Vita Columbani Research Articles

Bobbio after Columbanus: Jonas of Bobbio's Hagiography and the Conflict over Spiritual Authority

In this paper, I analyze Jonas of Bobbio's hagiography as a window into the sociopolitical position of Columbanian houses, especially Bobbio, during and immediately after Columbanus's death. Ultimately, these works manipulate and retell the past in order to speak to issues important to their author, such as monastic immunity, defining Columbanian identity, and healing wounds after the 626–27 Synod of Mâcon. I highlight the ways in which Jonas's writings attempt to shape Columbanus's image to benefit both his own monastery and the movement as a whole. I then contextualize this within the larger struggle to claim Columbanus's legacy as well as the influential institutions he left behind. After first addressing the Vita Columbani, the paper moves into Jonas's other works, the Vita Iohannis and Vita Vedastis, emphasizing the shared themes among the three.

Sagax animo: Jonas of Bobbio and the verse epitaph of Pope Honorius

The verse epitaph of Pope Honorius (625–38) inscribed at St Peter’s in Rome and the eulogy of the same pope that Jonas of Bobbio included in his Vita Columbani et discipuli eius (composed 639–42) share language and expressions sufficient to demonstrate that Jonas must have been familiar with Honorius’ epitaph at the time he composed the Vita’s obituary. This fact has implications for both Jonas’ biography and his literary methods. It also raises the possibility that Jonas was the author of the (otherwise anonymous) epitaph. Close reading of the Vatican epitaph highlights not only the epigram’s literary ambition and background but also identifies other correspondences with the lexical and poetic inclinations of Jonas. In turn, these observations undercut pessimism about the literary milieu of seventh‐century Rome and Italy.

Le régime des boissons dans l’œuvre de Jonas de Bobbio

Written in the 7th century between Italy and Gaul, the works of Jonas of Bobbio include the Vita Columbani and Vita Iohannis, and probably also the Vita Vedastis and Regula cuiusdam ad uirgines. Those four works contain many allusions to drink and episodes in which ale, wine and other beverages are consumed. The analysis of that whole corpus, compared when necessary with aspects of the works of Columbanus, shows that Jonas did not merely reproduce the classical discourse, derived from both Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian literature, which condemned ale and condoned a moderate consumption of wine. Conversely, he replaced it with a “new regime of drinks” - an already medieval one which, instead of highlighting one beverage above others, insisted on the conditions of consumption and tried to detect the presence of the devil in wine as well as in ale.

The bishop and the monk: Desiderius of Vienne and the Columbanian movement

This paper analyses the uses made by hagiographers and chroniclers of the character of Desiderius of Vienne. Desiderius, a bishop in Merovingian Burgundy, was the protagonist of two seventh‐century Lives, and appears in numerous other hagiographical works and chronicles. Desiderius also figures prominently in works composed within the context of Columbanian monasticism, most notably Jonas of Bobbio's Vita Columbani. His appearance in these works paints a multifaceted picture not only of his own political activities, but also of the agendas of the hagiographers themselves, who exploited his literary image to further their ends. It is the contention of this paper that despite the frequent mentions of Desiderius in Columbanian compositions, he did not, in fact, play a part in the Columbanians' success.

The Vita Columbani in Merovingian Gaul

This paper considers the evidence for the dissemination of the Vita Columbani. Using a number of seventh‐century texts as well as the Vita itself, it proposes that the Vita Columbani had a wider dissemination in Merovingian Gaul than has hitherto been acknowledged. It suggests that the Vita was not merely confined to monastic and ecclesiastical circles, but was also intended for a royal and aristocratic audience closely linked to the Columbanian communities.

The Rule of an ‘‘Iro-Egyptian’’ monk in Gaul Jonas’ Vita Iohannis and the construction of a monastic identity

This article provides an analysis of the narrative techniques applied in Jonas of Bobbio’s Vita Iohannis, a hagiographic text that aims to be rather a monastic programme (possibly even a regula) than an account of historical facts. Jonas constructs his saint as a new Anthony placed in a setting of Late Antique Gaul that is modelled on the basis of Gregory of Tours' works. The saint and his monastic foundations are described as rooting in the tradition of Lérins and John Cassian while in fact representing ideas that are entirely congruent with Columbanian monasticism. With an ingenious synthesis of different monastic traditions Jonas convinces his audience that Columbanian monasticism was by no means innovative but in fact a return to well established monastic ideals. As such, the Vita Iohannis is the perfect counterpart to the Vita Columbani. A side result shows that Jonas reference to the tenor regularis quae beatus Macharius indedit does in fact not refer to the Regula Macharii but to the Regula quattuor patrum. The Vita Iohannis is entirely unsuitable as a source on the use of the Regula Macharii in monasteries in Gaul.

The Vita Columbani and Merovingian hagiography

The <i>Vita Columbani</i> and Merovingian hagiography