The Conversion of Volusianus: Icon of the Change of an Era
Keywords:
Volusianus, Melania the Younger, Augustine, conversion, change of eraAbstract
The objective of this work was to reconstruct the history of the conversion of the Roman senator Volusianus (ca. 382-437). For which we proceeded to analyze the data provided by Rutilio Namaciano in his work De reditu suo; the correspondence of our character with Saint Augustine, and the elements provided by the Life of Melania the Younger, Volusiano's niece. The interpretation of the data allowed us to notice that, for Volusiano, his conversion was a matter of conscience and existential commitment (since he had to abandon his previous behavior), a question that had to be illuminated from intelligence (as expressed in his questions to Augustine ) and a matter of political implications (as he perceives it from his place as a public man). Volusiano's path to its end, the acceptance of faith, is revealed to us as a singular image or icon of a process that also occurred on a social level: the progressive extinction of the traditional religion of Rome and the predominance of Christianity.
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