Venantius Fortunatus, (c.530–610), bishop of Poitiers. Born near Treviso and educated at Ravenna, he left Italy c.565 to visit the shrine of St. Martin at Tours in thanksgiving for being cured of an illness of the eyes. In return for the hospitality he received he wrote laudatory poems in honour of his hosts. He visited Sigebert's court at Metz, where he stayed for two years earning his living by his varied talent as a writer, who brought something of Roman elegance and literary culture to a rather barbarous Merovingian court.
By this time the Lombards had invaded North Italy and Venantius settled at Poitiers, where he became steward and, after his ordination, chaplain to the nuns among whom were Radegund and the abbess Agnes, to both of whom he wrote letters and poems. He was unusually sensitive to the hardships of women, who indeed played a considerable part in the development of Christian values in the Merovingian world. His letters to Radegund (much older than he) are rhetorically playful and affectionate: ‘Even though the clouds are gone and the sky is serene, the day is sunless when you are absent.’ When he could obtain them, he tells her that he will send her roses and lilies.
The best of his talents were stimulated by the arrival at Poitiers in 569 of relics of the True Cross, sent by the Emperor Justin II, which was the occasion for his fine hymn ‘Vexilla regis prodeunt’ (‘The royal banners forward go’), used in the liturgy of Passiontide and especially Good Friday. At about the same time he composed ‘Pange lingua gloriosi’ (‘Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle’), likewise for Passiontide and ‘Salve festa dies’ for Easter. These are all generally reckoned to be among the finest examples of Christian hymnody, combining as they do classical skill and Christian religious sentiment to a high degree.
Venantius' compositions were highly appreciated by contemporaries, among whom Gregory of Tours encouraged him to collect and publish his poems, some of which were composed for great ecclesiastical occasions. Other bishops who befriended him were Felix of Nantes and Leontius of Bordeaux.
Venantius' other works include prose and verse Lives of Saints; in prose are Lives of Hilary, Radegund, and Severinus of Bordeaux as well as Albinus, Germanus of Paris, and Paternus of Avranches; in verse those of Martin and Médard. His In laudem Mariae depicts the Virgin as queen of heaven, receiving homage, the object of respectful love, forestalling some aspects of courtly love.
About the year 600 Venantius was elected bishop of Poitiers, but not much is known of his short term of office. Feast: 14 December.
Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.
- Works edited by F. Leo and B. Krusch in M.G.H., Auctores Antiquissimi, iv (1881–5) also in P.L., lxxxviii. 59–596; B.T.A., iv. 558–9; J. M. Wallace-Hadrill, The Frankish Church (1983), pp. 82–8; B. de Gaiffier, ‘S. Venance Fortunat, évêque de Poitiers: les témoignages de son culte’, Anal. Boll., lxx (1952), 262–84; F. J. E. Raby, A History of Christian Latin Poetry from the Beginnings to the Close of the Middle Ages (1953)
