Fulgentius, bishop of Ruspe (c.467-532), is considered the greatest North African theologian after the time of St. Augustine. When Fulgentius was born, North Africa had been under the rule of Germanic Vandals for several decades. His family was repeatedly victimised by Vandal persecutions, and Fulgentius himself suffered persecution and exile. While in exile, he continued his pastoral labours and became the theological spokesman of the displaced. Though he was not an original thinker, he propagated the Augustian heritage and defended it against its adversaries, notably the Arians and Pelagians (or semi-Pelagians). With thorough understanding and conviction, Fulgentius promoted the Trinitarian theology of Augustine. He also defended and explained Augustine's difficult and controversial stance on the question of predestination. Fulgentius contributed greatly to the transmission and interpretation of a theological heritage that would dominate and shape the Church in the West for hundreds of years to come. Unfortunately, many writings of Fulgentius have been lost. Of those that survived, the most important are dated to the period of his second exile and the sixteen years from his return to North Africa from Sardinia until his death. In this volume, Fulgentius's most significant writings are translated into English for the first time. The selections presented here provide readers a unique opportunity to study the thinking of this important church father.

FULGENTIUS

SELECTED WORKS

THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS

Copyright © 1997 The Catholic University of America Press
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8132-0095-8

Contents

Acknowledgments...............................................viiAbbreviations.................................................ixSelect Bibliography...........................................xiIntroduction..................................................xvThe Life of the Blessed Bishop Fulgentius.....................1To Peter on the Faith.........................................57On the Forgiveness of Sins....................................109To Monimus....................................................185The Letters of Fulgentius.....................................277General Index.................................................569Index of Holy Scripture.......................................576

Chapter One

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED BISHOP FULGENTIUS

Introduction

The question of the authorship of The Life of the Blessed Bishop Fulgentius remains a matter of dispute. No manuscript of the work indicates the Carthaginian deacon Ferrandus as the author. Yet this was the hypothesis of the seventeenth-century Jesuit scholar and editor of Fulgentius, Pierre-Franois Chifflet, who brought the name of Ferrandus forward in this connection. His suggestion has been taken for granted by the great majority of scholars since then. However, Antonino Isola, a recent translator of the Life into Italian, takes a more hesitant view to the extent that he lists the author as Pseudo-Ferrandus. Isola grants that Ferrandus in Carthage was a correspondent of Fulgentius but does not see that there was that much close association between the two men. In the prologue to the Life, the author indicates that he was a monk in Fulgentius's monastery in Sardinia during the second period of exile. Is this true of Ferrandus?

Evidence in favor of Ferrandus's authorship includes the statement made by Ferrandus himself at the end of a letter to Abbot Eugippius in Italy, apparently not long after the death of Fulgentius, of his desire to spread the knowledge of Fulgentius's exemplary life and work. One can only conclude that while Ferrandus's authorship continues to be widely accepted, the question has not yet been definitively resolved.

The Life itself is episodic, giving a series of vignettes. The emphasis appears to be more of Fulgentius the monk than of Fulgentius the bishop or theologian. His devotion to asceticism is stressed though, like other western monks, he is not in competition with the Egyptians or Syrians in this field. The lesson of the episode with the Arian priest Felix near Sicca is that Fulgentius participated in the suffering of the martyrs. (chap. 6-7). The comments on his ability to combine the life of the monk with that of the bishop (chap.15) recall similar points made about Martin of Tours. But, unlike that life and those of most other holy men, the miraculous has almost no role to play here. Hence the comments in chapter 23 on his 'moral miracles'. Chapter 25 is devoted to listing some of his writings.

Perhaps the aspect of the Life which most strikes the contemporary reader is the apparent restlessness of soul that Fulgentius exhibits. After having rejected the world for the ascetic life, he moves from one monastery to another, founds his own monastery, attempts to travel to Egypt to find even greater ascetic challenges. Even after being made a bishop and spending a great deal of his time in exile, he attempts at the end to go off to a monastery again. Yet, despite this restlessness, his writings manifest an orderly and rather prosaic mind.

If Ferrandus did not write this Life, the author may well have been one of those who lived in the monastery with him in Africa as well as in Sardinia. It has been said that one of the purposes of the work was to remind the new bishop of Ruspe, Felicianus, to whom the Life is dedicated, of the privileges of the local monks.

This is the first translation of the Life into English. The critical edition of Lapeyre (1929) has been used, but, as more recent authors have pointed out, much still needs to be done for a more complete critical edition.

Prologue

HOLY FATHER FELICIANUS, every faithful expositor of the New Testament in whom Christ speaks, in order to convince others more easily that he is to be believed because of his example, puts the greatest effort into doing good works, and, whatever he tells others must be done, he first does himself. To no purpose does he exert himself to teach wisely if he does not live blamelessly. To Hthe teachers of the Catholic Church, two things are deemed necessary: a holy life and sound doctrine. A good life commends the one who teaches wisdom; sound doctrine adorns the one who is living a good life. A good life makes a person able to be loved; sound doctrine makes a person worthy of praise. A good life is immediately accepted as a life worthy of imitation; sound doctrine is judged never to be rejected. A good life removes all opportunities for detractors; sound doctrine resists those who contradict it. For a long time, while I pondered the renown and the sanctity of the blessed bishop Fulgentius, your predecessor, by whom we were both nurtured, many times the outstanding teacher came before the eyes of my heart. Then I lamented that the consolation of so great a man was now lacking to the peoples of Africa. And, although he has gone to better things, now enjoying the delights of heaven, still I, so conscious of his wisdom, groaned that there was no teacher like him with us now.

Some relief was granted to my sad recollections whenever I either read, or heard others reading, his wonderful books or the letters or the sermons he gave to the people. While, in silence, I considered that in these noted works, the genius and the wisdom of the man could become known, while I did not doubt that most people were aware of his justice, honesty, and mercy, and how laudable a life he led, as you well know, with his friends, following his own teachings; nevertheless, I felt that these things were unknown to an even larger proportion. Looking to the future, I feared more strongly each passing day that forgetfulness would soon overtake so good a life. After thinking for a long time, I said, "See how the sound teaching of the blessed Fulgentius shines forth since his books are read by all. When a book bearing his name is read, it is as if he were speaking. What is to be done in order that his holy life may also be known to all? As long as those who knew him are still alive, or they can hear something about his virtues from reliable witnesses, the present generation can bear true testimony to him. But what will the generation to come do? What will the great number of faithful far away, across the sea, do? When they come to read his works, in which the blessed bishop, though absent, still speaks, and, though dead, still lives, they will soon come to admire his wisdom; but how will they know of his blameless life? Just as his teaching is famous, may his life become even more renowned.

Let us speak out and tell our brethren how so great a pontiff lived. Nor should there be any fear that I, because of my poor ability, do an injustice to a bishop who has won so great a renown throughout all the world's churches. Whatever value my words may have, they cannot either increase or reduce the merits of one so...