Vincent of Lérins
| Saint Vincent of Lérins | |
|---|---|
| Died | c. 445 Lérins, France |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church Anglican Communion |
| Feast | 24 May |
Saint Vincent of Lérins (died c. 445) (in Latin, Vincentius) was a Gallic author of early Christian writings. His feast day is May 24.
Vincent was born in Toulouse in Gaul. In earlier life he had been engaged in secular pursuits, whether civil or military is not clear, though the term he uses, "secularis militia," might possibly imply the latter. He entered Lérins Abbey on Île Saint-Honorat, where under the pseudonym Peregrinus he wrote Commonitorium, c. 434, about three years after the Council of Ephesus. Vincent defended calling Mary, mother of Jesus, Theotokos ("God-bearer") which opposed the teachings of Patriarch Nestorius of Constantinople which were condemned by the Council of Ephesus.Eucherius of Lyon calls him a conspicuously eloquent and knowledgeable holy man.
Gennadius of Massilia wrote that Vincent died during the reign of Roman Emperor Theodosius II in the East and Valentinian III in the West, therefore, his death must have occurred in or before the year 450. His relics are preserved at Lérins.
Caesar Baronius included his name in the Roman Martyrology but Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont doubted whether there was sufficient reason. He is commemorated on the 24 May.
Vincent wrote his Commonitory to provide himself, as he states, with a general rule whereby to distinguish Catholic truth from heresy; and he commits what he has learnt, he adds, to writing, that he may have it by him for reference as a commonitory, or remembrancer, to refresh his memory. It is known for Vincent's famous maxim: "Moreover, in the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all." The currently accepted idea that Vincent was a semipelagian is attributed to a 17th-century Protestant theologian, Gerardus Vossius, and developed in the 17th century by Cardinal Henry Noris. Evidence of Vincent's semipelagianism, according to Reginald Moxon, is Vincent's "great vehemence against" the doctrines of Augustine of Hippo in Commonitory.
...
Wikipedia