Pomerius, Julianus

POMERIUS, JULIANUS: Galilean presbyter of Moorish descent; d. about 490. He is said by Cyprian to have been the teacher of famous Cæsarius of Arles (q.v.), and according to the spurious addition to Gennadius' De vir. ill. (xcviii.) and Isidore's De scriptoribus ecclesiasticis (xv.), he wrote a dialogue De animæ natura (or De natura animæ et qualitate ejus) in eight books and a treatise De vita contemplativa (or De contemptu mundi) in three books. The first book of the latter work (MPL, lix. 415–520) treats of the value of the contemplative life, the second of the active life of the Christian, and the third of vices and virtues. The entire works are full of the spirit of Augustine. The similarity of the latter treatise to the eschatological meditations of St. Julian, bishop of Toledo, early led to Julian's identification with Pomerius, who flourished fully two centuries before him. Julian, a convert from Judaism, was archbishop from Jan. 29, 680, to Mar. 8, 690, and was zealous in defending and extending the faith and reformation of the clergy, at the same time maintaining a firm attitude toward Benedict II. when the pope criticized his creed. His apology addressed to Benedict, together with some of his other works, has been lost; but his Prognosticorum futuri seculi libre tres (Leipsic, 1535); De demonstratione sextæ ætatis (Heidelberg, 1532); and Historia Wambæ regis Toletani (MPL, xcvi.) are extant. He probably took part in the final redaction of the old Spanish liturgy and of the Visigothic canon law.

(O. Zöckler†.)

Bibliography: Histoire littéraire de la France, ii. 665–675; J. Nirschl, Lehrbuch der Patrologie and Patristik, iii. 285 sqq·, Mainz, 1881; F. Arnold, Cäsarius von Arelate, pp. 80–84, 124–129, Leipsic, 1894; O. Bardenhewer, Patrologie, p. 540, Freiburg, 1901, Eng transl., St. Louis 1908; O. Zöckler, Die Tugendlehre des Christentums, pp. 93–95, Gütersloh, 1904.

On Julian of Toledo consult: Patrum Tolelanorum . . . Opera, ed. F. Lorenzano, pp. 3–385, Madrid, 1785; J. de Mariana, Historiæ de rebus Hispaniæ, vi. 248–249, Mainz, 1605, Eng. transl., The General Hist. of Spain, 2 parts, London, 1699; P. B. Gams, Kirchengeschichte von Spanien, 124ii. 2, pp. 176–238, 3 vols., Regensburg, 1862–79; F. Dahn, Verfasung der Westgoten, pp. 473–490. Würzburg, 1870; A. Ebert, Geschichte der Litteratur des Mittelalters, i. 750–751, Leipsic, 1874; P. von Wengen, Julian, Erzbischof von Toledo, St. Gall, 1891; R. Hanow, De Juliano Toletano, Jena. 1891; DNB, iii. 477–481 (exhaustive).