Vigilantius

Vigilantius, (fl. c. 400), the presbyter, celebrated as the author of a work, no longer extant, against a number of Catholic practices, which called forth one of the most violent of St Jerome's polemical treatises. ["The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church" by F. L. Cross (Editor), E. A. Livingstone (Editor) Oxford University Press, USA; 3 edition p.1697 (March 13, 1997) ]

Life and legacy

Vigilantius was born about 370 at Calagurris in Aquitania, ["The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church" by F. L. Cross (Editor), E. A. Livingstone (Editor) Oxford University Press, USA; 3 edition p.1697 (March 13, 1997) ] where his father kept an inn on the great Roman road from Aquitania to Spain. While still a youth his talent became known to Sulpicius Severus, who had estates in that neighborhood, and in 395 Sulpicius, who probably baptized him, sent him with letters to Paulinus of Nola, where he met with a friendly reception.

On his return to Severus in Gaul he was ordained; and, having soon afterwards inherited means through the death of his father, he set out for Palestine, where he was received with great respect by St Jerome at Bethlehem. ["The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church" by F. L. Cross (Editor), E. A. Livingstone (Editor) Oxford University Press, USA; 3 edition p.1697 (March 13, 1997) ] The stay of Vigilantius lasted for some time; but, as was almost inevitable, he was dragged into the dispute then raging about Origen of Alexandria, in which he accused Jerome of being an Origenist. ["The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church" by F. L. Cross (Editor), E. A. Livingstone (Editor) Oxford University Press, USA; 3 edition p.1697 (March 13, 1997) ]

On his return to the West he was the bearer of a letter from Jerome to Paulinus, and at various places where he stopped on the way he appears to have expressed himself about Jerome in a manner that when reported gave great offence to that father, and provoked him to write a reply ("Ep." 61). Vigilantius now settled for some time in Gaul, and is said by one authority (Gennadius) to have afterwards held a charge in the diocese of Barcelona. About 403, some years after his return from the East, Vigilantius wrote his celebrated work against some church practices, in which he argued against the veneration of relics, as also against the vigils in the basilicas of the martyrs, then so common, the sending of alms to Jerusalem, the rejection of earthly goods and the attribution of special virtue to the unmarried state, especially in the case of the clergy.

He was especially indignant at the way in which spiritual worship was being ousted by the veneration of saints and their relics. All that is known of his work is through Jerome's treatise "Contra Vigilantium", or, as that controversialist would seem to prefer saying, "Contra Dormitantium". Soon, the great influence of Jerome in the Western Church caused its leaders to support all his positions, and Vigilantius gradually came to be ranked in popular opinion among heretics, though his influence remained potent for a time in both France and Spain, as is proved by the polemical tract of Faustus of Rhegium (d. c. 490).

References

*1911

External links

* [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc3.iii.vii.xx.html Philip Schaff, "History of the Christian Church", Volume III: Nicene and Post-Nicene Christianity. A.D. 311-600. § 47. Helvidius, Vigilantius, and Aerius.]
* [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3010.htm Jerome, "Against Vigilantius"]