Coelius Sedulius
{{Short description|5th-century Christian poet}}
File:Luke St Augustine's Gospels Corpus Christi Cambridge MS 286.jpeg, Parker Library MS 286, late 6th century]]
Sedulius (sometimes with the nomen Coelius or Caelius, both of doubtful authenticity) was a Christian poet during the first half of the 5th century.
Biography
Little is known about his life. The only trustworthy information, contained in his two letters to Macedonius, recounts that he devoted his early life, perhaps as a teacher of rhetoric, to secular literature. Late in life he converted to Christianity, or, if a Christian before, began to take his faith more seriously.{{Cite web |url= http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wace/biodict.html?term=Sedulius,%205th-cent.%20poet |title=Biography of Sedulius (5th century poet) at Christian Classics Ethereal Library |access-date=2011-03-05 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150924112321/http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wace/biodict.html?term=Sedulius,%205th-cent.%20poet |archive-date= 2015-09-24 |url-status=dead | quote = Sedulius [...] a 5th-cent. poet, of whose life very few details are known. The only trustworthy information is given by his two letters to Macedonius, from which we learn that he devoted his early life, perhaps as a teacher of rhetoric, to heathen literature. Late in life he became converted to Christianity, or, if a Christian before, began to take a serious view of his duties.}}
One medieval commentary states that he resided in Italy.{{CathEncy|wstitle= Sedulius|author= Paul Lejay}} Isidore of Seville ({{circa}} 560 – 636) and the Gelasian decree refer to him as a presbyter.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
Works
His fame rests mainly upon a long poem, Carmen paschale, based on the four gospels. In style a bombastic imitator of Virgil, he shows, nevertheless, a certain freedom in the handling of the Biblical story, and the poem soon became a quarry for the minor poets.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} His description of the Four Evangelists in Carmen Paschale became well-known; the English translation below is from {{harvtxt|Springer|2013|p=21}}.
{{Verse translation|
{{lang|la|Hoc Matthaeus agens hominem generaliter implet;
Marcus ut alta fremit uox per deserta leonis;
Iura sacerdotii Lucas tenet ore iuuenci;
More uolans aquilae uerbo petit astra Iohannes.}}
|
Matthew plays the role of the whole human race;
Mark roars like the loud voice of a lion through the wilderness;
Luke holds the office of the priesthood with the face of an ox;
Flying like an eagle, John reaches for the stars with his word.}}
His other writings include an Abecedarian hymn in honour of Christ, A solis ortus cardine, consisting of twenty-three quatrains of iambic dimeters. This poem has partly passed into the Roman Rite liturgy, the first seven quatrains forming the Christmas carol "A solis ortus cardine",This incipit was borrowed for the Carolingian Planctus de obitu Karoli; see Peter Godman (1985), Latin Poetry of the Carolingian Renaissance (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press), 206–211. which has been translated into vernacular languages by, among many others, Martin Luther and Allan MacDonald. The Epiphany hymn, "Hostis Herodes impie"and "Veteris et novi Testamenti collatio" in elegiac couplets have also come down.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
Editions
- Faustino Arévalo (Rome, 1794), reprinted in Jacques Paul Migne's Patrologia Latina vol. xix.
- Johann Huemer (Vienna, 1885).
- Victoria Panagl (Bearb.), Sedulius, Opera Omnia, Ex Recensione Iohannis Huemer (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, 10), Wien, 2007, XLVII, 532 S.
- {{citation|title=Sedulius, The Paschal Song and Hymns|volume=35|series= Ancient Israel and Its Literature|first=Carl P.|last= Springer|publisher=SBL Press|
year= 2013|isbn=978-1589837447}}
References
{{reflist}}
Sources
- {{EB1911|wstitle=Sedulius|volume=24|page=580}} This work in turn cites:
- Johann Huemer, De Sedulii poetae vita et scriptis commentatio (Vienna, 1878)
- Max Manitius, Geschichte der christlich-lateinischen Poesie (Stuttgart, 1891)
- Teuffel-Schwabe, History of Roman Literature (Eng. trans.), 473
- Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopädie für protestantische Theologie, xviii. (Leipzig, 1906)
- Smith and Wace, Dictionary of Christian Biography (1887)
Further reading
- {{cite EB9 |wstitle = Cœlius Sedulius |volume= XXI |last= |first= |author-link= | page=621 |short=1}}
- Roger P H Green, Latin Epics of the New Testament: Juvencus, Sedulius, Arator, Oxford UP 2008 {{ISBN|978-0-19-928457-3}} (reviewed by Teresa Morgan in the article "Poets for Jesus", Times Literary Supplement 4 April 2008 p 31).
External links
{{wikisource|works=or}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20150924112321/http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wace/biodict.html?term=Sedulius,%205th-cent.%20poet Biography of Sedulius (5th century poet) at Christian Classics Ethereal Library]
- [http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/30_10_0342-0342-_Coelius_Sedulius.html Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina]
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160310031708/http://pmcbrine.com/sedulius-carmen-paschale.html Book One of Carmen Paschale in English translation, by Patrick McBrine]}}
- [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/sedulius.html Latin text of Sedulius at the Latin Library]
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Category:5th-century Christians
Category:5th-century Roman poets
Category:5th-century writers in Latin
Category:Early medieval Latin literature
Category:Texts of medieval Ireland in Latin
Category:History of Christianity in Ireland