Saint Fulgentius

4° Several letters.

5° The Book of the Orthodox Faith to Donatus. It is an exact explanation of the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation.

6° The Book to Victor against the sermon of Fastidiosus, an Arian priest.

7° The Book on the Incarnation of the Son of God. In it, it is proven that the Son alone became incarnate, and not the Father or the Holy Spirit; it is further proven that in God the trinity of persons does not destroy the unity of nature.

8° The Letters to the deacon Ferrandus. This deacon had consulted Saint Fulgentius on what one should think of the baptism of an Ethiopian who, in truth, had desired this sacrament, but who had received it while ill, being deprived of the use of speech and of all consciousness at the moment of administration. The holy doctor replies, in his first letter, that the baptism had been valid and necessary for this Ethiopian. He clarifies, in the second, five questions that had been proposed to him on the Trinity and the Incarnation.

9th The Letter to John and Venerius, the one an archimandrite and the other a deacon of Constantinople. In it, one finds the refutation of the errors of the Semipelagians.

10th The Book on the Incarnation and Grace. The deputies of the monks of Scythia having consulted the bi shops of Sardaigne Island of the exile and martyrdom of Saint Pontian. Africa, exiled in Sardinia, on the doctrine that should be held concerning Nestorianism, Eutychianism, and Semipelagianism, Saint Fulgence was tasked with answering them in the name of all these illustrious confessors. He composed for this purpose the book of which we speak. In the first part, he refutes the Nestorians and the Eutychians, and the Semipelagians in the second.

11° The Letter to Count Regin.

12° The Book on the Trinity to Felix, notary. The holy doctor explains therein the mystery of the Holy Trinity; he distinguishes the grace of the state of innocence from that which God gives in the state of fallen nature; and he maintains, as a certain thing, that the bodies of all men will rise again, each in their own sex; that the good will enjoy eternal felicity and that the wicked will be condemned to torments that will never end.

13° The two Books on the remission of sins. It is proven therein that there can be no remission of sins without sincere penance, and outside the bosom of the true Church.

14° The three Books on the Truth of predestination and the grace of God. The holy doctor shows therein, 1° that grace is a gift of divine mercy; 2° that it does not destroy free will; 3° that election to grace and glory is entirely gratuitous.

15th The Book of Faith, composed around the year 523. A layman named Peter, wishing to go to Jerusalem, begged our Saint to give him an abridged rule of faith that he could study, so as not to fall into the traps of heretics. Fulgentius addressed this book to him, which contains 40, or even 41 articles according to some editions. In it, he explains the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation, as well as matters concerning the holy sacrifice of the altar; he establishes the necessity of professing the true faith and living within the bosom of the Catholic Church.

16th The Boo évêque Pinta Arian bishop who wrote against Fulgentius. k of Faith, against Bishop Pinta. This bishop of the Arian sect having written against the three books of our Saint to King Thrasamund, the latter replied with a specific work which has not come down to us. All critics agree that the Response to Pinta, which bears the name of Saint Fulgentius, is not his, 1st because the style of the author of this response is different from that of Saint Fulgentius; 2nd because he cites Scripture according to the old Italic version, whereas Saint Fulgentius cites it according to the Vulgate version; 3rd because he did not understand the Greek language, in which Saint Fulgentius was very skilled; 4th finally, because Saint Fulgentius, according to the author of his life, referred in his work against Pinta to his books to King Thrasamund, and nothing of the sort is found in the one of which we speak.

17th The Sermons or Homilies, which, numbering about a hundred, bear the name of Saint Fulgentius, are not his with the exception of about ten.

18th The sev en Books against Faust Fauste, évêque de Biex Bishop and author of the dogmatic letter of the Council of Arles. us, Bishop of Riez—the final blow with which the Church overwhelmed the Pelagians—is the one among the writings of Saint Fulgentius whose loss is most regretted.

The writings of Saint Fulgentius reveal a man gifted with great penetration of mind, who knew how to clarify his ideas and render them with precision; but the fear of not having said enough to fully develop his subject matter made him diffuse and caused him to fall into repetitions. His arguments are solid and conclusive and always rely on the authority of Scripture and tradition.

Before M. Migne's Patrology, the most complete of all the editions of the works of Saint Fulgentius was the one that appeared in Paris in 1684, in-4°. The one of his works on grace, published in Rome in 1759 by Foggini, was the most accurate.