Conspicuous among his other works are the poetic epistles to Ausonius, the nuptial hymn to Julianus, which extols the dignity and sanctity of Christian marriage, and the poem of comfort to the parents of Celsus on the death of their child. Although Paulinus has great versatility and nicety, still he is not entirely free from the mannerisms and ornate culture of his period. All his writings breathe a charming, ideal personality, freed from all terrestrial attachments, ever striving upward. According to Augustine, he also had an exaggerated idea concerning the veneration of saints and relics [the bodily remains of a saint, or objects they used, kept with honor]. His letter xxxii, written to Sulpicius Severus, has received special attention because in it he describes the basilica of Nola, which he built, and gives copious accounts of the existence, construction, and purpose of Christian monuments. From Paulinus too we have information concerning St. Peter's in Rome. During his lifetime Paulinus was looked upon as saint. His body was first interred in the cathedral of Nola; later, in Benevento; then it was conveyed by Otto III to S. Bartolomeo all'Isola, in Rome, and finally in compliance with the regulation of Pius X of 18 Sept., 1908 (Acta Apostolicae Sedis, I, 245 sq.) was restored to the cathedral of Nola. His feast, 22 June, was raised to the rank of a double.

Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman and almost all Latin Martyrologies. Authority: — Mention in the letters of S. Paulinus himself, and of his master Ausonius, mention by Sulpicius Severus, S. Ambrose, S. Augustine, S. Jerome, Pope S. Anastasius and S. Eucherius. Also an account of his death in an epistle of U rani us, priest o» Nola, at the time.] S. Paulinus, the son of Pontius Paulinus, pretorian prefect in Gaul, was born about the year 353, at Bordeaux, or Embrau, four leagues from Bordeaux. The family was noble, of consular and patrician rank, and was a branch of the illustrious Anician family. Paulinus studied with the poet Ausonius, and under his tuition became accomplished as an orator and a poet. He married Tharasia, a Spanish lady of great virtue. The prudence and rank of Paulinus led the emperor Valentinian the Elder to appoint him to be prefect of Rome. Public and private business kept him for fifteen years incessantly occupied, and led him to visit Spain and Gaul repeatedly. On one of his journeys he met S. Ambrose of Milan, who conceived a great respect for Janeaa.).S. PaullflUS. 305 him. His wife bore him one son, after many years of sterility, but the child died almost directly, to the great grief of his father, whose ambition it was to have a son to inherit his name and fortune. On a visit to Nola where he had possessions, Paulinus was struck with certain miracles he saw performed at the tomb of S. Felix, and resolved to devote himself to a Christian life. As yet he was not baptized, and it was not till fifteen years after, at the age of thirty-eight, that he received the washing of regeneration from the hands of Delphinus, bishop of Bordeaux. He then retired into Spain to Barcelona, where his wife had lands, and there the clergy and people forced him to receive priests’ orders from the hands of Lampius, the bishop. He remained four years in Spain, sold his possessions there and distributed the proceeds among the poor, and then went to Milan, where he was warmly received by S. Ambrose, who retained him at Milan for a while. After the death of S. Ambrose, Paulinus went to Rome, where he met with an icy reception from the clergy and pope, Siricius, perhaps from his having been in friendly relation with S. Jerome, whom the clergy of Rome detested, and who had been a candidate for the papal throne in opposition to Siricius. Finding his presence occasioned bickerings and annoyance in Rome, Paulinus withdrew to Nola with his wife Tharasia, and there both retired into separate cells and lived as hermits. This proceeding caused universal surprise, and some indignation. Many of his friends remonstrated, among the number was Ausonius, at his burying his splendid talents in an obscure country town, and withdrawing his abilities from the direction of public and ecclesiastical affairs. But in spite of evil report and good report, Patdinus continued to live as a recluse till, on the death VOL vi. -o of their bishop, the people of Nola elected him to be their chief pastor. He governed his see with prudence. He died on June 22nd, in the year 431; and after his death appeared in vision to John, bishop of Naples, his garments white, sprinkled over with stars, and holding a honeycomb in his hand.

The poems of S. Paulinus contain one of the earliest descriptions of Christian painting, in the church of S. Felix at Nola. In the colonnades of that church were painted scenes from the Old Testament: among them were the Passage of the Red Sea, Joshua and the Ark, Ruth and her sister-in-law, one deserting, the other following Naomi in fond fidelity; an emblem, the poet suggests, of mankind — part deserting, part adhering to the true faith.

S. Gregory the Great relates a story of a Paulinus, bishop of Nola, which has found its way into the Breviary as the lesson for the festival of this S. Paulinus. But there were three bishops of Nola of the same name, and the stoiy related by S. Gregory belongs to Paulinus III. It is to the effect that the Vandals devastated Italy and pillaged Nola, carrying off half the inhabitants captive. Paulinus gave himself up as slave in the place of a widow’s son. The Vandal incursion did not take place till long after the death of S. Paulinus, the subject of this notice* S. Felix.