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JOHN6 CRISOSTOM (saint), A.D. 347-407, was born at Antioch. He became one of the most prominent doctors of the Greek Church. When he died in 407, he was patriarch of Constantinople (NCE VII: 1041-1044).

The Parson's quotation from St. John Chrysostom, ParsT 108, comes from his Sermo de Poenitentiae (Sermon on Penitence), an old Latin homily that does not appear in modern editions but appears in medieval and Renaissance editions of his work. R.M. Correale shows that the quotation appears in Raymund of Pennaforte's Summa casuum Poenitentiae, Chaucer's ultimate source, as a quotation from Johannes Os Auream (John the golden-mouthed).

The name appears once. Chrysostom means "the golden-tongued" in Greek.


Johannes Chrysostom, Opera Omnia (PL 47-62); B. Chrysostomus, John Chrysostom and his Time, trans. M. Gonzaga; R.M. Correale, "The Source of the Quotation from 'Crisostom' in The Parson's Tale." N&Q 225 (1980): 101-102.
From CHAUCER NAME DICTIONARY
Copyright © 1988, 1996 Jacqueline de Weever
Published by Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London.

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