Lindsay Rudge PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

context, suggests the closeness between the families. 62 Avitus’ view of what happened is
clear: ‘With these words she kindled a girl’s love of virginity and stirred her tender
sensibilities with her holy encouragement’. 63 Although not explicit here, the connections
being drawn out here also suggest a context in which small networks of religious women,
related by blood or marriage, could develop. This is a situation in which a way of living
is promoted by other women without recourse to texts beyond those an aristocratic Gallo-
Roman family might ordinarily have access to. 64 It is the transmission of family memory
from one woman to another, in a pattern from which men are largely absent. It may be
possible to overstate the importance of bishops, as preserved sources privilege their
involvement in the religious currents of the day. In a similar way, for instance, the
availability of Jerome’s letters to the circle of female ascetics in Rome obscures less
formal contacts between the women, of inspiration and advice, often in a familial context,
as in the case of Marcella and Blesilla. 65 Beneath the religious imagery Avitus’ poem
reveals a more subtle, yet equally strong, source of knowledge and support for Fuscina:
her family. The Consolatoria de castitatis laude is a paean of praise to the writer’s
family; if anything, the role of the siblings’ ancestors may be overstated in order to
glorify the present subject, Fuscina. But this detailed inventory of family piety sets a very
clear context, in Avitus’ mind at least, for Fuscina’s life.
Taking a closer look at the themes of the poem, Avitus suggests – or constructs - a
relationship with his sister which rests on a point of spiritual balance. A major theme of
the work is Fuscina’s further ennoblement through holiness, which sets her apart
(physically and spiritually) from the rest of their family. In the imagery of the sponsa
Christi, Fuscina has achieved a relationship with Christ from which Avitus is excluded:
‘You are enrolled as consort, are wedded to a mighty King, and Christ wants to join
62
On the possible connections with the family of Sidonius Apollinaris, see PLRE II, 195-6; Mathisen,
‘Epistolography’, 100.
63
CCL vv. 102-3.
64
For the reading material available to such families, see in particular I. Wood, ‘Family and Friendship in
the West’, passim.
65
Jerome, Letter XXXVIII to Marcella. Ed. I. Hilberg, CSEL 54-6 (Vienna, Leipzig, 1910-18). Trans. F.
Wright Select Letters of St Jerome (London, 1933) 159-167.
40