Saint Orientius was a Christian

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

poet of the fifth century.

Biography and work

He wrote the

elegiac The adjective ''elegiac'' has two possible meanings. First, it can refer to something of, relating to, or involving, an elegy or something that expresses similar mournfulness or sorrow. Second, it can refer more specifically to poetry composed in ...

poem '' Commonitorium'' of 1036 verses (divided into two books) describing the way to heaven, with warnings against its hindrances. He was a

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

(II, 184), who had been converted after a life of sin (I, 405 sq.), was evidently an experienced pastor, and wrote at a time when his country was being devastated by the invasion of barbarians. All this points to his identification with Orientius, Bishop of Augusta Ausciorum ( Auch), who as a very old man was sent by

Theodoric I Theodoric I ( got, Þiudarīks; la, Theodericus; 390 or 393 – 20 or 24 June 451) was the King of the Visigoths from 418 to 451. Theodoric is famous for his part in stopping Attila (the Hun) at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451, where ...

, King of the

Goths The Goths ( got, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰, translit=''Gutþiuda''; la, Gothi, grc-gre, Γότθοι, Gótthoi) were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe ...

, as ambassador to the Roman generals

Flavius Aëtius Aetius (also spelled Aëtius; ; 390 – 454) was a Roman general and statesman of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was a military commander and the most influential man in the Empire for two decades (433454). He managed pol ...

and

Litorius Litorius (died 439) was a Roman general of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire serving as Magister militum per Gallias mainly in Gaul under magister militum Flavius Aetius (from 435 until his death). Litorius is noted for being the last ...

in 439 ("Vita S. Orientii" in "Acta SS.", I May, 61).Catholic Encyclopedia: Auch
/ref> The Commonitorium quotes classical Roman poets —

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; 84 - 54 BCE), often referred to simply as Catullus (, ), was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical heroes. His ...

— and is perhaps influenced by

Prudentius Aurelius Prudentius Clemens () was a Roman Christian poet, born in the Roman province of Tarraconensis (now Northern Spain) in 348.H. J. Rose, ''A Handbook of Classical Literature'' (1967) p. 508 He probably died in the Iberian Peninsula some ti ...

. It exists in only one manuscript (Cod. Ashburnham. sæc. X), and is followed by some shorter anonymous poems not by Orientius, and by two prayers in verse attributed to him. The first complete edition was published by Martène, ''Veterum Scriptorum Monumenta'', I (Rouen, 1700); then by

Andrea Gallandi Andrea Gallandi (born at Venice, 7 December 1709; died there 12 January 1779, or 1780) was an Italian Oratorian and patristic scholar. Life He pursued his theological and historical studies under two Dominicans, Daniello Concina, a moralist, a ...

, ''Bibliotheca veterum Patrum'', X (Venice, 1774), 185–96, reprinted by J.P. Migne in '' Patrologia Latina'' 61.977-1006. The best modern edition is by Ellis in the '' Corpus Scriptorum Eccl. Latinorum'' XVI (Vienna, 1888): "Poetæ Christiani minores", I, 191–261.

Sources

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References

{{Authority control 5th-century Latin writers Bishops of Auch Gallo-Roman saints 5th-century bishops in Gaul 5th-century Roman poets