ST PROSPER OF AQUITAINE, CONFESSOR

ST PROSPER OF AQUITAINE, CONFESSOR - 25 JUNE

SAINT PROSPER OF AQUITAINE, CONFESSOR

Saint Prosper is surnamed of Aquitaine, to distinguish him from a bishop of Orleans, and others of the same name. His birth is usually placed in the year 403.

His works show that in his youth he had happily applied himself to the studies of grammar, and all the branches both of polite and sacred learning. On account of the purity and sanctity of his manners, he is called by those of his age, a holy and venerable man.

A HOLY AND VENERABLE MAN

Having left Aquitaine, his native country, he was settled in Provence, and probably at Marseilles, when Saint Augustine's book on Correction and Grace was brought thither.

Certain priests and others of that country had been offended at that father’s writings against the Pelagians, pretending that the necessity of divine grace, which he established with the Catholic church, destroyed free-will. They granted it to be clear from faith and holy scriptures, that no good action conducive to eternal life can be done without a co-operating supernatural succour of grace; but they thought it a necessary condition to free-will in man, that the beginning or first desire of faith, or any other supernatural virtues and actions, (which being grounded upon faith, lead to eternal life,) should be the work of free-will, without the aid of grace; using the comparison of a sick man, who first desires a cure himself, by which desire he is moved to call in a physician. This error was called Semipelagianism, and in reality gave the glory of virtue to the creature in its first motion or desire, contrary to the doctrine of the Apostles and of Christ himself.

SEMIPELAGIANISM

Saint Augustine's book on Correction and Grace, served only to make them louder in their complaints. Hilary, a holy, zealous, and learned layman, an acquaintance of Saint Augustine, undertook the defence of his works, and of the faith of the church, and engaged St Prosper in the same cause.

Our saint does not appear to have been any more than a layman; but his virtue, extraordinary talents, and learning, rendered him a proper person to oppose the progress of heresy.

HE WROTE TO ST AUGUSTINE

By the advice of Hilary he wrote to Saint Augustine, informing him of the errors of these priests of Marseilles; and that holy doctor compiled two books to confute and instruct them; the first, On the Predestination of the Saints; the second, On the Gift of Perseverance. Hilary had also written to him on the same subject. This happened in 428 and 429.

These two books were sufficient to convince the Semipelagians, but did not convert their hearts. They therefore had recourse to calumny, and accused Saint Augustine and his friends of teaching a necessitating grace which destroys free-will. One Rufinus, a friend of Saint Prosper, surprised at these reports, desired to be informed by him of the state of the question. The saint answered him by a letter yet extant, in which he explains the holy faith which they defended, and the errors and slanders of their enemies.

PROSPER SENT HIM A LETTER IN WHICH HE EXPLAINED THE FAITH

The Semipelagians declared that they would stand by the decisions of the pope. Prosper and Hilary, out of a motive of zeal, went as far as Rome; and Pope Celestine, upon their information, wrote a dogmatical letter to the bishop of Marseilles and other neighbouring prelates against those enemies of grace, in which he highly commends the doctrine of Saint Augustine. This happened after the death of that holy doctor in 431.

THE SEE OF ST PETER PRESIDES OVER THE WHOLE WORLD

The troubles were not yet appeased; and our saint saw himself under a necessity of entering the lists with his pen. His poem on the Ungrateful, seems to have appeared about the year 431. By that name he meant the Semipelagians, who were ungrateful to the divine grace, though they were not then cut off from the communion of the church. This work, the masterpiece of our saint, is written in most elegant verse. He says in it, that the see of Saint Peter, fixed at Rome, presides over the whole world, possessing by religion what it had never subdued by arms. He most beautifully demonstrates the necessity of grace, especially for divine love. He has left us several other lesser works.

HE CRUSHED THE PELAGIAN HERESY, WHICH AGAIN BEGAN TO RAISE ITS HEAD IN ROME

Saint Leo the Great being chosen pope in 440, invited Saint Prosper to Rome, made him his secretary, and employed him in the most important affairs of the church. Our saint crushed the Pelagian heresy, which began again to raise its head in that capital. Photius ascribes its final overthrow to the zeal, learning, and unwearied endeavours of Saint Prosper. Marcellinus in his chronicle, speaks of him as still living in 463.

His name occurs in the Roman Martyrology on this day.

WITHOUT THE SUCCOUR OF DIVINE GRACE WE CAN DO NOTHING

Without the succour of divine grace we can do nothing, we cannot so much as form one good thought conducive to eternal life, nor take the least step towards God by supernatural virtue. "As the eye of the body, though perfectly sound, cannot see unless it be assisted by the light, so neither can a man live well but by the eternal light which is derived from God," as Saint Augustine says. God, who desires that all men be saved, offers this treasure to every one, enlightening every man that cometh into this world.

If we neglect to pray assiduously for this divine succour, if we are not solicitous faithfully to preserve and improve this most excellent gift of God, we are Pelagians in conduct, though we condemn their erroneous principles; for we ungratefully despise the divine mercy, destroy in our souls the principle of our spiritual life, and of eternal glory, and trample under our feet the price of Christ’s sacred blood.

The graces which we reject, are seeds which would fructify to a hundred-fold: they are talents, which if put out to the banker, would be multiplied: faithfully corresponded with, they would make us saints; but the abuse of them will be our greatest crime, and our heaviest condemnation.

Source: Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints

PRAYER:

O God, who gladden us each year by the feast of Saint Prosper, graciously grant that, as we rejoice in his merits, we may be inspired by his example. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

BL. LUKE KIRBY, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 30 MAY

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY Saints celebrated on the 30th of May WELCOME! BLESSED LUKE KIRBY, PRIEST AND MARTYR 16th century houses, painted by Auguste Mayer He was born in the bishopric of Durham, according to Raissius ; others say at Richmond, in Yorkshire. He was master of arts in one of our universities; but going abroad to Douay, in Flanders, was received into the English college there, 1576, and made priest in 1577; and the year following sent upon the mission. Where he had not been long before he again went abroad, and travelled to Rome, partly for devotion, and partly for further improvement in learning. Here he remained in the English college till 1580, when he returned into England, and was not long after apprehended: for I find by a printed diary of things transacted in the Tower of London from 1580 till 1585, that on the 5th of December, 1580, Luke Kirby, Thomas Cottam , and other priests, were brought to the Tower from other prisons; and that these two, on the 10th...

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