The Patrologia Latina · Volume XX
The Life of Saint Martin
Volume 20 is the world of Saint Martin of Tours. Sulpicius Severus — the Aquitanian lawyer who became Martin’s biographer — gave the West its first life of a living holy man, along with the Dialogues and a world chronicle that is our earliest full account of the first Christian executed for heresy. Around him: Gaudentius of Brescia’s Easter sermons, Chromatius of Aquileia (Jerome’s patron), the earliest theology of relics, and the decretals of the popes who condemned Pelagius. We are translating every one into English.
About this volume
Gaul and Italy around the year 400
Sulpicius Severus (around 363 to 425 AD) trained as a lawyer at Bordeaux and married into consular rank before his wife’s death and the example of Paulinus of Nola drew him to the ascetic life. He found his subject in Martin, bishop of Tours — the soldier who divided his cloak with a beggar, left the army, and worked wonders across Gaul. The Life of Saint Martin, written while Martin still lived, founded Western hagiography; the three letters on his death and the Dialogues completed the portrait that shaped one of medieval Europe’s greatest cults. His Chronicle runs from creation to his own day and preserves the fullest early account of the execution of Priscillian — the first time the state put a Christian to death for heresy, a use of imperial power Sulpicius recorded with unease.
Around him stand the bishops of the same generation. Gaudentius of Brescia, successor of Philastrius, preached the Easter sermons a sick nobleman had stenographers take down so he could read what he had missed. Chromatius of Aquileia funded Jerome’s biblical work and tried to keep the peace between Jerome and Rufinus; his tractates on Matthew survive here. Victricius of Rouen, a soldier turned bishop, wrote the earliest Western theology of relics to welcome a gift of them from Ambrose. Bachiarius, an Iberian monk under suspicion of Priscillianism, defended his faith and pleaded for a fallen brother’s restoration.
The volume also gathers the popes of the age: Anastasius, Innocent I, Zosimus, and Boniface I, whose letters settle the canon of Scripture, fix Roman liturgical custom, and confirm the condemnation of Pelagius and Caelestius — the decretals to which Augustine’s “the case is finished” was the reply. As across the whole project, we translate the original works only, in fresh English, and give them away free to read.
Where to start
Three to begin with
The life
The Life of Saint Martin
De Vita Beati Martini
The founding text of Western hagiography, written around 396 AD while Martin of Tours was still alive.
Read →The chronicle
The Sacred History
Chronicorum Libri Duo
A world chronicle to around 400 AD — and our fullest early source for the trial and execution of Priscillian.
Read →The decretals
Letters and Decretals
Epistolae et Decreta
The letters of Pope Innocent I (401–417): the canon of Scripture, Roman liturgy, and the condemnation of Pelagius.
Read →The contents
30 works
Each is a fresh English translation from the Latin, free to read online, in the order Migne printed them.
- 01
Against the Arians Liber Contra Arianos
A Gallic bishop's point-by-point rebuttal of the Arian formula banning the word "substance" from the creed, defending the Nicene faith against both Arius and Sabellius.
23 ch. Read free → - 02
On the Orthodox Faith De Fide Orthodoxa
A treatise defending the Nicene term "of one substance," answering objections that it is unscriptural and explaining how the Son appeared to the patriarchs without change.
10 ch. Read free → - 03
A Profession of Faith Libellus Fidei
A brief trinitarian creed, traditionally printed under Phoebadius's name though its authorship is disputed, confessing the full divinity and humanity of Christ.
3 min Read free → - 04
Letters and Decretals Epistolae et Decreta
Pope Anastasius I's two genuine letters condemning Origen's writings, followed by two later letters wrongly attributed to him.
5 ch. Read free → - 05
The Sacred History Chronicorum Libri Duo / Historia Sacra
A two-book chronicle spanning creation to 400 AD, prized above all for its firsthand account of the Priscillianist controversy.
106 ch. Read free → - 06
The Life of Saint Martin De Vita Beati Martini Liber Unus
A Roman soldier who shared his cloak with a beggar becomes the wonder-working bishop of Tours, founding Western monasticism and hagiography.
29 ch. Read free → - 07
The Letters of Sulpicius Severus Epistolae Tres
Three letters by Sulpicius Severus defending, mourning, and recounting the death of Saint Martin of Tours.
5 ch. Read free → - 08
The Dialogues Dialogi
Three days of fireside conversation weighing the wonders of Egypt's desert monks against the still greater miracles of Martin of Tours.
58 ch. Read free → - 09
Letters and Decretals Appendix ad Opera Sulpicii Severi: Epistolae VII
Seven miscellaneous letters appended to the works of Sulpicius Severus, none actually his, closing with Augustine's reply to the people of Cirta.
40 ch. Read free → - 10
Sermon on the Eight Beatitudes Sermo de Octo Beatitudinibus
Chromatius of Aquileia compares Christ's eight Beatitudes to a merchant's precious pearls and ascending steps toward the kingdom of heaven.
10 ch. Read free → - 11
Tractate on the Gospel of Matthew Tractatus in Evangelium S. Matthaei
Bishop Chromatius of Aquileia preaches through Christ's baptism, the Beatitudes, and the Sermon on the Mount in seventeen surviving tractates on Matthew.
67 ch. Read free → - 12
Words Spoken at the Council of Aquileia Dicta in Concilio Aquileiensi
A brief exchange between Palladius and Chromatius, then a presbyter, from the acts of the Council of Aquileia in 381 AD.
1 min Read free → - 13
Letters on the Infancy Gospel and the Martyrology of the Saints Scripta S. Chromatio Falso Attributa
Spurious correspondence, wrongly credited to Chromatius, requesting a Latin apocryphal infancy narrative of Mary and a martyrology of the saints.
5 ch. Read free → - 14
In Praise of the Saints Liber de Laude Sanctorum
The earliest Western treatise on the theology of relics, preached as martyrs' remains arrived at Rouen around 396 AD.
12 ch. Read free → - 15
Letters and Decretals Epistolae et Decreta
The collected letters and decretals of Pope Innocent I, including his ruling on Roman liturgical order and his correspondence condemning Pelagianism.
87 ch. Read free → - 16
Letters to the Emperor Arcadius Epistolae S. Innocentio I Attributae
A spurious correspondence, wrongly attributed to Pope Innocent I, dramatizing the emperor's excommunication and pardon over the exile of John Chrysostom.
9 ch. Read free → - 17
Letters and Decretals Epistolae et Decreta
Pope Zosimus's letters and decretals on the primacy of Arles, the ordination of bishops, clerical grades, and his early hearings on Pelagius and Coelestius.
22 ch. Read free → - 18
The Accusation Against Caelestius Libellus Adversus Coelestium
Paulinus of Milan's formal accusation against Caelestius, resubmitted to Pope Zosimus after the earlier Carthage hearing on original sin and infant baptism.
5 ch. Read free → - 19
On the Blessings of the Patriarchs De Benedictionibus Patriarcharum Libellus
A chapter-by-chapter commentary on Jacob's dying blessings to his twelve sons in Genesis 49, read for both history and prophecy of Christ.
70 ch. Read free → - 20
Letter on the Conversion of the Jews Epistola de Judaeis
A bishop's eyewitness account of the mass conversion of Minorca's Jewish community after the arrival of Saint Stephen's relics in 418 AD.
41 min Read free → - 21
Letters and Decretals Epistolae et Decreta
The correspondence of Pope Boniface I on his contested election, the African bishops' appeals to Rome, and the jurisdictional dispute over Illyricum and Corinth.
15 ch. Read free → - 22
Letters and Decretals Epistolae S. Bonifacio I Attributae
Two short letters falsely credited to Pope Boniface I, one granting a bishop's pallium, the other addressed to legates of an African synod.
2 ch. Read free → - 23
Sermons Tractatus vel Sermones
Twenty-one Easter-season sermons from the bishop of Brescia, unfolding the Exodus and Passover as figures of Christian baptism.
30 ch. Read free → - 24
Letters and Decretals Epistola ad Episcopos per Byzacenam et Arzugytanam Provinciam Constitutos et Synodica
Aurelius of Carthage circulates the imperial condemnation of Pelagius and Coelestius, paired with a synodical letter on an earlier African council against the Donatists.
2 ch. Read free → - 25
Letter of Aurelius to Pope Damasus Epistola Aurelii Damaso Papae
A brief request, falsely credited to Aurelius of Carthage, asking Pope Damasus to send a written record of every papal decree since Peter.
1 min Read free → - 26
A Profession of Faith Bachiarii Fides
An Iberian monk's personal creed, written to answer suspicions of heresy tied to his homeland and set out his belief in the Trinity, Christ, and resurrection.
8 ch. Read free → - 27
On the Restoration of the Lapsed Liber ad Januarium de Reparatione Lapsi
A monk pleads with a fellow cleric not to abandon but to restore a brother who fell into sexual sin.
23 ch. Read free → - 28
The Consultations of Zacchaeus and Apollonius Consultationum Libri Tres
A fictional dialogue in which a Christian answers a pagan philosopher's objections to Christ's divinity, providence, the Trinity, and the monastic life.
71 ch. Read free → - 29
The Altercation between Theophilus the Christian and Simon the Jew Altercatio inter Theophilum Christianum et Simonem Judaeum
A Jewish disputant is led point by point through the Hebrew prophets until he confesses Christ and asks for baptism.
39 min Read free → - 30
The Sentences of Evagrius Sententiae
Proverb-style maxims for monks and virgins, blending practical asceticism with warnings against false teaching, in the manner of the Wisdom books.
2 ch. Read free →
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