St. Melania the younger wrote books which
were noted for their beauty and accuracy. And when
Athanasius introduced Eastern monachism into Italy, and
St. Martin of Tours and John Cassian carried it farther
afield into Gaul, the same work went on. In the cells
and caves of Martin's community at Marmoutier the
younger monks occupied their time in writing and sacred
study, and the older monks in prayer.[1] Sulpicius Severus
(c. 353-425), the ecclesiastical historian, preferred retirement,
literary study, and the friendship and teaching of
St. Martin to worldly pursuits. At the famous island
community of Lerins, in South Gaul, were instructed
some of the most celebrated scholars of the West, among
them St. Hilary. "Such were their piety and learning that
all the cities round about strove emulously to have monks
from Lerins for their bishops."[2] Another centre of studious
occupation was the monastery of Germanus of Auxerre;
while near Vienne was a community where St. Avitus
(c. 525) could earn the high reputation for holiness and
learning which won him a metropolitan see. Many other facts
and incidents prove the literary pursuits of the Gallic ascetics;
as, for example, the reputation the nuns of Arles in the
sixth century won for their writing; and the curious story
of Apollinaris Sidonius driving after a monk who was
carrying a manuscript to Britain, stopping him, and there
and then dictating to secretaries a copy of the precious
book which had so nearly escaped him.
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