Morehouse/Death's Dominion, 3. To Control

Chapter three examines how later bishops, following Constantine and Damasus, sought to control the martyr cult as it developed elsewhere in the empire during the late fourth century. Some of those bishops had their own issues of control to address (e.g. Augustine, Ambrose) and approached the cult of the martyrs in ways that addressed those issues of authority. Other contemporary bishops who did not have nearly the same political situations to contend with (e.g. Paulinus of Nola) embraced the martyr cult with less concern for their personal power.