[8] Mommaerts and Kelley propose that Ruricius may be the son of an African proconsul, name as yet unknown, but otherwise identified (by title) by Sidonius in his letter to Montius as the father of said Camillus.
[9] The objection to this hypothesis has been that it makes the unnamed African proconsul an otherwise unattested son of regicide emperor Petronius Maximus and that there are not any Firminid names among Ruricius' immediate descendants.
Ruricius married Hiberia, the daughter of an Arvernian senator Ommatius, a descendant of a Patrician[12] who lived in the 4th century named Philagrius.
[14] Though no direct evidence survives to say whether they had any daughters, it is known that Ruricius and Hiberia had five sons: Ommatius (eldest), Eparchius, Constantius, Leontius, and Aurelianus.
[10][7][8] During the late empire and after the Visigothic takeover of imperial Gaul, it was common for Gallo-Roman aristocrats to take refuge in church office, allowing not only retention of local influence, but also some personal security.
[20] Ralph W. Mathisen, the translator of the most recent set of Ruricius’ letters, writes that they are of great significance to our understanding of the survival of classical literature and the development of Western European religion and society.
Bradley notes that the letters give insufficient information for either the ecclesiastical historian or the theologian because they neglect major contemporary events.
[22] Similar to historiographical controversy, it is argued that in comparison to other letter writers such as Sidonius Apollinaris, Avitus of Vienne, and Ennodius of Pavia, Ruricius is extremely silent on contemporary historical events.
[22] For instance, Ruricius makes no mention in his letters of developments such as the Frankish incursions into the Visigothic kingdom, but it can be assumed that they were of great concern.
As such, he provides a different, and valuable, perspective to the evidence of more politically active letter writers such as Augustine, Sidonius, Avitus, Ennodius and Cassiodorus.
[20] Mathisen notes that the neglect of Ruricius in translation is unfortunate, because he provides a picture of life in late Roman Gaul that significantly compliments that given by Sidonius.