Vita Germani

[5] During the first trip (Vita Germani 12-18) – in 429, according to Prosper of Aquitaine[6] – Germanus' ship was beset by a demonic storm while crossing the English Channel.

Once in Britain, he debated the Pelagian leaders, and performed the miracle of healing the blind 10-year-old daughter of a man with the traditional Roman rank of Tribune.

Following on this comes perhaps the most notable episode of the whole trip when Germanus led an outnumbered troop of British soldiers against an attacking army of Saxons and Picts on Easter day.

[5] Germanus then returns to Gaul and we are told that there he made a trip to Arles in order to successfully negotiate a reduction in taxes (Vita Germani 19-24).

Subsequent to this Germanus made a second voyage to Britain to combat the Pelagian heresy, this time healing the son of Elafius, one of the leading men of the country.

After Germanus healed the boy, the whole country was converted to the Catholic faith and gave up the Pelagian heresy completely (Vita Germani 25-27).

Flavius Aetius, the Roman commander, had enlisted Goar the king of the barbarian Alans to put down the rebellion and Germanus personally confronts this formidable warlord.

[8] With regard to the historical reliability of the Vita Germani Nora K. Chadwick[9] quoted Constantius himself : “So many years have passed it is difficult to recover the facts from the silence in which they are buried”.

Edward Arthur Thompson[10] emphasised how poorly informed Constantius seems to have been about Germanus's British visit compared to his activities in Gaul and Italy.

It is possible, for instance, to suggest that Germanus's 'Allelieua' victory was simply a story made up in Gaul, based on a biblical parallel and no more than a generalised knowledge of the barbarian incursions that Britain was facing at the time.

Then there is the fact that on both visits, as Germanus sets out, there are ‘demons’, active against him (in the first they provoke bad weather: in the second we are told they are unable to do this, but instead spread news of his approach).

A recent study by Professor Anthony Barrett [15] has concluded that the complex problems surrounding the dating of the life of Saint Germanus can be most credibly solved on the basis that he made only one visit.

It particularly throws into doubt the somewhat mysterious figure of Elafius, who is somewhat anomalous as representing the only named Briton in the whole of Germanus's account (besides saint Alban).

In the Late Antique Era when Constantius was writing the Vita Germani, hagiography, or biographical texts celebrating saints and their lives, were not common.

Various historians have suggested that the purpose of the Vita was the edification of its audience,[20] while others have argued that it was meant as a guide for Gallic bishops charged with shepherding congregations in the middle of the collapse of Roman infrastructure, and the incursion of barbarians.