"Born to a provincial family of wealth, status, and privilege (ca. 353) in Roman Gaul, Meropius Pontius Paulinus entered upon the career of a Roman officeholder to which this birth virtually entitled him. It was after he had returned from this Italian service to his ancestral estates that he encountered Martin of Tours and embarked upon an earnest review of the world and his place in it, leading to his receiving Christian baptism.

His subsequent withdrawal to Spain (ca. 389) culminated in his remarkable renunciation of the world and his dedication to an ascetic monasticism for which there were as yet very few avatars in the western Roman provinces. Not long after, he returned to Italy and settled at Nola where, sometime between 408 and 413, he was ordained bishop, a post he held until his death in 431.

This is the first thorough study in any language of the fascinating and appealing mind that passed through this spiritual choreography."--BOOK JACKET.