I've been reading Clare Stancliffe's admirable book on Sulpicius Severus as a hagiographer; a book which I should have read years ago, but I accidentally ran into while trawling around the shelves of Trinity College, University of Toronto. A lot of my off the cuff musings which I featured in my commentary seems on the right track, but I think Stancliffe's book will deepen what I'm doing with the Life of St. Martin.
I'm a little embarrassed to admit, though, that I didn't realize that Sulpicius Severus' Life of St. Martin appears to have been a pretty controversial piece and that he felt he had to defend his portrait in several letters and, later, in a set of Dialogues. The fact that we have even monks from St. Martin's own monastery who questioned Sulpicius' picture of St. Martin gives an interesting sequel to the Life and I think it may be a story, if only for completeness sake, also needs to be told.
At the same time, I've been thinking about a new direction for my translation. So, it seems only to make sense to translate these other letters and Dialogues as well as the bits out of the Chronicle which features St. Martin and maybe even Gregory of Tour's discussion of St. Martin. I still don't know what I'd do with it, but it might be an interesting project.
What do you think?
Peace,
Phil
2 comments:
Sounds like a book to me. Call it the definitive study of St. Martin, include your own comments on what Sulpicius Severus was trying to do with his story and find a publisher.
FWIW
jimB
Sounds like the objections would be a fascinating addition.
Take care & God bless
WF
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