Saint Fortunatus of Poitiers

The third book is composed of thirty-seven letters, partly in verse, partly in prose; they are almost all addressed to bishops with whom he was linked by friendship. In the ninth, he treats the mysticism of the resurrection; it is from there that the first stanza of the responsory sung in processions on Easter Day was drawn, and which is repeated there as a refrain; it begins with these words: *Salue festa dies*. In the tenth, he highlights the industry of Felix of Nantes, who had known how to level a mountain to change the course of a river, and thereby provide the people with the means to live by giving them land to cultivate. In the eleventh, he speaks of the fortresses that Nicetius, bishop of Trier, had built on the banks of the Moselle. In the fourteenth, he provides a description of the Metz region and the two rivers by which it is watered, the Moselle and the Seille; he depicts the city of Me tz as being w ville de Metz City where the saint received his theological training. ell fortified. The twenty-ninth is a eulogy of Saint Airicus, bishop of Verdun. He also praises, in the thirtieth, his knowledge and his assiduity in instructing his people. We see, from the thirty-second, that Abbot Paternus had asked him to correct a book that Fortunatus had written in his own hand, and in which had slipped errors that he admits are quite common for him. He was near Nantes when he wrote to Drucon, deacon of the Church of Paris; this letter is the thirty-second. The three following are also to deacons, and are merely letters of friendship.

In the fourth book, one finds twenty-eight epitaphs, of which the first ten are for various bishops of France, the others for persons of different stations. The twenty-fifth is for Queen Theodechild, wife of Charibert; she is spoken of in Saint Gregory of Tours.

The first letter of the fifth book is addressed to Martin, Bishop of Dume, in Galicia. This letter is in prose; but the second to the same bishop is in verse. Fortunatus marks therein the countries where the Apostles had announced the Gospel; he speaks in the sam e letter of the monas monastère de Poitiers City where the saint settled and lived as a recluse. tery of Poitiers, and of the church of Saint-Césaire which was established there. The third letter is to the inhabitants of Tours, whom he congratulates on the choice that had been made of Saint Gregory for their bishop. The fifth concerns the conversion of the Jews, brought about by the ministry of Avitus, Bishop of Clermont; it is followed by the praise of this bishop, but Fortunatus acknowledges therein that one cannot praise the ministers of Jesus Christ in the conversion of peoples, without praising Jesus Christ himself who inspires the good will, who gives the perfect, and without whom nothing good is done, since it is he who fills the Prophets and the preachers with his light, so that they may engender faith in the hearts of those who listen to them. Fortunatus having proposed to compose an acrostic that would be in as many letters as Jesus Christ spent years on earth, and to enclose in this poem the history of the creation of man, of his fall and of his redemption, this was not easy for him, but he succeeded. He sent it to Syagrius, Bishop of Autun, to whom he wrote a letter in prose to give him an account of his work, and of the manner of reading this acrostic. The other letters have nothing interesting; most are addressed to Saint Gregory of Tours, to thank him for the gifts he had received from him, or to recommend to him persons who were going to Tours.

The twelve poems of the sixth book are almost all on secular subjects. The second is the epithalamium of King Sigebert and Brunhilda. The fourth is remarkable for the praises he gives therein to King Charibert; Saint Gregory of Tours had published only his vices, especially his incontinence, which caused him to be excommunicated by Saint Germanus, Bishop of Paris. Fortunatus highlights his virtues, portraying him as a wise, moderate, and equitable prince, zealous for justice and the observance of laws, liberal, honest, the orator of his council, a lover of letters, and one who spoke Latin as easily as French. The sixth is a eulogy of Berthechilda, of her modesty, her prudence, and her love for the poor. The seventh concerns the marriage of Galswintha with Chilperic.

All that is most interesting in the seventh book, composed of thirty-one poems, is the parallel he draws, in the twelfth, between the sages and scholars of paganism and true Christians. Only a vain reputation remained for the former; the latter will enjoy eternal felicity in heaven, and will even be honored on earth, because there is no salvation to be hoped for, no solid and permanent honor, except by rendering oneself through virtue pleasing to God, who is one in three persons. One may also note his two distichs on the brevity of life. Everything passes in a moment, we must therefore attach ourselves to the goods that never perish; let us be equitable toward all, let us cultivate peace, let us love Jesus Christ: let us seek delights that we may enjoy eternally.

In the first poem of the eighth book, he details the place of his birth and his various dwellings, up to the time when he attached himself to the service of Saint Radegund, whose life he describes, as she led it in the monaster sainte Radegonde Queen of the Franks who became a nun in Poitiers, patroness of Fortunatus. y of Poitiers. He speaks, in the second, of the sorrow he felt in leaving this Saint to go and visit Saint Germanus of Paris. The third is a hymn on the Nativity of Our Lord. The fourth and fifth are in praise of Jesus Christ, of his holy Mother, whom he calls Mother of God, and in honor of virginity, which alone was worthy to bring the Almighty into the world, and which is so excellent in itself that expressions are lacking to convey all its merit. Fortunatus provides an admirable description of the assembly of the Saints in heaven, where he gives the first place to the Blessed Virgin, then to the Patriarchs, the Prophets, the Apostles, the Martyrs, and the virgins. He says, in the sixth poem, that the rewards promised to virgins hold the first rank after those due to the Apostles, the Prophets, and the Martyrs. The following six are in praise of Saint Radegund, and the last twelve in honor of Saint Gregory of Tours. We see, by the ninth, that the Saint used the first fruits of the spring flowers to adorn the altars; by the eleventh, that she enclosed herself for a month each year before the feast of Easter, to prepare for it. Among the poems addressed to Saint Gregory, there is a letter by which Fortunatus recommends to him the cause of a priest who was in need of his protection.

The eulogy he makes of Chilperic in the ninth book is so general that it is not enough to destroy the bad impressions that the historians of the time have given of this p Chilpéric King of the Franks praised by Fortunatus. rince, and the same must be said of the one he makes of Queen Fredegund, his wife. Fortunatus wrote the epitaphs of the two sons of Chilperic, Dagobert and Clodubert. The sixth and seventh poems are a response to the letter that Saint Gregory of Tours had written to him in verse. The ninth is a eulogy of Sidonius, Bishop of Mainz. In the sixteenth, he writes that of the general Chrodin.

The tenth book begins with an explanation of the Lord's Prayer; its style is much clearer, more fluid, and more natural than that of Fortunatus's other prose writings, which gives reason to believe that it is one of the discourses to his people, where he sought only to instruct them. The explanation of the final petition remains unfinished. There follow three letters in prose to a lord of the court named Numalenus, two of which are to console him for the death of his daughter; then another to the Church of Tours, which Saint Gregory had just restored; then the account of several miracles performed by Saint Martin; two poems in praise of King Childebert and Queen Brunhild; the description of a journey that Fortunatus had made on the Moselle from Metz to Andernach, in the bishopric of Cologne; a poem in honor of a church where the Archangel Saint Gabriel was particularly venerated, and where there were relics of Saint George, Saint Cosmas, and Saint Damian, and of several other Martyrs; one in praise of Armentaria, mother of Saint Gregory, whom he compares to the mother of the Maccabees, whether for her virtue or for the number of her children; one to Count Sigoald, where he praises almsgiving, because this lord was charged with distributing it on behalf of King Childebert. We also see there that Sigoald had made a pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Martin for the health of this prince. The other poems are on various subjects.

The eleventh book contains twenty-five short poems which are either expressions of thanks to Saint Radegund or to the abbess of her monastery for gifts that Fortunatus had received from them, or compliments on their birthdays. He notes, in the fourth, that he had joined with Agnes to urge the Saint to drink a little wine during her infirmities, and that he had pressed her on this subject, by considering the advice that Saint Paul had given to Timothy in a similar case. He addressed two other poems to them, in which he describes two of his journeys. All these poems are preceded by the explanation of the Creed, which is in the same style as that of the Lord's Prayer.

Saint Germain was still governing the Church of Paris when Fortunatus composed his four books of the Life of Saint Mart Vie de saint Martin Hagiographic poem in four books. in. They are written in verse, with the exception of the dedicatory epistle, which is in prose; it is addressed to Saint Gregory of Tours, to whom he gives an account of his work. These four books cost him only two months of labor; thus, he admits that they do not have all the accuracy he could have given them by spending more time polishing his verses.

He also wrote a poem on the Destruction of Thuringia. In it, he makes Saint Radegund, niece of Hermanfroy, speak, and depicts her mourning the loss of a state that had given her birth, and that of all her closest relatives caught up in the ruin of their country.

The following poem is in praise of Emperor Justin the Younger and his wife, Empress Sophia. Fortunatus praises this prince for the purity of his faith, his attachment to the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon, and the recall of the bishops exiled for having defended the truth. There follows a poem to Artachis, first cousin of Saint Radegund, on the death of Hermanfroy, his uncle and father of Artachis.

These are all the writings of Fortunatus collected by Brouère, and printed in the tenth volume of the Library of the Ancient Fathers. An epigram in praise of King Childebert II, provided in 1675 by Dom Mabillon from a manuscript of the Abbey of Saint-Vannes of Verdun, has been omitted; it consists of fourteen elegiac verses, which are merely wordplay. Fortunatus names himself therein and recommends a certain Audulphus to this prince. This epigram is found in volume LXXXVIII of the Patrologia Latina.

Among the lives of the Saints that he composed, we know th at of Saint Germanus, Bishop o saint Germain, évêque de Paris Bishop of Paris whose life was written by Fortunatus. f Paris, printed in Surius, in the Bollandists, and in the first volume of the Acts of the Order of Saint Benedict; that of Saint Albinus, Bishop of Angers, which is also found in the same authors; and that of Saint Paternus, Bishop of Avranches. The Life of Saint Radegund is divided into two books in the first volume of the Benedictine Acts: only the first is by Fortunatus. Father Labbe had a life of Saint Amandus, Bishop of Rodez, printed in the second volume of his Library of Manuscripts. Surius had already provided a portion of it on the fourth day of November, under the name of Fortunatus: it is quite in his style. An abridgment of the life of Saint Remigius, which one reads in Surius on October 1st, and the life of Saint Medardus, Bishop of Noyon, are also attributed to Fortunatus. The Life of Saint Maurilius, Bishop of Angers, is not by Fortunatus, as Trithemius believed, but by Painon, Bishop of Angers, in the beginning of the 10th century. There is nothing certain regarding the author of the life of Saint Marcellus, Bishop of Paris; some attribute it to Fortunatus of Poitiers, others to a bishop of the same name, whose episcopal see is unknown. Regarding the Acts of Saint Dionysius, Bishop of Paris, which M. Bosquet attributes to Fortunatus of Poitiers, they appear to have been written at the end of the 8th century or the beginning of the following one. It is not clear on what foundation the life of Saint Lubinus, Bishop of Chartres, was given to Fortunatus: it is not in his style.

Besides the life of Saint Severinus, which Saint Gregory of Tours credits to Fortunatus, we have lost the hymns he had composed for all the feasts of the year. Paul the Deacon and Sigebert mention them, and, from the way they speak of them, one sees that these hymns were numerous; Trithemius counted up to seventy-seven. Platina makes him the author of a treatise entitled: The Art of Reigning, addressed to King Sigebert; we have nothing on this subject in the writings of Fortunatus that remain to us. The Spicilegium of Dom d'Achery cites one under the title of Medietas Fortunati; but it is only a collection of his poems to which this title has been given.

Fortunatus was one of those fortunate giants for whom it costs little to say beautiful things; besides this surprising facility that reigns in his verses, one finds there an easy simplicity that does not strain the mind, and above all a great sweetness. He always shows something new; he is rarely a copyist; he does not copy himself; he is almost always original. One can easily distinguish the verses he composed on the spot, without effort and without meditation, from those to which he brought more study; the latter are more flowery and filled with more charm, while in the former there is some obscurity and less harmony. The description he gives of his journey by water from Metz to Andernach shows that his true talent was writing in this genre. He is rightly reproached for several faults against prosody and against the purity of the Latin language; often he makes a syllable short that is long by nature; from a passive verb he makes an active one; from a singular he makes a plural; he disfigures words, cuts from them or adds to them, according to the need of the meter of his verses. Editors have placed a large number of examples of these kinds of poetic licenses at the end of his poems. His prose writings, such as his prefaces and letters, are of a harsh and awkward style; he is much clearer and sweeter in his dogmatic works: it was the genius of his century to muddle things when one wanted to write with eloquence.

The best edition of the writings of Saint Fortunatus is that provided by Mich.-Ang. Luchi, a beneficiary of the Congregation of Monte Cassino, Rome, 1786-87, in two parts, in-4°, with preface and prolegomena. It is reproduced in volume LXXXVIII of the Patrologia Latina. An Appendix gives us verses unknown to the first editors. It contains verses addressed to Radegund and Agnes; they were found in a manuscript of the Royal Library by M. Guérard, and published by him in volume XII of the Notices sur les Manuscrits. The poems of Fortunatus were edited in Cambrai in the collection Poetæ ecclesiastici, by M. Hurez, in-12, 1822. Four of his hymns were translated into French in the Poètes chrétiens, by M. Félix Clément.

Vie des Saints de Poitiers, by Abbé Aubér; Histoire des Auteurs sacrés et ecclésiastiques, by Dom Cellier.