Matthieu Pignot | Université de Namur (University of Namur) (original) (raw)

Articles by Matthieu Pignot

Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, 2025

P. VAN GEEST, B. J. LIETAERT PEERBOLTE, D. HUNTER (eds.), Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianit... more P. VAN GEEST, B. J. LIETAERT PEERBOLTE, D. HUNTER (eds.), Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, vol. V (Brill, 2025)

Revue bénédictine, 2023

This article introduces the discovery of a manuscript of the full text of Rufinus of Aquileia’s ... more This article introduces the discovery of a manuscript of the full text of Rufinus of Aquileia’s Enchiridion. While the first part of this work composed in the early 400s is well known (the translation of the Sentences of Sextus), the second part mentioned by Rufinus in his preface was considered to be lost. The manuscript Praha, Archiv Prazského Hradu, Knihovna Metropolitní Kapituly, B XX (315) (s. XIV-XV) contains both parts of the work and shows that the second part corresponds to the translation of a Greek collection of philosophical maxims in alphabetical order known as the ‘Pythagorean sentences’, composed between the first and the third century. The Latin text is related to, but independent from, the two main Greek witnesses (Π and D). The article demonstrates the attribution to Rufinus, mainly through external criteria. It will be followed by an edition and analysis of the discovered text, currently in preparation.

Revue d'Histoire des Textes, 2023

This article presents a neglected witness of the polemical treatise of Optatus of Milevis, an ess... more This article presents a neglected witness of the polemical treatise of Optatus of Milevis, an essential source for the history of the Donatist schism written in the fourth century. After an overview of the transmission of Optatus’ work and its problems, the article offers a detailed description of the new witness, Città del Vaticano, BAV, Ross. 241 (= D), its history, contents and significance for the tradition of Optatus. Copied in the twelfth century in Italy, D is a descendant of one of the oldest manuscripts of Optatus, Sankt-Peterburg, RNB, Q.V.I.2 (s. VI-VII), through a now-lost intermediary. Its main contribution is to shed new light on the diffusion of the work, within a limited manuscript tradition mostly confined to France. D is also the only witness which attributes the work to Augustine of Hippo, and transmits it within a collection of Augustinian texts.

Revue bénédictine 131/2, 2021

The first part (I) focused on the structure and order of the collection Octoginta homiliae of the... more The first part (I) focused on the structure and order of the collection Octoginta homiliae of the Pseudo-Fulgentius: we have shown in particular the anteriority of the order of Lorsch. In this second part, we provide a table with correspondences between L, M and R, then offer a brief commentary of individual items, with a particular attention to their transmission. The article ends with a few hypotheses on the origin and history of the collection, based on the order of L: the collection is an heterogeneous compilation despite strong African elements (in particular Augustinian), and the fact that several items are not attested elsewhere. It has been assembled on the basis of a dossier probably transmitted in the form of booklets, still detectable in L, where it is possible to identify short series following a liturgical order. A compiler has exploited this material to put together a collection of eighty sermons, with the aim of aiding preaching. By the ninth century at the latest, the collection was reorganised to create a liturgical homiliary, and is attested in this form by M and R. It was later used by a series of homiliaries from northern France and Belgium, where items are again generally attributed to Fulgentius.

Revue bénédictine, 2021

This article is scheduled to appear in two parts (I-II). The first part here published explores t... more This article is scheduled to appear in two parts (I-II). The first part here published explores the structure and order of the Pseudo-Fulgentius collection of eighty sermons (PS-FU s), which we propose to call the Octoginta homiliae collection. It first presents the three known manuscripts of the collection: a now lost witness from Lorsch, described in detail in the medieval catalogues of the abbey (= L); the only extant manuscript, Saint-Mihiel, Bibliothèque municipale, Z 20 (= M); the lost manuscript (= R) used by Raynaud for the editio princeps of the collection in 1633, with a discussion of the attribution of the collection to Fulgentius, found in this manuscript. This article then shows that the order of L is more ancient than the liturgical order attested in M and R, and ends with the identification and discussion of specific group of homilies (on footwashing and Easter).

Cet article paraîtra en deux parties (I-II). La première partie, ici publiée, explore la structure et l’ordre de la collection de quatre-vingt sermons du Pseudo-Fulgence (PS-FU s), que nous proposons d’appeler Octoginta homiliae. L’article présente d’abord les trois manuscrits connus: un exemplaire perdu provenant de Lorsch, décrit en détail dans les catalogues médiévaux de l’abbaye (= L); le seul manuscript préservé, Saint-Mihiel, Bibliothèque municipale, Z 20 (= M); le témoin disparu (= R) utilisé par Raynaud pour son editio princeps de la collection en 1633, avec une discussion de l’attribution de la collection à Fulgence, présente dans ce manuscrit. L’article montre ensuite que l’ordre de L est plus ancien que l’ordre liturgique attesté par M et R et s’achève sur l’identification et la discussion de groupes spécifiques d’homélies (sur le lavement des pieds et sur Pâques).

Revue d'études augustiniennes et patristiques, 2018

The treatise De fide et operibus, written at a turning point in Augustine’s life (412-413) agains... more The treatise De fide et operibus, written at a turning point in Augustine’s life (412-413) against unnamed opponents who questioned the necessity of pre-baptismal discipline, provides a remarkable example of the significance of Christian initiation for dictating rules of behaviour and defining Christian membership. Instead of assuming that the work was composed as a one-off reaction to a marginal problem, I argue that the treatise has to be set in a context of diverging practices of initiation and that, like his opponents’ writings, it precisely aimed at establishing norms based on a detailed exegesis of authoritative passages. Moreover, I show that Augustine’s position, aiming at enforcing strict rules of admission for converts and catechumens, has to be set in continuity with Augustine’s broader emphasis on rules of behaviour for catechumens and baptised Christians alike. Expanding on what he had progressively taught in his sermons and earlier works, and perhaps written in connection to his regular participation in the teaching of catechumens in Carthage, where he stayed for some time in 412-413, this treatise, shaping how the catechumenate should be organised and understood in late antique Africa, provides a striking and neglected synthesis of Augustine’s thinking.

Journée d'étude: La Bible dans les catéchèses des IVe et Ve siècles (Strasbourg, 9-10 novembre 20... more Journée d'étude: La Bible dans les catéchèses des IVe et Ve siècles (Strasbourg, 9-10 novembre 2017)

A paraître dans Cahiers de Biblia Patristica (Brepols)

Becoming Christian in the Late Antique West (3rd-6th centuries), 2017

Seminar papers by Matthieu Pignot

Mercredis, 14-17h Maison de la Recherche – Sorbonne Université Salle S002 28 rue Serpente, 750... more Mercredis, 14-17h
Maison de la Recherche – Sorbonne Université
Salle S002
28 rue Serpente, 75006 Paris

Programme:

26 février:
Mohamed-Arbi Nsiri (Université Paris Nanterre), Les élections épiscopales en Afrique: modalités, enjeux, conflits et réseaux

Marguerite Ronin (CNRS, ARSCAN UMR 7041), Les constitutions impériales de 440-450: entre gestion de l’urgence vandale et organisation de l’avenir africain

22 avril:
Matthieu Pignot (Université de Namur), Un nouveau témoin du traité d’Optat de Milève contre les donatistes

Laetitia Ciccolini (Université Paris-Sorbonne), Donner accès au texte: l’exemple d’Augustin

10 juin:
Nicolas Lamare (Université de Kiel), Sortir du cadre: les empiètements dans les villes d’Afrique tardive

Marie Pauliat (Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour), Dire et/sans faire. Portraits donatistes et augustiniens du prédicateur

Contact:
Thomas Villey (thomasvilley3@yahoo.fr)
Matthieu Pignot (matthieu.pignot@unamur.be)

In studies of hagiography, broad horizons and perspectives are difficult to reach, because of the... more In studies of hagiography, broad horizons and perspectives are difficult to reach, because of the abundance, complexity, and variety of the evidence. Thanks to the work towards building the database the Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity (CSLA), we might however start to reach that much needed synthesis. The objective of this paper is to contribute towards this goal by surveying martyrdom accounts from Italy composed before 700 to shed light on how martyrdom was portrayed and understood in late Antiquity. After presenting Italian martyrdom accounts as a source, this paper will explore patterns concerning their transmission and diffusion in medieval manuscripts, then look in more detail at features emerging from a serial comparison of the evidence regarding types of martyrs portrayed and narrative choices made by the authors; finally, it will address the significance of rewriting practices, showing how narratives could evolve over time to fit new concerns and audiences.

The Cult of Saints in the First Millennium Seminar, Oxford, 16 February 2018

Conference Presentations by Matthieu Pignot

The Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship project “Augustine and the Making of Christian Practice (4... more The Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship project “Augustine and the Making of Christian Practice (400-1000)” (History Department, Durham University), which will host this conference, aims to investigate Augustine’s legacy by focusing on a selection of little-studied works pertaining to three main Christian rituals (baptism, marriage and penance) and the definition of Christian faith and conduct. The project combines the study of the literary reception of these works and of their manuscript transmission in order to understand better Augustine’s role in the Christianization of early medieval societies.

La prédication, forme principale d’enseignement religieux de l’Antiquité jusqu’à nos jours, touch... more La prédication, forme principale d’enseignement religieux de l’Antiquité jusqu’à nos jours, touche une vaste frange de la population. Elle nous transmet non seulement les propos du prédicateur, mais aussi les attentes du public, puis des lecteurs postérieurs, et plus largement tout un univers de pensée. L’étudier est donc fondamental pour comprendre les sociétés du passé. Parmi les textes prêchés, les sermons chrétiens tardo-antiques et altimédiévaux d’attribution incertaine constituent un ensemble documentaire très peu étudié et qui pourtant permettrait d’élargir nos connaissances sur la prédication de cette période, son contexte de composition, sa transmission manuscrite et son influence sur l’histoire antique et médiévale. Cette journée d’étude vise à promouvoir la recherche sur ces textes.
A partir du XVe siècle, avec le développement de l’imprimerie, l’effort d’édition des sermons latins des Pères de l’Église a conduit à exhumer dans les manuscrits médiévaux un nombre important de sermons publiés ensuite sous le nom d’un auteur connu (Ambroise de Milan, Augustin d’Hippone, Fulgence de Ruspe, Jean Chrysostome, Maxime de Turin etc.), souvent sur la base de l’attribution mentionnée dans les manuscrits utilisés. Au fil des siècles, et notamment sous l’impulsion des controverses doctrinales des XVIe et XVIIe siècles, puis des travaux d’érudition jusqu’à nos jours, la critique d’authenticité s’est développée, les corpus de sermons d’auteurs ont été progressivement définis de façon plus nette et de très nombreux sermons publiés ont ainsi été écartés en tant que pseudépigraphes ou anonymes. Suite à ce processus, un ensemble de sermons latins est demeuré d’attribution incertaine et situé hors du champs d’investigation de la majorité des historiens, ne faisant que très rarement l’objet d’éditions critiques et d’études approfondies. Au cours du XXe siècle, les études et éditions de savants bénédictins (notamment Morin, Wilmart, Lambot) et d’autres spécialistes de la prédication latine (Barré, Bouhot, Dolbeau, Étaix, Leroy, Isola, Weidmann), ont pourtant montré tout l’intérêt d’étudier ces sermons et identifié de nombreux textes remontant à l’Antiquité tardive et au haut Moyen Âge.
La portée d’une enquête plus approfondie sur ces sermons est double : d’une part, elle permet d’évaluer l’apport de cette documentation à une période historique où la prédication préservée d’auteurs latins chrétiens est modeste (exception faite d’Augustin d’Hippone) ; d’autre part, elle conduit à réfléchir sur les notions d’authenticité et d’attribution, puisque très souvent ces sermons ont reçu des attributions divergentes au cours de leur transmission et de leur publication. De plus, l’usage pratique des sermons, répondant à des besoins divers (liturgie, lecture dévotionnelle etc.), conduisait aussi à tronquer, interpoler et réélaborer les sermons, de la simple adaptation à la compilation de centons. Dans ce cadre, l’étude de la prédication d’attribution incertaine, en particulier de sa transmission manuscrite, permet de s’interroger plus largement sur la pertinence de la notion d’auteur et de corpus, de souligner la fluidité de ces sermons, et d’explorer les pratiques de copie et de lecture dont ils ont fait l’objet.
En partant de l’état des travaux, l’objectif de cette journée d'étude est de poursuivre et d’approfondir l’étude des sermons d’attribution incertaine et situés actuellement dans l’Antiquité Tardive et au début du Moyen Âge, du IVe à la fin du VIIIe siècle, dans l’Occident latin (Afrique du Nord et Europe occidentale). Il s’agira de mieux mettre en lumière, sur la base des manuscrits, la circulation et l’utilisation concrète de ces sermons, de s’interroger sur les meilleurs outils à adopter pour leur classification, et enfin de discuter les critères de datation et de localisation utilisés (style, informations sur le contexte historique et intellectuel, texte biblique, canaux de transmission etc.).

Prolepsis' Second International Postgraduate Conference «Auctor est aequivocum»: Authenticity, A... more Prolepsis' Second International Postgraduate Conference
«Auctor est aequivocum»:
Authenticity, Authority and Authorship from the Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages
Università degli Studi di Bari “Aldo Moro”
Ex Palazzo delle Poste, Piazza Cesare Battisti 1, Bari
26 th – 27 th October 2017

Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, 2025

P. VAN GEEST, B. J. LIETAERT PEERBOLTE, D. HUNTER (eds.), Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianit... more P. VAN GEEST, B. J. LIETAERT PEERBOLTE, D. HUNTER (eds.), Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, vol. V (Brill, 2025)

Revue bénédictine, 2023

This article introduces the discovery of a manuscript of the full text of Rufinus of Aquileia’s ... more This article introduces the discovery of a manuscript of the full text of Rufinus of Aquileia’s Enchiridion. While the first part of this work composed in the early 400s is well known (the translation of the Sentences of Sextus), the second part mentioned by Rufinus in his preface was considered to be lost. The manuscript Praha, Archiv Prazského Hradu, Knihovna Metropolitní Kapituly, B XX (315) (s. XIV-XV) contains both parts of the work and shows that the second part corresponds to the translation of a Greek collection of philosophical maxims in alphabetical order known as the ‘Pythagorean sentences’, composed between the first and the third century. The Latin text is related to, but independent from, the two main Greek witnesses (Π and D). The article demonstrates the attribution to Rufinus, mainly through external criteria. It will be followed by an edition and analysis of the discovered text, currently in preparation.

Revue d'Histoire des Textes, 2023

This article presents a neglected witness of the polemical treatise of Optatus of Milevis, an ess... more This article presents a neglected witness of the polemical treatise of Optatus of Milevis, an essential source for the history of the Donatist schism written in the fourth century. After an overview of the transmission of Optatus’ work and its problems, the article offers a detailed description of the new witness, Città del Vaticano, BAV, Ross. 241 (= D), its history, contents and significance for the tradition of Optatus. Copied in the twelfth century in Italy, D is a descendant of one of the oldest manuscripts of Optatus, Sankt-Peterburg, RNB, Q.V.I.2 (s. VI-VII), through a now-lost intermediary. Its main contribution is to shed new light on the diffusion of the work, within a limited manuscript tradition mostly confined to France. D is also the only witness which attributes the work to Augustine of Hippo, and transmits it within a collection of Augustinian texts.

Revue bénédictine 131/2, 2021

The first part (I) focused on the structure and order of the collection Octoginta homiliae of the... more The first part (I) focused on the structure and order of the collection Octoginta homiliae of the Pseudo-Fulgentius: we have shown in particular the anteriority of the order of Lorsch. In this second part, we provide a table with correspondences between L, M and R, then offer a brief commentary of individual items, with a particular attention to their transmission. The article ends with a few hypotheses on the origin and history of the collection, based on the order of L: the collection is an heterogeneous compilation despite strong African elements (in particular Augustinian), and the fact that several items are not attested elsewhere. It has been assembled on the basis of a dossier probably transmitted in the form of booklets, still detectable in L, where it is possible to identify short series following a liturgical order. A compiler has exploited this material to put together a collection of eighty sermons, with the aim of aiding preaching. By the ninth century at the latest, the collection was reorganised to create a liturgical homiliary, and is attested in this form by M and R. It was later used by a series of homiliaries from northern France and Belgium, where items are again generally attributed to Fulgentius.

Revue bénédictine, 2021

This article is scheduled to appear in two parts (I-II). The first part here published explores t... more This article is scheduled to appear in two parts (I-II). The first part here published explores the structure and order of the Pseudo-Fulgentius collection of eighty sermons (PS-FU s), which we propose to call the Octoginta homiliae collection. It first presents the three known manuscripts of the collection: a now lost witness from Lorsch, described in detail in the medieval catalogues of the abbey (= L); the only extant manuscript, Saint-Mihiel, Bibliothèque municipale, Z 20 (= M); the lost manuscript (= R) used by Raynaud for the editio princeps of the collection in 1633, with a discussion of the attribution of the collection to Fulgentius, found in this manuscript. This article then shows that the order of L is more ancient than the liturgical order attested in M and R, and ends with the identification and discussion of specific group of homilies (on footwashing and Easter).

Cet article paraîtra en deux parties (I-II). La première partie, ici publiée, explore la structure et l’ordre de la collection de quatre-vingt sermons du Pseudo-Fulgence (PS-FU s), que nous proposons d’appeler Octoginta homiliae. L’article présente d’abord les trois manuscrits connus: un exemplaire perdu provenant de Lorsch, décrit en détail dans les catalogues médiévaux de l’abbaye (= L); le seul manuscript préservé, Saint-Mihiel, Bibliothèque municipale, Z 20 (= M); le témoin disparu (= R) utilisé par Raynaud pour son editio princeps de la collection en 1633, avec une discussion de l’attribution de la collection à Fulgence, présente dans ce manuscrit. L’article montre ensuite que l’ordre de L est plus ancien que l’ordre liturgique attesté par M et R et s’achève sur l’identification et la discussion de groupes spécifiques d’homélies (sur le lavement des pieds et sur Pâques).

Revue d'études augustiniennes et patristiques, 2018

The treatise De fide et operibus, written at a turning point in Augustine’s life (412-413) agains... more The treatise De fide et operibus, written at a turning point in Augustine’s life (412-413) against unnamed opponents who questioned the necessity of pre-baptismal discipline, provides a remarkable example of the significance of Christian initiation for dictating rules of behaviour and defining Christian membership. Instead of assuming that the work was composed as a one-off reaction to a marginal problem, I argue that the treatise has to be set in a context of diverging practices of initiation and that, like his opponents’ writings, it precisely aimed at establishing norms based on a detailed exegesis of authoritative passages. Moreover, I show that Augustine’s position, aiming at enforcing strict rules of admission for converts and catechumens, has to be set in continuity with Augustine’s broader emphasis on rules of behaviour for catechumens and baptised Christians alike. Expanding on what he had progressively taught in his sermons and earlier works, and perhaps written in connection to his regular participation in the teaching of catechumens in Carthage, where he stayed for some time in 412-413, this treatise, shaping how the catechumenate should be organised and understood in late antique Africa, provides a striking and neglected synthesis of Augustine’s thinking.

Journée d'étude: La Bible dans les catéchèses des IVe et Ve siècles (Strasbourg, 9-10 novembre 20... more Journée d'étude: La Bible dans les catéchèses des IVe et Ve siècles (Strasbourg, 9-10 novembre 2017)

A paraître dans Cahiers de Biblia Patristica (Brepols)

Becoming Christian in the Late Antique West (3rd-6th centuries), 2017

Mercredis, 14-17h Maison de la Recherche – Sorbonne Université Salle S002 28 rue Serpente, 750... more Mercredis, 14-17h
Maison de la Recherche – Sorbonne Université
Salle S002
28 rue Serpente, 75006 Paris

Programme:

26 février:
Mohamed-Arbi Nsiri (Université Paris Nanterre), Les élections épiscopales en Afrique: modalités, enjeux, conflits et réseaux

Marguerite Ronin (CNRS, ARSCAN UMR 7041), Les constitutions impériales de 440-450: entre gestion de l’urgence vandale et organisation de l’avenir africain

22 avril:
Matthieu Pignot (Université de Namur), Un nouveau témoin du traité d’Optat de Milève contre les donatistes

Laetitia Ciccolini (Université Paris-Sorbonne), Donner accès au texte: l’exemple d’Augustin

10 juin:
Nicolas Lamare (Université de Kiel), Sortir du cadre: les empiètements dans les villes d’Afrique tardive

Marie Pauliat (Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour), Dire et/sans faire. Portraits donatistes et augustiniens du prédicateur

Contact:
Thomas Villey (thomasvilley3@yahoo.fr)
Matthieu Pignot (matthieu.pignot@unamur.be)

In studies of hagiography, broad horizons and perspectives are difficult to reach, because of the... more In studies of hagiography, broad horizons and perspectives are difficult to reach, because of the abundance, complexity, and variety of the evidence. Thanks to the work towards building the database the Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity (CSLA), we might however start to reach that much needed synthesis. The objective of this paper is to contribute towards this goal by surveying martyrdom accounts from Italy composed before 700 to shed light on how martyrdom was portrayed and understood in late Antiquity. After presenting Italian martyrdom accounts as a source, this paper will explore patterns concerning their transmission and diffusion in medieval manuscripts, then look in more detail at features emerging from a serial comparison of the evidence regarding types of martyrs portrayed and narrative choices made by the authors; finally, it will address the significance of rewriting practices, showing how narratives could evolve over time to fit new concerns and audiences.

The Cult of Saints in the First Millennium Seminar, Oxford, 16 February 2018

The Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship project “Augustine and the Making of Christian Practice (4... more The Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship project “Augustine and the Making of Christian Practice (400-1000)” (History Department, Durham University), which will host this conference, aims to investigate Augustine’s legacy by focusing on a selection of little-studied works pertaining to three main Christian rituals (baptism, marriage and penance) and the definition of Christian faith and conduct. The project combines the study of the literary reception of these works and of their manuscript transmission in order to understand better Augustine’s role in the Christianization of early medieval societies.

La prédication, forme principale d’enseignement religieux de l’Antiquité jusqu’à nos jours, touch... more La prédication, forme principale d’enseignement religieux de l’Antiquité jusqu’à nos jours, touche une vaste frange de la population. Elle nous transmet non seulement les propos du prédicateur, mais aussi les attentes du public, puis des lecteurs postérieurs, et plus largement tout un univers de pensée. L’étudier est donc fondamental pour comprendre les sociétés du passé. Parmi les textes prêchés, les sermons chrétiens tardo-antiques et altimédiévaux d’attribution incertaine constituent un ensemble documentaire très peu étudié et qui pourtant permettrait d’élargir nos connaissances sur la prédication de cette période, son contexte de composition, sa transmission manuscrite et son influence sur l’histoire antique et médiévale. Cette journée d’étude vise à promouvoir la recherche sur ces textes.
A partir du XVe siècle, avec le développement de l’imprimerie, l’effort d’édition des sermons latins des Pères de l’Église a conduit à exhumer dans les manuscrits médiévaux un nombre important de sermons publiés ensuite sous le nom d’un auteur connu (Ambroise de Milan, Augustin d’Hippone, Fulgence de Ruspe, Jean Chrysostome, Maxime de Turin etc.), souvent sur la base de l’attribution mentionnée dans les manuscrits utilisés. Au fil des siècles, et notamment sous l’impulsion des controverses doctrinales des XVIe et XVIIe siècles, puis des travaux d’érudition jusqu’à nos jours, la critique d’authenticité s’est développée, les corpus de sermons d’auteurs ont été progressivement définis de façon plus nette et de très nombreux sermons publiés ont ainsi été écartés en tant que pseudépigraphes ou anonymes. Suite à ce processus, un ensemble de sermons latins est demeuré d’attribution incertaine et situé hors du champs d’investigation de la majorité des historiens, ne faisant que très rarement l’objet d’éditions critiques et d’études approfondies. Au cours du XXe siècle, les études et éditions de savants bénédictins (notamment Morin, Wilmart, Lambot) et d’autres spécialistes de la prédication latine (Barré, Bouhot, Dolbeau, Étaix, Leroy, Isola, Weidmann), ont pourtant montré tout l’intérêt d’étudier ces sermons et identifié de nombreux textes remontant à l’Antiquité tardive et au haut Moyen Âge.
La portée d’une enquête plus approfondie sur ces sermons est double : d’une part, elle permet d’évaluer l’apport de cette documentation à une période historique où la prédication préservée d’auteurs latins chrétiens est modeste (exception faite d’Augustin d’Hippone) ; d’autre part, elle conduit à réfléchir sur les notions d’authenticité et d’attribution, puisque très souvent ces sermons ont reçu des attributions divergentes au cours de leur transmission et de leur publication. De plus, l’usage pratique des sermons, répondant à des besoins divers (liturgie, lecture dévotionnelle etc.), conduisait aussi à tronquer, interpoler et réélaborer les sermons, de la simple adaptation à la compilation de centons. Dans ce cadre, l’étude de la prédication d’attribution incertaine, en particulier de sa transmission manuscrite, permet de s’interroger plus largement sur la pertinence de la notion d’auteur et de corpus, de souligner la fluidité de ces sermons, et d’explorer les pratiques de copie et de lecture dont ils ont fait l’objet.
En partant de l’état des travaux, l’objectif de cette journée d'étude est de poursuivre et d’approfondir l’étude des sermons d’attribution incertaine et situés actuellement dans l’Antiquité Tardive et au début du Moyen Âge, du IVe à la fin du VIIIe siècle, dans l’Occident latin (Afrique du Nord et Europe occidentale). Il s’agira de mieux mettre en lumière, sur la base des manuscrits, la circulation et l’utilisation concrète de ces sermons, de s’interroger sur les meilleurs outils à adopter pour leur classification, et enfin de discuter les critères de datation et de localisation utilisés (style, informations sur le contexte historique et intellectuel, texte biblique, canaux de transmission etc.).

Prolepsis' Second International Postgraduate Conference «Auctor est aequivocum»: Authenticity, A... more Prolepsis' Second International Postgraduate Conference
«Auctor est aequivocum»:
Authenticity, Authority and Authorship from the Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages
Università degli Studi di Bari “Aldo Moro”
Ex Palazzo delle Poste, Piazza Cesare Battisti 1, Bari
26 th – 27 th October 2017

The four sessions of 'Saints at the Margins' explore the lower reaches of sainthood: men and wome... more The four sessions of 'Saints at the Margins' explore the lower reaches of sainthood: men and women who nearly, but didn't quite make it into sainthood; and those who just succeeded in being accepted as saints, sometimes only to sink slowly back into oblivion. This first session is focused on the difficulties of establishing a successful cult in a world already crowded with saints.

by The Cult of Saints, Efthymios Rizos, Sergey Minov, Nikoloz Aleksidze, Paweł Nowakowski, Robert Wiśniewski, Theo Maarten van Lint, Matthieu Pignot, Marta Szada, Arietta Papaconstantinou, Julia Doroszewska, and Marijana Vukovic

A part of our database material is now available for consultation. Please, visit our website and ... more A part of our database material is now available for consultation. Please, visit our website and use the database!

Studia Patristica LXXVII, vol. 3, 2017

This publication gathers the seven papers delivered in the workshop "Becoming Christian in the La... more This publication gathers the seven papers delivered in the workshop "Becoming Christian in the Late Antique West (3th-6th centuries)" organized by Ariane Bodin, Matthieu Pignot and Camille Gerzaguet during the XVIIth International Conference on Patristic Studies, August, 10th-14th 2015, Oxford.

Instrumenta Patristica et Mediaevalia 86, 2021

This volume contains the proceedings of the international conference on anonymous sermons, funded... more This volume contains the proceedings of the international conference on anonymous sermons, funded by the F.R.S.-FNRS and held on 16 May 2019 at the Université de Namur (Belgium), within the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters and the research centre Pratiques Médiévales de l’Écrit (PraME). It brings together scholars working on late antique and early medieval Latin preaching, and follows on previous volumes on Augustine and African sermons published in the Ministerium Sermonis subseries. The focus here is on Christian Latin preached texts, thought to date from the period c. 300-800 AD, which are not currently attributed to a known author. Long neglected because of their uncertain attribution, these sermons offer new material for the study of late antique and early medieval Christianity. The contributions assembled here provide an essential entry point to the study of these little-known sermons: after an introduction which sets the aims of the book, discusses the state of the art and describes main avenues for research, individual papers present future tools to classify sermons and explore their medieval transmission in manuscripts, offer new critical editions of previously unknown sermons, and develop methods and reliable criteria to shed new light on their historical context of composition. Both engaging with current issues and challenges and offering innovative case studies, this book opens up new ground for future research on late antique and early medieval Latin Christian preaching in general.

Vigiliae Christianae, Supplements, Volume: 162 (Brill), 2020

In The Catechumenate in Late Antique Africa (4th-6th centuries) Matthieu Pignot explores how indi... more In The Catechumenate in Late Antique Africa (4th-6th centuries) Matthieu Pignot explores how individuals became Christian in ancient North Africa. Before baptism, converts first became catechumens and spent a significant time of gradual integration into the community through rituals and teaching. This book provides the first historical study of this process in African sources, from Augustine of Hippo, to canon of councils, anonymous sermons and 6th-century letters. Pignot shows that practices varied more than is generally assumed and that catechumens, because of their liminal position, were a disputed and essential group in the development of Christian communities until the 6th century at least. This book demonstrates that the catechumenate is key to understanding the processes of Christianisation and conversion in the West. See Less