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Against Vigilantius

Against Vigilantius.

P. 417 Full details respecting Vigilantius, against whom this treatise, the result of a single night’s labour, is directed, may be found in a work on “Vigilantius and His Times,” published in 1844 by Dr. Gilly, canon of Durham. It will perhaps, however, assist the reader if we briefly remark that he was born about 370, at Calagurris, near Convenæ (Comminges), which was a station on the Roman road from Aquitaine to Spain. His father was probably the keeper of the inn, and Vigilantius appears to have been brought up to his father’s business. He was of a studious character, and Sulpicius Severus, the ecclesiastical historian, who had estates in those parts, took him into his service, and, possibly, made him manager of his estates. Having been ordained he was introduced to Jerome (then living at Bethlehem, in 395) through Paulinus of Nola, who was the friend of Sulpicius Severus. After staying with Jerome for a considerable time he begged to be dismissed, and left in great haste without giving any reason. Returning to Gaul, he settled in his native country. Jerome hearing that he was spreading reports of him as favouring the views of Origen, and in other ways defaming him and his friends, wrote him a sharp letter of rebuke (Letter LXI.). The work of Vigilantius which drew from Jerome the following treatise was written in the year a.d. 406; not “hastily, under provocation such as he may have felt in leaving Bethlehem.” but after the lapse of six or seven years. The points against which he argued as being superstitious are: (1) the reverence paid to the relics of holy men by carrying them round the church in costly vessels or silken wrappings to be kissed, and the prayers offered to the dead; (2) the late watchings at the basilicas of the martyrs, with their attendant scandals, the burning of numerous tapers. alleged miracles, etc.; (3) the sending of alms to Jerusalem, which, Vigilantius urged, had better be spent among the poor in each separate diocese, and the monkish vow of poverty; (4) the exaggerated estimate of virginity.

The bishop of the diocese, Exsuperius of Toulouse, was strongly in favour of the views of Vigilantius, and they began to spread widely. Complaints having reached Jerome through the presbyter Riparius, he at once expressed his indignation, and offered to answer in detail if the work of Vigilantius were sent to him. In 406 he received it through Sisinnius, who was bearing alms to the East. It has been truly said that this treatise has less of reason and more of abuse than any other which Jerome wrote. But in spite of this the author was followed by the chief ecclesiastics of the day, and the practices impugned by Vigilantius prevailed almost unchecked till the sixteenth century.

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Contra Vigilantium liber unus

Contra Vigilantium liber unus

1. Contra Vigilantium epistolam, biennio ante hunc libellum, datam Ripario Presbytero excudimus in secunda parte prioris tomi sub num. CIX, in qua cum haeretici hominis Commentarios nondum accepisset Hieronymus, praelusit quodammodo pugnae, suamque potius aperuit fidem, quam ejus expugnarit infidelitatem. Nunc quando ad ipsum librum devenimus, quo adversus insaniam hominis summo animi ardore velitatur, ut causae momenta perspecta habeas, quis ipse Vigilantius fuerit, quidque contra rectam fidem temere senserit, praenotandum est. Eum natione Gallum dicit Gennadius, Calagurritarum, sive ex Calagurris viculo prope Convenarum urbem, Hieronymus: unde intelligas ex inferiori illum fuisse Aquitania ad radices Pyrenaei. Homo erat, eodem Gennadio auctore, seductus humana laude et praesumens supra vires suas, lingua politus, non sensu Scripturarum exercitatus, sed si Hieronymum audis, imperitus et verbis et scientia, et sermone inconditus. Ex vitae instituto cauponam exercuerat, sive etiam tunc exercebat, cum novus Ecclesiarum magister audire voluit, et presbyter jussus est. Nam et hunc gradum est consecutus, et Ecclesiam, ut Gennadii verbis uti prosequar, Hispaniae Barcilonensis parochiae tenuit; quae cum esset sanctorum presbyterorum Riparii ac Desiderii paroeciis contermina, hi continuo dolebant, morbidi pastoris vicinia proprias de salute oves periclitari. Episcopus quoque, sub cujus ille ditione agebat, patrocinari, et acquiescere furori ejus visus est, quandoquidem admonitus, corripere furentem distulit, aut penitus praetermisit.

2. Quae autem vesano ingenio commentus est nova dogmata, ad haec fere capita reducuntur. Negabat 1o esse martyres, aut eorum reliquias venerandas, sive ad eorum sepulcra in Ecclesiis vigilandum, aut alios, qui in Christianorum coetibus consueverant, honores illis esse deferendos. 2o Pejori adhuc vecordia aiebat, minime sanctorum precibus nos adjuvari, neque terrenis tangi necessitatibus coelites; unde et signa quae per illos interdum fierent, incredulis dumtaxat prodesse. 3o Nonnullas Ecclesiae caeremonias, atque illam in primis, cereos interdiu accendendi in Missa, sive ad Evangelium recitandum, paganae superstitionis ritum vocabat; nec Alleluia cantari volebat, nisi in Pascha. 4o Sensit suas sibi quemque retinere posse divitias, neque abdicationem a saeculi rebus usque adeo bonam esse, quinimmo monachorum paupertatem ac solitudinem desidiam ac turpem fugam appellabat. Quamobrem et eleemosynas, quae Hierosolymam mitti consueverant, improbabat, forte etiam aliquando prohibuit; nam si in egenorum usu essent opes distribuendae, non illas semel effundendas, sed paulatim erogandas asseverabat. 5o Denique effutivit, clericos minime omnium debere esse caelibes, tantoque odio habuit continentiam, quam haeresim appellabat, et pudicitiam, quam libidinis seminarium, ut episcopis etiam persuaserit, nemini credi debere castitatem, nullos caelibes ordinari posse: et nisi tumentes uteros viderent feminarum, maritos earum Christo ministerio arbitrarentur indignos.

3. Hisce haeresum monstris per singulas partes respondet Hieronymus hoc libello, quem ut magis mireris, unius noctis lucubratione dictavit. Scriptum ipse testatur post ferme biennium ex quo epistolam supra laudatam ad Riparium de vigiliis et pernoctationibus in basilicis Martyrum dedit. Eam vero epistolam ad ann. 40 pertinere ostendimus, unde liber iste ad sit deducendus. Id porro constat ex illa, quam in fine causatur, subita Sisinnii fratris in Aegyptum festinatione; hic siquidem ille Sisinnius est, qui uno tempore et hunc librum Ripario ac Desiderio deferendum, et Commentarios in Zachariam Exuperio Tolosano reddendos, a S. Doctore accepit, quos ipse in Praefatione anno 406, qui sexti consulatus Arcadii Augusti, et Anicii Probi fastis nomen imposuit, a se testatur elucubratos. Quin etiam ad ejus anni finem usque differendum constabit ex alia epistola, in nostra recensione 129, ad Minervium et Alexandrum, in qua Sisinnius, qui ultimo jam autumni tempore Bethleem pervenerat, quasi moraturus ibi, usque ad diem Epiphaniorum, dicitur haud multo post, subito supervenisse asserens se illico profecturum.