Saint Paulinus Of Nola, Bishop, Confessor

Paulinus was of a family which boasted a long line of senators, prefects and consuls of Rome, and he was educated with great care. His genius and eloquence in oratory, prose and verse were the admiration of all the brilliant Christian minds of his time, including Saint Gregory the Great, Saint Ambrose, Saint Jerome, Saint Augustine, and Saint Martin of Tours. It is believed that Saint Ambrose would have chosen him to replace him as bishop of Milan, but Saint Paulinus was far from Milan when Saint Ambrose died. He said of him that Christians should follow and imitate Saint Paulinus, and that the greatest good fortune of the century in which they were living was to be witness to the life of so rare and admirable a man.

Saint Paulinus, at first Roman Consul and then Prefect or Governor of Rome, had more than doubled his wealth by his marriage with a virtuous Spanish noblewoman; he was one of the wealthiest and most honored men of his time, possessing domains in several nations of Europe. Though he was the chosen friend of Saints, he was still only a catechumen, and trying to serve two masters. But God drew him to Himself along the way of sorrows and trials. The first and only child of Paulinus and Theresia died shortly after birth. Saint Paulinus received baptism soon afterwards, at the age of thirty-eight, from the bishop of Bordeaux, Saint Delphin; then he withdrew into Spain to be at liberty to pray in solitude.

He was ordained a priest in Barcelona, and afterwards retired to Nola in Campania. And then, in consort with his holy wife, he liberated all his slaves, sold all his vast estates in various parts of the empire, distributing their proceeds so widely and generously that Saint Jerome says both East and West were filled with his alms. In Nola he built the magnificent Church of Saint Felix and served it night and day, living a life of extreme abstinence and toil. He and his wife agreed to live as brother and sister; they exchanged their silver utensils for those of wood and pottery, and wore robes of rude cloth, practicing from that time on a genuine poverty. Certain highly-placed worldly persons were very much offended by this abrupt change in the way of life of these persons of such great dignity.

Nonetheless, in 409 Saint Paulinus was chosen Bishop of Nola, and for more than thirty years so ruled as to be conspicuous, in an age blessed with many great and wise bishops. Saint Gregory the Great tells us that when the Vandals of Africa made a descent on Campania, Paulinus spent all he had in relieving the distress of his people and redeeming them from slavery. Finally, when all had been disposed of, there came to him a poor widow, whose only son had been taken away by the son-in-law of the Vandal king.What I have I give you, said the Saint to her;we will go to Africa and you will offer me to the prince, saying I am one of your slaves, in exchange for the prisoner.Her resistance once overcome, they went, and Paulinus was accepted in place of the widow's son and employed as gardener. After a time the king discovered, by divine interposition, that this valuable slave of his son-in-law was the renowned Bishop of Nola. He at once set him free, granting him also the freedom of all the townsmen of Nola who were in slavery.

One who knew Saint Paulinus well says he was meek as Moses, as priestly as Aaron, innocent as Samuel, tender as David, wise as Solomon, apostolic as Peter, loving as John, cautious as Thomas, brilliant as Stephen, fervent as Apollos.Saint Paulinus died in 431. His holy remains were transferred several times but restored to the cathedral of Nola in 1908.

Reflection. Go to Campania,writes Saint Augustine;there study Paulinus, that choice servant of God.With what generosity, with what even greater humility, has he flung from him the burden of the world's grandeurs to take on the yoke of Christ!

Sources: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 7; Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler’s Lives of the Saints, and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).

From a letter by Saint Paulinus of Nola,bishop[5th century]

God everywhere produces his love in his people through the Holy Spirit

You have shown, my lord, that you bear within you true charity and perfect love toward my humble person.Truly holy and deservedly blessed, you are a most desirable friend, for my cousin Julian on his return from Carthage delivered the letter which conveyed to us the shinning light of your sanctity.As a result it seems to me that I am not just now coming to know your love for me but rather recognizing it as something I was already aware of.For clearly this love of yours came froth from the one who predestined us for himself from the foundation of the world.In him, the maker of all that is to be, we were made before we were born,because he made us and not we ourselves.Shaped by his work and his foreknowledge, then, we were already joined by charity into a likeness of wills and a union of faith, or a faith of unity, that anticipated our present acquainance. So before we met in person, we became known to each other in the relation of the Spirit.

Hence I give thanks and boast in the Lord, who, one and the same throught the world, produces his love in his people through the Holy Spirit whome he pours out upon all flesh. With the flow of the river he gladdens his city among whose citiznes he rightly established you to be the first among the princes of his peoplein your apostolic see. Likewise, he wanted me, whom he raised up when I was downtrodden, and lifted up from the earth when I was destitute, to be numbered among your associates.But I am more grateful for that gift of the Lord by which he established a place for me in our heart and allowed me so to penetrate your affections that I might claim a personal trust in your love. Moved by such kindnesses and gifts, I could not love you in a merely casual or negligent way.

But you should know everything about me and you should be aware that I am a sinner of long standing.It is not so long ago that I was led out of darkness and the shadow of death;only recently have I begun to breathe in the air of life;only recently have I put my hand to the plough and taken up the cross of Christ.I need to be helped by your prayers to persevere to the end. And if you should lighten my burden by your intercession, this is the reward that will be added on yo your merits, for the holy man who helps a laborer(I dare not call myself a brother)will be exalted like a great city.

We have sent to you a loaf of bread in token of our unity;it symbolizes as well the substance of the Trinity.By accepting it you will make it a bread of blessing.

Saint Paulinus of Nola, Bishop

Saint Paulinus of Nola, Bishop
Optional Memorial
June 22nd

unknown artist

Saint Paulinus was born of a patrician Roman family in Bordeaux, he was successively prefect, senator, and consul. He married while still a pagan. Later on he converted and became a monk and a bishop. He gave his people not only an example of virtue but also wise guidance during the Gothic invasion.
Source: Daily Roman Missal, Edited by Rev. James Socías, Midwest Theological Forum, Chicago, Illinois ©2003

Collect:
Lord,
You made Saint Paulinus
renowned for his love of poverty
and concern for his people.
May we who celebrate his witness to the Gospel
imitate his example of love for others.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. +Amen.
First Reading: 2 Corinthians 8:9-15
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. And in this matter I give my advice: it is best for you now to complete what a year ago you began not only to do but to desire, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a man has, not according to what he has not. I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of equality your abundance at the present time should supply their want, so that their abundance may supply your want, that there may be equality. As it is written, "He who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack."

Gospel Reading: Luke 12: 32-34
"Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms; provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

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