Saint Paulinus of Nola, Bishop & Confessor
S. Paulini Episcopi et Confessoris
Saint Paulinus of Nola, a wealthy and cultivated Roman who gave away his great possessions to follow Christ, became a holy bishop and Christian poet, and is remembered for his charity and his devotion to Saint Felix.
Saint Paulinus was born about the year 354 at Bordeaux in Gaul, of a noble and wealthy family, and was given the finest education of his age. He rose to high honours in the service of the Roman state and was widely esteemed for his learning and eloquence. Yet, touched by grace and drawn to Christ, he turned from the world at the height of his fortunes and entered upon a wholly new life of faith.
From the world to Christ
Together with his devout wife Therasia, Saint Paulinus resolved to renounce his vast wealth and to give himself to God. They distributed their great possessions to the poor and to the Church, embraced a life of poverty and prayer, and withdrew to Nola in Campania, near the tomb of Saint Felix, a martyr whom Paulinus venerated with tender love. There he served the poor and the pilgrims who came to the shrine, building for them and adorning the holy place, and each year he composed a poem in honour of Saint Felix on his feast.
His conversion drew the admiration of the greatest men of the Church, and he was joined in friendship and correspondence with Saint Augustine, Saint Jerome, Saint Ambrose, and Saint Martin of Tours. His letters and his Christian poems, marked by grace and devotion, won him a lasting place among the writers of the early Church.
Bishop of Nola
About the year 409 the people chose Saint Paulinus to be their bishop, and he governed the Church of Nola with gentleness, humility, and untiring charity for the rest of his life. So great was his love for the poor that an ancient and beloved tradition relates that he once gave himself in ransom for a captive when his own means were spent. He died at Nola in the year 431, esteemed by all as a saint, and his memory was honoured throughout the Church.
The collect of his feast, drawn from the common of a confessor and bishop, asks that the venerable solemnity of so great a saint may increase in us both devotion and salvation. His feast is kept on the twenty-second of June, and in him the Church honours one who counted the riches of this world as nothing beside the love of Christ and the poor.
The Collect
Grant, we beseech thee, O almighty God: that the venerable solemnity of blessed Paulinus, thy Confessor and Bishop, may increase in us both devotion and salvation.
Da, quæsumus, omnípotens Deus: ut beáti Paulíni Confessóris tui atque Pontíficis verénda solemnitas, et devotiónem nobis áugeat et salútem.
Patronage
He is venerated as a patron of the city of Nola in Campania, and is honoured as one of the Christian poets of the early Church.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar his memorial is observed on the same day, 22 June.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saint Paulinus of Nola?
His feast is kept on 22 June in the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal, as a Third Class feast. In the modern calendar his memorial falls on the same day.
Who was Saint Paulinus of Nola?
He was a wealthy and learned Roman of the fourth and fifth centuries who gave away his great possessions to follow Christ, became Bishop of Nola in Campania, and is remembered for his charity to the poor and his Christian poetry. He was a friend of Saints Augustine, Jerome, and Ambrose. He died in 431.
Why is he remembered for his charity?
Saint Paulinus renounced one of the great fortunes of his day to live in poverty and serve the poor and pilgrims at the shrine of Saint Felix. An ancient tradition relates that, his own means exhausted, he once offered himself in ransom for a captive, so completely had he given himself to the love of Christ in the poor.
See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.
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