Gregory of Tours: Asceticism in Clermont-Ferrand

I don't want to make this blog political, beyond the books I'm reading and my reactions to them (and I tend to prefer reading blogs or magazines for current politics over books), but the furor over Christine O'Donnell's past public statements on personal sexual morality have provided a certain frame for my recent reading of ancient and medieval Christians on the same subject. I have already discussed some of Jerome and Augustine's comments, and I expect to be writing more. Today, I want to focus on one story as a way to introduce Gregory of Tours. Gregory lived in the second half of the sixth century, and was a bishop. Though this would place him as more of a personality of the Middle Ages rather than antiquity, he was ethnically Gallic; thus, despite the collapse of the Roman Empire in what was evolving into France, he was part of a culture that was preserving Roman tradition and the Latin language. While the bulk of his History of the Franks concerns events in his native country, the beginning is something of a chronicle on Biblical, Roman, and ecclesiastical history at large. I am reading the translation by Lewis Thorpe for Penguin Classics.

I mentioned below that Gregory wrote of the usurper Maximus and his meeting with Saint Martin (Book 1, Chapter 43). The following chapters concern the development of the church in Clermont-Ferrand—incidentally, I find this to be one of the best of city names. (It's also the place where Gregory was born [Introduction p. 7].) In Chapter 47, to cap off the discussion, he narrates a story, already known as "The Two Lovers," that reminds me of the style of the late Middle Ages, e.g. Boccaccio or Chaucer—although the latter two would be much more cynical of religion. A wealthy young man and woman marry; he's named Injuriosus, she has no name. Each is an only child, which is important for family inheritance. On the wedding night, before the marriage is consummated, the woman began crying. She explains that she had wanted to pledge herself to lifelong virginity and spiritual marriage to Jesus; she would rather be dead than have sex and has utter contempt for anything material. After a half-hearted counterargument on their parents' wishes from Injuriosus, she continued, "This earthly existence…[w]ealth…pomp and circumstance of this world…the very life which we enjoy is of no value. We should look instead to that other life which is not ended when death finally comes…by any illness…accident, but where man lives for ever in eternal bliss…radiance…with the angels…happiness which is eternal…in the presence of our L[-]rd Himself."

Injuriosus replied, "Your sweet words have brought eternal life to me…If you are determined to abstain from intercourse with me, then I will agree to what you want to do." In return, she agreed to maintain their outward appearance as husband and wife.

That night, and for the rest of their lives, they slept "hand in hand" yet "chaste." Eventually, she died, and Injuriousus prayed at her funeral, thanking G-d "for granting that I may hand back to Your loving care this treasure as unsullied as when I received her from Your hands." A miracle occurred, animating her dead body to smile and ask why he had said what he did. Soon, Injuriosus died as well. He was buried on an opposite side—I assume in the church, though it doesn't say—from his wife, yet the next morning their tombs were right next to each other, proving their spiritual love.

This tale is an inverted romance, and takes the Christian ideals of sexual asceticism to extremes. Gregory relates the story with all approval and praise, and is in company with Jerome, Augustine, and others. By contrast, what Christine O'Donnell advocated seems tame (or wild, I suppose).

A different translation is available online at the Medieval Sourcebook.