Salvian

Salvian of Marseille ( also Salvianus, * 400 in Trier, Cologne or environment; † 475 ) was a Christian church father and writers during the late ancient migrations of the 5th century.

Salvian was born in northern Gaul around 400 somewhere and came from a family of Gallo- Roman upper classes. He was, like many of his peers, a good education in the Legal Profession and the Latin rhetoric and should probably make a career in the imperial service. With his pagan wife Palladia he had a daughter, Auspiciola. It is assumed that Salvian went after finishing his studies after Southern Gaul, since for about 400 of the seat of the Gallic praetorian prefect and thus the center of the Roman administration was part of this kingdom there. But already from 426 apparently he joined the ascetic community on the island of Lérins in (later the Abbey of Lérins ), which had been founded by Honoratus, who later became bishop of Arles to 410. Later, perhaps to 429, he was a presbyter at Marseilles and died probably after 470

Much of his works, which are mentioned in the De viris inlustribus of Gennadius of Marseilles are lost. His major work De gubernatione Dei (Latin: From the reign of God) is taken to preserve. In it Salvian describes 450 the tribulations of that time in the sign of providence and interpreted the problems of those years as God's punishment for the sinful condition of society and the Church. Due to these active intention The work distorts much into the negative, which is why today's research Salvians no longer takes data normally at face value; nevertheless, the text is but a major source of cultural and social history of Western Rome.