THE LIFE OF SAINT JEHAN PAULUS

 
The poem comprises 2066 octosyllabic lines in rhyming couplets and is 
contained in three manuscripts: Paris, Bibl. net. fr. 2162, fol. 81-94 
(13th c.); Paris, Bibl. net. fr. 1553, fol. 421-32v (end 13th c.); 
Paris, Arsenal 3518, fol. 203v-16 (13th c.).
 
	Edited by Williams and Allen along with its 14th-century prose 
	version, this poem is an entirely invented story with no 
	identifiable sources which offers interesting insights into the 
	mechanisms of hagiographic composition in 13th-century France. 
	The protagonist of the narrative is clearly modeled on saint Alexis 
	(1. 822 ff.), the hero of one of the earliest known French Saints' 
	Lives. Jehan Paulus is a composite text. combining traditional 
	folk-motifs (Dirickx van, der Straeten, p. 32 ff). In the opening 
	line of the poem, the author refers to the Lives of the Desert 
	Fathers as the alleged source of his story; but all vernacular 
	devotional tales whose protagonists are hermits are supposedly 
	based on the Vitae Patrum. In fact, the motif of the murderous 
	hermit is a novelty introduced by the author of Jehan Paulus 
	(Morawski, pp. 9-36).
 
	The thematic and metrical resemblances between Jehan Paulus and 
	the Life of Saint Jehan Bouche d'Or ("John the Golden Mouth," 
	who has nothing in common with saint John Chrysostom except 
	for his name), also composed in 13th-century Picardy, have led 
	several critics to attribute both Lives to the same author (Allen). 
	The two poems are indeed juxtaposed in the Arsenal manuscript 
	(95. 203v-16 for Jehan Paulus, ff. 216-21v for Jehan Bouche d'Or). 
	Two 14th-century prose renditions of both legends exist in the 
	same Florence manuscript (a manual of prose Saints' Lives 
	composed in 1399 at Arras in Picardy), and an Italian legend 
	confuses the two protagonists (Ancona).
 
	Nothing proves that the "Renaut" who identifies himself as the 
	author of Jehan Bouche d'Or also wrote Jehan Paulus. The date 
	of our poem is uncertain, although the opening anecdote 
	(a vision of Hell by "Pope Basil," according to the author's 
	confusion between Basil the Great, the 4th-century bishop 
	of Caesarea, and Pope Basil who lived in the 9th century) 
	tends to suggest the first half of the 13th century as a 
	probable date of composition. While the Visions of Hell have 
	a long and ancient tradition (Owen), the word and concept 
	of Purgatory appeared only at the end of the 12th century 
	(Le Goff: 1981), to become officially recognized by the Church 
	in 1254. Without directly talking of Purgatory or Limbo, 
	the author of Jehan Paulus does demonstrate that he knows 
	these new spatial delineations as well as the corresponding 
	distinction between eternal damnation and temporary purgation. 
	He therefore composed his poem sometime between 1222 (since 
	in one manuscript the text of Jehan Paulus is surrounded 
	by two Miracles of the Virgin Mary composed by Gautier de 
	Coinci around that date) and 1254.
 
	Besides the above mentioned prose adaptation, our poem has 
	inspired a l5th-century French poem, a 14thor 15th-century 
	Miracle play, and numerous vernacular legends (Karl, pp. 425-45) 
	where the protagonist is identified either as saint John The 
	Golden Mouth, as saint Alban (particularly in Italy), as the 
	hermit John Gari (Spain), or as saint John Chrysostom (Germany).
 
1	In the Vitas Patrum, a noble work
	Which relates to us many good stories,
	I found the Life of a holy man
	Who was the Pope at Rome.
5	His name was Basil the Great. 
	When I was sent to this holy city,
	I started reading it;
	The narrative pleased me so much
	That I read it to the end.
10	Basil, who had a fine heart,
	Was a good and holy man:
	Never once did he feel the desire to do evil.
	He was generous and very charitable.
	His care was never to treasure money 
15	Nor was it his intention.
	His concern was to serve God.
	Wherever he was,
	He was anxious to serve God.
	Through his goodness and power,
20	God showed many miracles to the world.
	When I heard of his virtues,
	I decided to put into rhyme the account
	Of his Life and virtuous disposition.
	May he guide me along the way,
25	He whose merits I want to recount,
	And may God help me in my endeavor.
	May He grant me this reward
	And may He forgive all those
	Who will eagerly listen to my story
30	And keep it in their heart.
	Everyone, however bad or faithless,
	Will become a better believer when hearing it.
 
(A vision takes Pope Basil through the seven parts of Hell. Basil 
sees one by one the torments endured by men and women condemned 
for the sins they committed on earth. In the seventh part, a woman, 
alone and naked, is both weeping and laughing throughout her endless 
tortures. As she now tells Basil, she rejoices at the knowledge that 
a great-grandson will soon be born. His name will be Jehan-Paulus, 
and he will save her from Hell. Upon his return to Rome, Basil seeks 
out the woman's daughter, baptizes her infant girl and has the infant 
raised in a convent.)
 
614	When the young girl reached her seventh birthday,
615	The pope decided to entrust her
	To the religious women of a convent
	Where she was to be educated.
	The nuns taught her how to read
	And she showed such good disposition
620	That she soon knew her Psalter.
	When she reached her twelfth birthday
	She was both very learned and pious.
	All the nuns loved her dearly
	Because of her devoted ways.
625	She never missed a prayer or a service.
	She would often ask the abbess
	To clothe her in the black habit
	So deep was her desire to become a nun.
	But, knowing everything about her fate,
630	And about the child she was supposed to bear
	The abbess refused to grant this request.
	The pope had told her the story.
	On her fifteenth birthday
	The maiden was brought back to her mother,
635	Much to her surprise and sorrow.
	She would have liked much better
	To become a nun and serve God.
	But the pope was adamant
	About his desire to have her married,
640	So that the poor soul
	Who was tormented in Hell
	Could be saved,
	As it had been announced to him
	By her own grandmother
645	Who was still enduring her infernal tortures.
	One day, the pope summoned
	The girl's father
	Along with his wife.
	He told them in private
650	About the punishment
	Inflicted upon the wife's mother,
	And about her future salvation:
	"She very much wants your daughter
	To be married and to bear a child,
655	Knowing that it will be a son
	And that this son will save her
	And will redeem her.
	This is why she wants you to give your daughter in
		Marriage
	When she reaches her twentieth birthday.
660	She feels the slowness of time
	Waiting until your daughter gives birth
	And until she can be removed from Hell.
	"Do this, you who are the mother of my godchild,
	In the name of your mother's soul,
665	For she does suffer a great deal."
	"My lord, we will readily
	Obey your command.
	It will never be otherwise."
	They kept the maiden with them
670	Until the time came
	For her to be married
	In great joy and honor.
	The festivities took place,
	To everyone's pleasure.
675	But the maiden, who had been raised
	In the nuns' convert,
	Was at first hostile toward her husband.
	But her mother, who loved her dearly,
	Told her and explained to her
680	That a good wife's duty
	Was to welcome her husband,
	And not to be hostile.
	She made no mention of love's pleasures,
	For her only motivation was to see the fruit
685	Whereby her own mother would be saved
	And taken out of the prison
	Where she was so greatly suffering.
	The latter knew that this would happen
	Within forty years;
690	Hence the joy she showed in the midst of her pains.
 
(Within six months, the daughter is pregnant. A son is born, 
called Jehan, and baptized. When he is seven years old, Jehan 
goes to school and does so well that, at fourteen, he is the most 
learned of all his peers.)
 
734	One day, his grandmother calls him,
735	When he was already a school master.
	She kisses him dearly
	And starts weeping.
	"Fair lady," he asks her,
	"Why these tears? Tell me."
740	"My son, you will now know."
	She then takes out of a box
	The story written down by Saint Basil,
	And gives it to him, sighing.
	And Jehan starts reading
745	About the various tortures of hell
	Seen by the holy man,
	And described by him in the writing.
	Jehan feels fear and crosses himself.
	But the written words are so vivid
750	That he is able to see his great grandmother's torments
	And how she rejoices because of him.
	Jehan wants to save her from this anguish.
	He thinks about a line of action,
	And decides not to stay here any longer
755	But to leave within a month. (...)
775	He will abandon his father and mother
	And the wealth of his family.
	Wealth engenders pride,
	Contempt and spite.
	This is what happened
780	To the poor soul now in Hell
	Suffering in her dark cell
	And anguished by many torments.
	Too heavy is her burden.
	"I enjoy too many honors:
785	Everyone calls me lord and master,
	But in the name of Him who created me
	I will escape from this danger
	And flee into exile,
	Taking refuge in a desert or in the woods.
790	I was sent on this mission
	By the most saintly man
	Who was in Rome since saint Peter.
	May God counsel and protect me!
	I will distribute all my possessions
795	To the poor, books and clothes included,
	And I will go away without anything,
	Clothed as an alien man,
	With only poor garments.
	He who wants to approach God
800	Must chastise his flesh,
	For he who likes his own body
	Becomes vain and goes astray.
	I have not accomplished anything yet,
	I who have so far lived in the world of material ease.
805	But I will now play a different game,
	Without ever obeying the flesh,
	But following an entirely new path."
	He does as planned,
	Leaves everyone,
810	Dresses as a poor man
	And cuts his hair,
	For the service of God.
	He thus begins his arduous endeavor.
	He leaves Rome one night
815	And goes toward the mountains,
	With only one book with him,
	To honor God and our Lady.
	He commends his body and soul to Her,
	Following our Savior's example
820	When He was on the cross.
	Weeping, he leaves.
	Since Saint Alexis, undoubtedly,
	Whose deeds are known to us,
	No one ever attempted to carry such a burden.
825	He does not care which way he goes.
 
(His still healthy appearance inspires people to laugh at him 
and to take him for a sham.)
 
	
 
 

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