On the 27 and 28 of January members of the Centre from across the various campuses had our annual meeting in Brisbane to share our research interests and plan for future. It was a very profitable and enjoyable time together.
From the 31 January to the 2 February I visited Tasmania for the first time, attending the 27 conference of the Australasian Society for Classical Studies at the University of Tasmania in Hobart. If nothing else it was great to experience summer a few degrees cooler than Brisbane for a week. Here I presented a paper entitled “Innocent I at the Court of Honorius.” It is part of my current research interest in the letters of Innocent I. As well I presented a paper entitled “Augustine’s Homily on Almsgiving” as part of a joint session with my colleagues Pauline Allen and Bronwen Neil introducing our ARC-funded project “Poverty and Welfare in Late Antiquity.” I was very happy with the interest shown and the discussion that was generated from this session. As well, I have become our university’s representative on the executive of ASCS for 2006, while Bronwen Neil is on leave. The conference ended with a very pleasant dinner at Meadowbank Vineyard.
From the 20 February I was a National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellow at the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at St. Louis University for two five-week periods. This gave me access to the Vatican Film Library as part of my preparation for producing a critical edition of the letters of Innocent I, the early fifth-century bishop of Rome, a new edition of whose letters has not appeared since 1721.
My time in the Vatican Film Library of St. Louis University proved to be very valuable. Not only was I able to check all the manuscripts held by the Vatican Library relevant to my project of editing the letters of Innocent I, but I was able to finish off a number of papers I have been writing thanks to the excellent theological collection in the Lewis Annex of the Pius XII Memorial Library in the university. I am grateful to the Vatican Film Library staff for their assistance in making my ten weeks so profitable.
Above all, I would like to thank Dr. David Murphy, the director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at St. Louis for co-ordinating my time as a visiting fellow and for his warm hospitality and assistance in making my stay such a pleasure. During my time I presented two papers connected with my research project, including one entitled “Innocent I and Anysius of Thessalonica.” I am in debt to those who attended and provided such helpful insights, especially early Christian colleagues in the Department of Theological Studies: Ken Steinhauser, Jim Kelhoffer, Cornelia Horn, and Rob Phenix, who introduced me to life outside the library.
I was in Nagoya , Japan , for the annual conference of the Western Pacific Rim Patristics Society from 29 September to 1 October. Professors Kazuhiko Demura and Shigeki Tsuchihashi and I were programme co-ordinators and felt that the whole experience was a great success. I presented a paper entitled “Augustine’s Use of Lk. 16:19 -31”. This was paralleled by Wendy Mayer’s paper on John Chrysostom’s use of the same passage of scripture and was one of two sessions on Poverty at the conference (the other session involving a paper from the Centre’s Bronwen Neil on Leo the Great and one from Neil McLynn from Keio University in Tokyo ).
A couple of days around the conference could be devoted to some sightseeing of the fourth-largest city in Japan, especially the Nagoya Castle.
