Saint Vincent of Lerins

The Commonitorium and the Vincentian Canon

Written under the name Peregrinus, the Commonitorium was an apologetic guide for distinguishing authentic catholic doctrine from heresy by appeal to Scripture and the consenting witness of the Church. Its best-known passage holds to the faith that has been believed everywhere, always, and by all, a threefold test of universality, antiquity, and consent: doctrines received across the whole Church, maintained from the earliest times, and acknowledged by the recognized authorities of the Church.

Vincent also addressed how teaching may legitimately deepen over time. He held that genuine development is permissible when it represents progress rather than alteration, so that the same faith may be expressed in a new way while the deposit handed down is preserved intact, with the decrees of universal councils taking precedence. The treatise originally comprised two parts; the second was lost during Vincent's lifetime, and he supplied a synopsis rather than rewriting it.

Theological Context

The Commonitorium was composed in the wake of the controversies that culminated at the Council of Ephesus in 431, and Vincent upheld the title Theotokos against the teaching of Nestorius. He was also a participant in the grace controversies of fifth-century Gaul, taking a position critical of certain Augustinian formulations on grace and predestination; later tradition associates him with the writing known as the Objectiones Vincentianae, to which Prosper of Aquitaine is thought to have replied. His contemporary Eucherius praised him for his eloquence and learning, while Vincent described himself as the least of all the servants of God.

Relics & Shrines

Vincent's relics are preserved at the monastery of Lerins, on the Ile Saint-Honorat where he had lived as a monk.