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Saint Paulinus of Nola

Bishop

Feast Day
June 22
Life
354–431
Born
Bordeaux, Roman Gaul

Saint Paulinus of Nola, born Pontius Meropius Anicius Paulinus, came in 354 from a senatorial family of Bordeaux in Roman Gaul. Pupil and lifelong friend of the poet Ausonius, he served briefly as Roman governor of Campania, where he developed his lifelong devotion to Saint Felix at Nola.

Around 389 Paulinus and his Spanish wife Therasia were baptized; after the death of their only son in infancy, they renounced their immense wealth and chose a life of celibate Christian asceticism. Ordained priest at Barcelona in 393, Paulinus moved to Nola in Campania, where he built a basilica complex over the tomb of Saint Felix, with hospices for the poor and pilgrims. About 409 he was elected bishop of Nola.

His extensive surviving correspondence, especially with Saints Augustine, Jerome, Ambrose, and Sulpicius Severus, makes him one of the principal sources for late fourth-century Latin Christianity. His thirty-three Natalicia, annual poems composed in honor of Saint Felix on January 14, are a masterpiece of Christian Latin poetry. He died at Nola on June 22, 431, with Saint Augustine still alive at Hippo.

Paulinus exemplifies the late-Roman Christian senatorial conversion, the deliberate use of inherited wealth for the building of churches and the relief of the poor. His friendship with Augustine, attested in numerous letters, places him at the heart of the Latin patristic age. His feast on June 22 is observed in the General Roman Calendar as an Optional Memorial.

Patronages

Nola · bell-ringers (traditional)

Catholic Churches Named After Saint Paulinus of Nola

8 parishes on Catholic Church Times share Saint Paulinus of Nola's name. Find their Mass times, confession schedules, and adoration hours:

Sources