St. Paulinus of Nola

A Roman senator of Aquitaine, governor of Campania, and one of the great Latin poets of his age. Following the death of his only son, he and his Spanish wife Therasia gave away their immense estates to the poor and retired to a life of penance and poetry near the tomb of St. Felix at Nola, where Paulinus eventually became bishop.

His letters and poems reveal a man of exquisite literary sensibility who counted Augustine, Jerome, and Ambrose among his correspondents. He is credited with popularizing the use of bells in Christian worship — the Latin word campana, meaning bell, derives from his region of Campania.

When the Visigoths sacked Nola in 410, Paulinus reportedly offered himself as a slave to ransom a widow's son. He died in 431, having spent the last decades of his life in voluntary poverty, his former wealth transformed into churches, aqueducts, and hospitality for pilgrims.