Prosper of Aquitaine
Prosper of Aquitaine | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Church Father Theologian | |
| Born | c. 390 Roman provinceofAquitaine |
| Died | c. 455 Rome,Praet. prefecture of Italy |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholicism Eastern Orthodoxy Lutheranism Anglicanism |
| Feast | 25 June[1]/7 July[2] |
Prosper of Aquitaine(Latin:Prosper Aquitanus;c. 390–c. 455AD), also calledProsper Tiro,[3]was aChristianwriter and disciple ofAugustine of Hippo,and the first continuator ofJerome'sUniversal Chronicle.
Life
[edit]Prosper was a native ofAquitaine,and may have been educated atBordeaux.By 417 he arrived inMarseillesas a refugee fromAquitainein the aftermath of the Gothic invasions of Gaul. In 429 he was corresponding withAugustine.[4]In 431 he appeared inRometo appeal toPope Celestine Iregarding the teachings of Augustine; there is no further trace of him until 440, the first year of the pontificate ofPope Leo I,who had been inGaul,where he may have met Prosper. In any case Prosper was soon in Rome, attached to the pope in some secretarial or notarial capacity.Gennadius of Massilia'sDe viris illustribus(lxxxiv, 89) repeats the tradition that Prosper dictated the famous letters of Leo I againstEutyches.The date of his death is not known, but his chronicle goes as far as 455, and the fact that the chroniclerMarcellinusmentions him under the year 463 seems to indicate that his death was shortly after that date.
Prosper was a layman, but he threw himself with ardour into the religious controversies of his day, defending Augustine and propagatingorthodoxy.In hisDe vocatione omnium gentium( "The Call of all Nations" ),[5]in which the issues of the call to the Gentiles is discussed in the light of Augustine's doctrine ofGrace,Prosper appears as the first of the medieval Augustinians.
ThePelagianswere attacked in a glowing polemical poem of about 1000 lines,Adversus ingratos,written about 430. The theme,dogmaquod... pestifero vomuit coluber sermone Britannus,is relieved by a treatment not lacking in liveliness and in classical measures. After Augustine's death he wrote three series of Augustinian defences, especially againstVincent of Lérins(Pro Augustino responsiones).
His chief work was hisDe gratia Dei et libero arbitrio(432), written againstJohn Cassian'sCollatio.He also induced Pope Celestine to publish an open letter to the bishops of Gaul,Epistola ad episcopos Gallorumagainst some members of the Gaulish Church. He had earlier opened a correspondence with Augustine, along with his friend Hilary (not Hilary of Arles), and although he did not meet him personally, his enthusiasm for the great theologian led him to make an abridgment of his commentary on thePsalms,as well as a collection of sentences from his works—probably the first dogmatic compilation of that class in whichPeter Lombard'sLiber sententiarumis the best-known example. He also put into elegiac metre, in 106 epigrams, some of Augustine's theological dicta.
Far more important historically than these is Prosper'sEpitoma chronicon(covering the period 379–455) which Prosper first composed in 433 and updated several times, finally in 455. It was circulated in numerous manuscripts and was soon continued by other hands, whose beginning dates identify Prosper's various circulated editions.[6]TheEncyclopædia Britannica1911 found it a careless compilation fromJeromein the earlier part, and from other writers in the later,[7]but that the lack of other sources makes it very valuable for the period from 425 to 455, which is drawn from Prosper's personal experience. Compared with his continuators, Prosper gives detailed coverage of political events. He coversAttila's invasions of Gaul (451) and Italy (452) in lengthy entries under their respective years. Though he was a poet himself, the sole secular writer Prosper mentions isClaudian.There were five different editions, the last of them dating from 455, just after the death ofValentinian III.
For a long time theChronicon imperialewas wrongly attributed to him. It is entirely independent of the real Prosper, and in parts even shows Pelagian tendencies and sympathies.[8]
Writings
[edit]Prosper of Aquitaine's most influential writings are admired for their classical qualities, but have been criticized for being flat and dull.[9]His writings come mostly from the second quarter of the fifth century.
- De vocatione omnium gentium(Calling of All Nations)
This was Prosper's attempt to reconcileAugustine of Hippo's teaching on grace in which he suggests that God wishes all men to be saved. The argument is that although all human beings do not receive the grace that saves, they do receive God's general grace. Written in AD 450, theCalling of All Nationswas Prosper's most original contribution to theology.
- Epitoma Chronicon
This was Prosper's version of the history of the World. In it he sought to give his own version of thePelagiancontroversy and in his own interpretation of recent history.[10]TheEpitoma Chroniconends in 455.
- Capitulla
This was a simple list of ten doctrinal points asserting the efficacy and necessity of God's Grace, each separately supported by papal statements. It was a strong defense of an essential Augustinian doctrine, but most moderate one to its date.[11]Prosper did not mention Augustine's name in the doctrine, but also did not reject any of his thoughts onpredestination.It was written between 435 and 442.
- SententiaandEpigrammata
The Sententia was a collection of 392 maxims drawn up against the writings ofAugustine of Hippo.The epigrammata was a compilation of 106 epigrams offlorilegiumin verse. Both were intended to be used as handbooks for the serious Christian, drawn from an Augustinian point of view. The work was devoted to the discussion of doctrines of grace and the incarnation. The motto of the florilegia was monastically influenced, urging the reader to patience through adversity, exercise of virtue, and constant striving to perfection.[11]
- Liber contra Collatorem
This writing represents the final opinion of Prosper on the problem of necessity of grace. It was written during the reign ofPope Sixtus III(link) and is a step-by step response to Conference XIII of theConlationesofJohn Cassian.[12]
- Carmen de Providentia Divina(Poem on Divine Providence)
The problem of providence is discussed in the context of God's creation of the World and in relation to the invasion ofGaulby theVandalsand theGoths.This work has been attributed to Prosper of Aquitaine in the past, but this theory has been discredited.[13]
Legacy
[edit]"Prosper of Aquitaine was much more famous for what he wrote than for what he did." (Abbé L. Valentin) However, many historians believe his chief fame rests not on his historical work, but on his activities as a theologian and an aggressive propagator of the Augustinian doctrine of grace.[14]It is no doubt that Prosper holds a place in the ranks of the moulders of theological understanding of the doctrine of grace.[15]
Most of his works were aimed at defending and distribution Augustine's teachings, especially those pertaining to grace and free will. Following Augustine's death in 430, Prosper continued to disseminate his teachings and spent his life working to make them acceptable. Prosper was the first chronicler to add to Jerome's account, beginning his continuation half a century later. Prosper's epigrams became most popular in his later years, providing a method for students of Christianity to learn moral lessons and aspects of the Augustinian doctrine.
Prosper also played a vital role in the Pelagian controversy in southernGaulin the 420's. With the help of Augustine andPope Celestine,Prosper was able to put down revolutions of thePelagianChristians.
Prosper's works were very popular during the Middle Ages: theEpigramsalone sum no fewer than one hundred and eighty manuscripts.
Editions
[edit]Prosper'sEpitoma Chroniconwas edited byTheodor Mommsenin theChronica minoraof theMonumenta Germaniae Historica(1892) and by Maria Becker and Jan–Markus Kötter as part of theKleine und fragmentarische Historiker(KFHist G 5)(2016). Prosper's complete works are inMigne'sPatrologia Latina.vol. 51. The English translations include:
- St. Prosper of Aquitaine.The Call of All Nations,translated and annotated by P. De Letter, SJ, 1952 (Ancient Christian Writers,14).ISBN9780809102532
- Prosper of Aquitaine.Defense of St. Augustine,translated and annotated by P. De Letter, SJ, 1963 (Ancient Christian Writers, 32).ISBN9780809102631
Prosper'sEpitoma Chroniconis available in English translation inFrom Roman to Merovingian Gaul: A Readered. & trans. A. C Murray (Ontario, 2003) pp. 62–76.
Prosper'sEpigramswere edited by Albertus G. A. Horsting inProsper Aquitanus. Liber epigrammatum,Berlin-New York 2016 (Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Latinorum100).
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^St. Prosper of Aquitaine
- ^St. Prosper of AquitaineOxford Index
- ^He is calledProsper Tiroin several manuscripts of hisEpitoma Chronicon.(Steven Muhlberger, "Prosper'sEpitoma Chronicon:was there an edition of 443? "Classical Philology81.3 (July 1986), pp. 240–244).
- ^Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913)..Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^Seventeenth-century doubts as to its authorship, attributing it toPope Leo I,are not sustained by its most recent editor, De Letter (1952), nor by Joseph J. Young,Studies on the style of De vocatione omnium Gentium ascribed to Prosper of AquitainePatristic Studies,87(Catholic University of America) 1954.
- ^Muhlberger, "Prosper'sEpitoma Chronicon",p. 240
- ^Prosper, born about 390, must have depended on other written sources for his earlier decades ofEpitome chroniconbut, aside fromAugustine'sDe haeresibusandCity of Godand possiblyOrosius,they continue to be elusive. (Dennis E. Trout, "The years 394 and 395 in theEpitome chronicon:Prosper, Augustine and Claudian "Classical Philology86.1 (January 1991), pp. 43–47).
- ^One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Prosper of Aquitaine".Encyclopædia Britannica(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- ^White, 113
- ^Humphries, 156
- ^abMuhlberger, 51–52
- ^Fathers of the Church,337
- ^White, 114
- ^Muhlberger, 48
- ^Fathers of the Church,336
References
[edit]- Arturo Elberti,Prospero d'Aquitania: Teologo e Discepolo(Rome, 1999).
- Mark Humphries. "Chronicle and Chronology: Prosper of Aquitaine, his methods and the development of early medieval chronography."Early Medieval Europe5 (1996) 155–175.
- Steven Muhlberger,The Fifth Century Chroniclers(Great Britain: Redwood Press, 1990) pp. 48–60.
- Alexander Hwang.Intrepid Lover of Perfect Grace: The Life and Thought of Prosper of Aquitaine.Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 2009.
- Caroline White,Early Christian Latin Poets(New York, 2000) pp. 113–118.
- The Fathers of the Church(New York: The Catholic University of America, 1949) pp. 335–343.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Prosper of Aquitaine".Encyclopædia Britannica(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- Valentin, Louis (1900).Saint Prosper d'Aquitaine: Étude sur la littérature latine ecclésiastique au cinquième siècle en Gaule(in French). Paris: Alphonse Picard et fils.This work offers a complete list of previous writings on Prosper and is still the main reference.
