe-VIIe s.) (Collection de l'Ecole française de Rome, 175; Rome, 1993). On the ideological elements of Roman christian sarcophagi, see Matthews, Western Aristocracies and Imperial Court, A. D. 364-425 (Oxford, 1975), pp. 197-201. On the lack of continuities around martyria and cemetaries in England, see Peter Salway, Roman Britain (Oxford, 1981) pp. 731 ff. Also see pp. 695-713 on ancient burial practices, cult, and the destruction of pagan sanctuaries.

Some studies of specific martyria include: Henry Chadwick, "St. Peter and St. Paul in Rome: The Problems of the Memoria Apostolorum ad Catacumbas," Journal of Theological Studies, new series 8 (1957), pp. 31-52; Engelbert Kirschbaum, Die Graben der Apostelfursten: St Peter und St Paul in Rom, third edition (Frankfurt, 1974; ET of first edition as The Tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul [London, 1959]); Ludwig Hertling, Die Romischen Katakomben und ihre Martyrer (Vienna, 1950; ET as The Roman Catacombs and Their Martyrs [Milwaukee, 1957]); Jürgen Horn, Studien zu den märtyrern des nördllichen Oberägypten, 2 vols. (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1992); Gabriel Bertonnière, The Cult of the Martyr Hippolytus on the Via Tiburtina (Oxford, 1985); Jurgen Christern, Das frühchristliche Pilgerheiligtum von Tebessa (Wiesbaden: F. Steiner, 1976); Renée Colardelle, Grenoble (Isère) aux premiers temps chrétiens: Saint-Laurent et ses necopoles, second edition (Paris, 1992); Renate Pillinger, Das Martyrium des Heiligen Dasius (Text, Übersetzung und Kommentar) (Vienna: Osterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1988).

Pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

A good introduction to early Christian pilgrimage, particularly to Jerusalem, in the early church, see Henri Leclercq, "Pèlerinages," in DACL, 14:65-176. A full exposition of the sources may be found in Bernhard Kötting, Peregrinatio religiosa. Wallfahrten in der Antike und das Pilgerwesen in der alten Kirche (Münster, 1950). But also see the revisionist interpretation of Joan Taylor, Christians and the Holy Places: The Myth of Jewish-Christan Origins (New York, 1993). E. D. Hunt has examined Christian pilgrimage to the Holy Land in Holy Land Pilgrimage in the Later Roman Empire (AD 312-460) (Oxford, 1982) and "Gaul and the Holy Land in the Early Fifth Century," in John Drinkwater and Hugh Elton (eds.), Fifth-Century Gaul: A Crisis of Identity? (Cambridge, 1992), pp. 264-74. The most famous late antique Roman pilgrim to Jerusalem was Egeria: Egeria's Travels to the Holy Land, ed. and trans. John Wilkinson (Warminster, 1981). The most famous relic to come out of the Holy Land was that of the true cross: on the development of the tradition, which begins in this period, see Stephan Borgehammar, How the Holy Cross Was Found: From Event to Medieval Legend, with an Appendix of Texts (Bibliotheca theologiae practicae, 47; Stockholm, 1991).

More generally, see John Wilkinson, Jerusalem Pilgrims Before the Crusades (Warminster, 1977); F. E. Peters, Jerusalem. The Holy City in the Eyes of Chroniclers, Visitors, Pilgrims, and Prophets from the Days of Abraham to the Beginnings of Modern Times (Princeton, 1985); Robert Wilken, The Land Called Holy: Palestine in Christian History and Thought (New Haven, 1992); F. E. Peters, The Distant Shrine: The Islamic Centuries in Jerusalem (New York, 1993). Allison Elliott has studied the impact of the pilgrimage motif on early Christian hagiography in Roads to Paradise: Reading the Lives of the Early Saints (Hanover, NH, 1987).

The Christianisation of Roman society.

Ewa Wipszycka, "La Christianisation de l'Egypte au IVe-Ve siècles," Aegyptus, 68 (1988), pp. 117-64. R. Lizzi, "Ambrose's Contemporaries and the Christianisation of Northern Italy," Journal of Roman Studies, 80 (1990), pp. 156-73. Michelle Salzman, "The Evidence for the Conversion of the Roman Empire," Historia, 42 (1993), pp. 362-78. Neil McLynn, "Christian Controversy and Violence in the Fourth Century," Kodai, 3 (1992), pp. 15-44. David Hunt, "Christianising the Roman Empire: The Evidence of the Code," in The Theodosian Code, ed. Jill Harries and Ian Wood (London, 1993), pp. 143-58. S. Bradbury, "Constantine and the Problem of Anti-Pagan Legislation in the Fourth Century," Classical Philology, 89 (1994), pp. 120-39. Ramsay MacMullen, Changes in the Roman Empire: Essays in the Ordinary (Princeton, 1990). F. Paschoud, "L'Intolerance chrétienne vue et jugée par les païens," Cristianesimo nella Storia, 11 (1990), pp. 545-77.

Regional studies of the early cult of saints.

A collection of regional studies may be found in: Jean-Charles Picard and Yvette Duval (eds.), L'Inhumation privilégiée du IVe au VIIIe siècle en Occident (Paris, 1986).

Rome: Charles Pietri, "'Concordia apostolorum et renovatio urbis' (Culte des martyrs et propagande pontificale)," Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire de l'Ecole française de Rome, 73 (1961), pp. 275-322 and Roma Christiana. Recherches sur l'Eglise de Rome, son organisation, sa politique, son ideologie de Miltiade à Sixte III (311-440) (Rome, 1976); Louis Reekmans, "L'implantation monumentale chrétienne dans la zone suburbaine de Rome du IVe au IXe siècle," Rivista di archeologia cristiana, 44 (1968), pp. 173-207. More specifically on the cult of Peter, see Paul-Albert Février, "Natale Petri cathedra," Comptes rendus de l'Académie d'Inscriptions et Belles Lettres (1977), pp. 514-31.

Italy: Alba Maria Orselli, L'Idea e il culto del santo patrono cittadino nella letteratura latina cristiana (Bologna: Zanichelli, 1965); A. P. Billanovich, "Appunti di agiografia aquleiense," Rivista di storia della chiesa in Italia, 30 (1976), pp. 5-24; Jean-Charles Picard, Le souvenir des évêques. Sépultures, listes épiscopales et culte des évêques en Italie du Nord, des origines au Xe siècle (Rome, 1988); Dieter Korol, Die frühchristlichen Wandmalereien aus den Grabbauten in Cimitile/Nola (Bonn, 1987); Salvatore Pricoco (ed.), Storia della Sicilia e tradizione agiografica nella tarda antichità (Catanzaro: Rubbettino, 1988); Philippe Pergola, "Topographie chrétienne et archéologie de l'Antiquité tardive et du haut Moyen Age. Le cas de la Corse," Mélanges de l'Ecole française de Rome, Moyen Age, 103 (1991), pp. 865-7; La Calabre de la fin de l'antiquité au Moyen Age published as Mélanges de l'Ecole française de Rome, Moyen Age, 103.2 (1991).

North Africa: Good general background on social and religious history may be found in André Berthier, La Numidie: Rome et le Maghreb (Paris: Picard, 1981) and in the essays collected in L'Afrique dans l'occident romain (Ier siècle av. J.-C.-IVe siècle ap. J-C.) (Collection de l'Ecole française de Rome, 134; Rome, 1990). On martyr cults: Paul-Albert Février, "Le culte des martyrs en Afrique et ses plus anciens monuments," in Corsi di cultura sull'arte ravennate e bizantina, Ravenna, 1970 (Faenza, 1970), pp. 191-195; Paul-Albert Février, "Aux Origines du christianisme en Maurétanie césarienne," Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire de l'Ecole française de Rome, 98 (1986), pp. 767-809; Yvette Duval, Loca Sanctorum Africae: Le culte des martyrs en Afrique du IVe au VIIIe s., 2 vols. (Collection de l'Ecole française de Rome, 82; Rome, 1982). Also see the work on Donatist martyrs mentioned above.

Near East: J. Lassus, Sanctuaires chrétiens de Syrie: essai sur la genèse, la forme et l'usage liturgique des édifices du culte chrétien en Syrie du IIIe siècle à la conquête arabe (Paris, 1947); Renate Pillinger, Das Martyrium des Heiligen Dasius (Text, Übersetzung und Kommentar) (Vienna: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1988); Julia Seiber, The Urban Saint in Early Byzantine Social History (Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, 1977).

Gaul: E. Catherine Dunn, The Gallican Saint's Life and the Late Roman Dramatic Tradition (Washington, DC, 1989); Luce Pietri, La ville de Tours du IVe au VIe siècle: Naissance d'une cité chrétienne (Rome, 1983); Aline Rousselle, Croire et guérir. La foi en Gaule dans l'Antiquité tardive (Paris, 1990); Pierre Bonnaissie, "L'éveque, le peuple et les sénateurs: scènes de la vie à Cahors, d'après la Vita Ambrosii," Annales du Midi, 102 (1990), 209-18; Paul-Albert Février, "Les Saint évêques de la fin de l'Antiquité et du haut Moyen Age dans le Sud-Est de la Gaule," Mémoires de l'Académie de Vaucluse, seventh series, 6 (1985); Jacques Fontaine, "Victrice de Rouen et les origines du monachisme dans l'ouest de la Gaule (IVe-VIe siècles)," in Aspects du monachisme en Normandie (IVe-XVIIIe siècles), ed. Lucien Musset (Paris, 1982), pp. 9-30; N. Gussne, "Adventus-Zeremoniell und translation von Reliquien: Victricius von Rouen De laude sanctorum," Frühmitteralterliche studien, 10 (1976), pp. 125-33.

Latin hagiographers of the late antiquity.

Walter Berschin has provided a general survey in Biographie und Epochenstil im lateinischen Mittelalter, I: Von der Passio Perpetuae zu den Dialogi gregors des Grossen (Quellen und Untersuchungen zur lateinischen Philologie des Mittelalters, 8; Stuttgart: A. Hiersemann, 1986). For a concise summary of the period, try Claudio Leonardi, "I modelli dell'agiografia latina dall'epoca antica al Medioevo," in Passaggio dal mondo antico al Medioevo: da Teodorico a Gregorio Magno (Atti dei Convegni Lincei, 45; Rome, 1980), pp. 435-76. The following collections contain varied studies of patristic hagiography: L'agiografia latina nei secoli IV-VII (Augustinianum, 24; Rome, 1984); Biografia e agiografia nella letteratura cristiana antica e medievale, ed. Aldo Ceresa-Gastaldo (Pubblicazioni dell'Istituto di Scienze Religiose in Trento, 15; Bologna: EDB, 1990).

Prudentius: The standard edition of his poetry, including the Peristephanon, is by M. P. Cunningham, Aurelii Prudentii Clementis Carmina (CCSL, 126; Turnhout, 1966). The standard English translation is that by H. J. Thomson in the Loeb Classical Library (Prudentius, 2 vols. [Cambridge, MA, 1953]). There is a substantial older scholarly literature on Prudentius, but no standard biographical or interpretive work. Instead one should consult the remarkable group of recent Anglophone studies of the poet: Anne-Marie Palmer, Prudentius on the Martyrs (Oxford: Clarendon, 1989); Martha Malamud, A Poetics of Transformation: Prudentius and Classical Mythology (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1989); Michael Roberts, Poems and the Cult of the Martyrs: The Liber Peristephanon of Prudentius (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1993); J. Petruccione, "The Portrait of St. Eulalia of Merida in Prudentius' Peristephanon 3," Analecta Bollandiana, 108 (1990), pp. 81-104 and "The Martyr Death as Sacrifice; Prudentius, Peristephanon, 4.9-72," Vigiliae Christianae, 49 (1995), pp. 245-57.

Jerome: N. J. D. Kelly, Jerome: His Life, Writings, and Controversies (London, 1975); E. Coleiro, "St. Jerome's Lives of the Hermits," Vigiliae Christianae, 11 (1957), pp. 161-78; Herbert Kech, Hagiographie als christliche Unterhaltungsliteratur: Studien zum Phänomen des Erbaulichen anhand der Mönchenviten des hl. Hieronymus (Göppingen: Kümmerle, 1977); Philip Rousseau, Ascetics, Authority and the Church in the Ages of Jerome and Cassian (Oxford, 1978). Ambrose: Neil McLynn, Ambrose of Milan: Church and Court in a Christian Capital (The Transformation of the Classical Heritage, 22; Berkeley, CA, 1994); E. Dassmann, "Ambrosius und die Märtyrer," Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum, 18 (1975), pp. 49-68; Ilona Opelt, "Das Bienenwunder in der Ambrosiusbiographie des Paulinus von Mailand," Vigiliae Christianae, 22 (1968), pp. 38-44.

Augustine: Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo: A Biography (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1967); D. P. de Vooght, "Les miracles dans la vie de saint Augustin," Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale, 11 (1939), 5-16; Brigitta Stoll, "Die Vita Augustini des Possidius als hagiographischer Text," Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte, 102 (1991), 1-13.

Other studies of individual Latin hagiographers: Paulinus of Nola: Joseph Lienhard, Paulinus of Nola and Early Western Monasticism (Theophaneia, 28; Cologne: Peter Hanstein, 1977). Sulpicius Severus: Clare Stancliffe, Saint Martin and His Hagiographer: History and Miracle in Sulpicius Severus (Oxford, 1983). Caesarius of Arles: William Klingshirn, Caesarius of Arles: The Making of a Christian Community in Late Antique Gaul (Cambridge, 1993). Sidonius Apollinaris: C. E. Stevens, Sidonius Apollinaris and His Age (Oxford, 1933).

On hagiography devoted to women, see Marie-Louise Portmann, Die Darstellung der frau in der Geschichtsschreibung des früheren Mittelalters (Basel, 1958); Elena Giannarelli, La tipologia femminile nella biografia e nell'autobiografia cristiana del IVo secolo (Studi storici, 127; Rome, 1980); Franca Consolino, "Modelli di santità femminile nelle piu antiche passioni romane," Augustinianum, 24 (1984), pp. 83-113; Joyce Salisbury, and R. Worrowicz, "The Life of Melania the Younger: A Partial Reevaluation of the Manuscript Tradition," Manuscripta, 33 (1989), pp. 137-144.


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