PAULINUS, MEROPUS PONTIUS ANICIUS, Bishop of Nola, was born in Bordeaux, or its neighbourhood, about 353. The career of the future ecclesiastic began amid bright prospects of worldly preferment. His parents left him a munificent fortune; his opening taste for letters was fostered by the tuition of the poet Ausonius; he was raised to the rank of consul suffectus; and he won the hand of a wealthy and accomplished lady named Therasia. Yet the latter part of his life was characterized by an abandonment of all earthly cares and honours. In the course of a few years, his conversion to the truth of the gospel led him to distribute part of his possessions among the poor. Then a domestic affliction which he suffered while residing in Spain tended to increase this spirit of religious devotion. Becoming a presbyter in 393, he removed immediately to Campania to devote his remaining days to the duties of piety. He first spent nearly fifteen years in monk-like seclusion, practising acts of charity and self-mortification, and writing sacred poetry and theological treatises. At length, in 409, he entered upon the duties of the see of Nola, a post which he held till his death in 431. The works of Paulinus which have come down to us are fifty epistles, thirty-two poems, and a brief tract entitled Passio S. Genesii Arelatensis. They were first printed in an imperfect state by Badius, 8vo, Paris, 1516. The standard edition is that of Le Brun Desmarettes, 4to, Paris, 1685.