Letter 10015: Ad Armentariam matrem domni Gregorii episcopi

Venantius FortunatusArmentaria|c. 599 AD|Venantius Fortunatus|To Armentaria (recipient)|AI-assisted
women

15
To Armentaria, mother of the lord Gregory the bishop

Doubly blessed in her deserts toward herself and toward the world was the Maccabean mother [the mother of the seven Maccabean martyrs] - a nobility of stock made nobler still by those she bore - she who sent seven palms of victory to heaven from her womb, and that same womb brought forth the glory of martyrdom. You too are mighty in your offspring, rightly named Armentaria the blessed, and no less for your childbearing than was that earlier woman for hers. She was the greater by number, but you are the greatest by your single one: what many sons could do, behold, your one son alone can do. Renowned in your child, encircled by the fruit of him you bore, Gregory is to you palm, crown, and glory. I, humble Fortunatus, commend myself to you reverently, and I beg that you pray for me to obtain heavenly aid.

AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.

Latin / Greek Original

XV
Ad Armentariam matrem domni Gregorii episcopi
Felix bis meritis sibi Machabaea vel orbi
(nobilitas generis nobilior genitis),
quae septem palmas caelo transmisit ab alvo,
martyriique decus protulit ille uterus.
tu quoque prole potens, recte Armentaria felix,
nec minor ex partu quam prior illa suo.
illa vetus numero maior, tu maxima solo:
quod poterant plures, unicus ecce tuus.
fetu clara tuo, geniti circumdata fructu,
est tibi Gregorius palma corona decus.
me Fortunatum humilem commendo verenter
ac mihi caelestem quaeso preceris opem.

Revision history

  1. 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import

    Initial corpus import from modern venantius fortunatus retranslated v1.

    Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://data.mgh.de/openmgh/bsb00000790.zip

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