Editing Vincent of Lérins

{{Short description|Early Christian saint and theologian}}
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{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix=Saint 
|name=Vincent of Lérins
|birth_date=
|death_date={{circa|445}}
|feast_day=24 May
|venerated_in=[[Catholic Church]]<ref>''[http://www.breviary.net/martyrology/mart05/mart0524.htm 24 May] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111012034246/http://breviary.net/martyrology/mart05/mart0524.htm |date=2011-10-12 }}.'' The Roman Martyrology.</ref><br>[[Eastern Orthodox Church]]<ref>Great [[Synaxarium|Synaxaristes]]: {{in lang|el}} ''[http://www.synaxarion.gr/gr/sid/3371/sxsaintinfo.aspx Ὁ Ὅσιος Βικέντιος τῶν Λερίνων].'' 24 Μαΐου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.</ref><br>[[Anglican Communion]]
|image=
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|death_place=[[Lérins Islands|Insulae Lero et Lerina]], [[Western Roman Empire]] {{small|(now in [[France]])}}
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'''Vincent of Lérins''' ({{langx|la|Vincentius Lerinensis}}; died {{circa|445}}) was a [[Gaul|Gallic]] [[monk]] and author of [[Church Fathers|early Christian writings]].  One example was the ''[[Commonitory|Commonitorium]]'', c.{{nbsp}}434, which offers guidance in the [[Orthodoxy|orthodox teaching]] of [[Christianity]].  Suspected of [[semi-Pelagianism]], he opposed the [[Original sin|Augustinian model of grace]] and was probably the recipient of [[Prosper of Aquitaine]]'s ''Responsiones ad Capitula Objectionum Vincentianarum''.<ref name="catholiconline">{{Cite web|title=St. Vincent of Lerins - Saints & Angels|url=https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=2006|access-date=2021-09-19|website=Catholic Online|language=en}}</ref> His feast day is celebrated on 24 May.

==Personal life==
Vincent of Lérins was born in [[Toulouse]], [[Gaul]],<ref name=Saskatchewan>[http://stvincentoflerins.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=7 "St. Vincent of Lérins", St. Vincent of Lérins Orthodox Church, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan]</ref> to a noble family, and he is believed to be the brother of [[Lupus of Troyes]].<ref name = "catholiconline"/> In his early life he engaged in secular pursuits; it is unclear whether these were civil or military, though the term he uses, {{lang|la|secularis militia}}, may imply the latter. He entered [[Lérins Abbey]] on [[Île Saint-Honorat]], where under the [[pseudonym]] Peregrinus he wrote the ''[[Commonitorium]]'' {{circa|434}}, about three years after the [[Council of Ephesus]].<ref name="Ghellinck1912"/> Vincent defended the [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Marian]] title of ''[[Theotokos]]'' (God-bearer) in opposition to the teachings of [[Patriarch Nestorius of Constantinople]], which were condemned by the [[Council of Ephesus]].<ref name=Saskatchewan/> [[Eucherius of Lyon]] called him a "conspicuously eloquent and knowledgeable" holy man.<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15439b.htm "St. Vincent of Lérins", New Advent Catholic encyclopedia]</ref>

[[Gennadius of Massilia]] wrote that Vincent died during the reigns of the Roman Emperor [[Theodosius&nbsp;II]] in the East and [[Valentinian&nbsp;III]] in the West. Therefore, his death must have occurred in or before the year 450. His relics are preserved at Lérins.<ref name=butler>[http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/VINCENTL.HTM Butler, Alban. ''The Lives or the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints'', Vol.V,  by Alban Butler, D. & J. Sadlier, & Company, (1864)]</ref> [[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 24 May.

==''Commonitory''==
Vincent wrote his ''[[Commonitory]]'' to provide himself with a general rule to distinguish Catholic truth from [[heresy]], committing it to writing as a reference. 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."<ref name="Heurtley1894">{{cite wikisource |editor1-last=Schaff |editor1-first=Philip |editor2-last=Wace |editor2-first=Henry |plaintitle=A select library of the Nicene and post-Nicene fathers of the Christian Church |series=2 |location=Buffalo |publisher=Christian Literature |edition=American |year=1894 |volume=11 |ref={{sfnRef |NPNF2 11}} |author=Vincent of Lérins |translator=Heurtley, Charles A. |chapter=The Commonitory of Vincent of Lérins |wslink=Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume XI}}</ref>{{rp|page=132}}<ref name="Moxon1915">{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{cite book|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|series=Cambridge patristic texts|author=Vincent of Lérins|editor-last=Moxon|editor-first=Reginald S.|title=Commonitorium of Vincentius of Lerins|year=1915|oclc=635499104|language=la, en|url=https://archive.org/details/commonitoriumofv00vinc}}}} Has good notes.</ref>{{rp|page=10}} The currently accepted idea that Vincent was a [[semi-Pelagian]] is attributed to a 17th-century Protestant theologian, [[Gerardus Vossius]], and developed in the 17th century by Cardinal [[Henry Noris]].<ref name="Moxon1915"/>{{rp|at=xxii}} Evidence of Vincent's semi-Pelagianism, according to Reginald Moxon, is Vincent's "great vehemence against" the doctrines of [[Augustine of Hippo]] in ''Commonitory''.<ref name="Moxon1915"/>{{rp|at=xxvii}}

[[Pope Francis]] has quoted Vincent's ''Commonitory'' on several occasions, notably his words on doctrine and the progress of doctrine: "The dogma of the Christian religion must follow these laws. It progresses, consolidating over the years, developing with time, deepening with age."<ref>{{cite news | access-date = 5 August 2022 | url = https://www.laciviltacattolica.com/walking-together-francis-in-conversation-with-jesuits-in-canada/ | date = 4 August 2022 | title = Walking Together: Francis in conversation with Jesuits in Canada | work = La Civiltà Cattolica }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pwrZAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA118 | page = 118 | title = My Door Is Always Open: A Conversation on Faith, Hope and the Church in a Time of Change |  author =Pope Francis | date =2014 | publisher = A&C Black | isbn = 9781472909787 | access-date = 5 August 2022 }}</ref>

=={{anchor|Semi-Pelagianism}}Semi-Pelagianism==
[[Semi-Pelagianism]] was a doctrine of grace advocated by monks in and around [[Marseille]] in Southern Gaul after 428. It aimed at a compromise between the two extremes of [[Pelagianism]] and [[Augustinianism]], and was condemned as [[heresy]] at the [[Second Council of Orange]] in 529&nbsp;AD after more than a century of disputes.<ref name="pohle1912">{{Catholic|title=Semipelagianism|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13703a.htm|first=Joseph|last=Pohle|volume=13}}</ref>

Augustine wrote of [[prevenient grace]] and expanded to a discussion of [[predestination]]. A number of monastic communities took exception to the latter because it seemed to nullify the value of asceticism practised under their rules. [[John Cassian]] felt that Augustine's stress on predestination ruled out any need for human cooperation or consent.

Vincent was suspected of semi-Pelagianism but whether he actually held that doctrine is not clear as it is not found in the ''Commonitorium''. But it is probable that his sympathies were with those who held it. Considering that the monks of the [[Lérins Islands]]&nbsp;– like the general body of clergy of Southern Gaul&nbsp;– were semi-Pelagians, it is not surprising that Vincent was suspected of semi-Pelagianism. It is also possible that Vincent held to a position closer to the Eastern Orthodox position of today, which they claim to have been virtually universal until the time of Augustine, and which may have been interpreted as semi-Pelagian by Augustine's followers.

Vincent upheld tradition and seemed to have objected to much of Augustine's work as "new" theology. He shared Cassian's reservations about Augustine's views on the role of grace. In the ''Commonitorium'' he listed theologians and teachers who, in his view, had made significant contributions to the defence and spreading of the Gospel; he omitted Augustine from that list. Some commentators have viewed Cassian and Vincent as "semi-Augustinian" rather than semi-Pelagian.

It is a matter of academic debate whether Vincent is the author of the ''Objectiones Vincentianae'', a collection of sixteen inferences allegedly deduced from Augustine's writings, which is lost and only known through [[Prosper of Aquitaine]]'s rejoinder, ''Responsiones ad capitula objectionum Vincentianarum''. It is dated close to the time of the ''Commonitorium'' and its animus is very similar to the ''Commonitorium'' sections 70 and 86, making it possible that both were written by the same author.<ref name="Ghellinck1912">{{Catholic|title=St. Vincent of Lérins|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15439b.htm|first=Joseph de|last=Ghellinck|volume=15}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Thomas G. Guarino, ''Vincent of Lerins and the Development of Christian Doctrine.'' Grand Rapids:  Baker Academic, 2013.

==External links==
* [http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/30_10_0380-0450-_Vincentius_Lerinus.html Opera Omnia by Migne Patristica Latina]
* [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/434lerins-canon.asp Vincent of Lerins, ''The "Vincentian Canon"'']
* [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3506.htm ''Commonitory'']
* {{Librivox author |id=16993}}

{{Subject bar |portal1=Saints |portal2= Biography |portal3= Christianity |portal4= France}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Vincent Of Lerins}}
[[Category:Ancient Roman soldiers]]
[[Category:Christian writers]]
[[Category:440s deaths]]
[[Category:5th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:Church Fathers]]
[[Category:5th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:People from Toul]]
[[Category:Gallo-Roman saints]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]