Grace for Grace: The Debates after Augustine and Pelagius

3. Pauci perfectae gratiae intrepidi amatores: The Augustinians in Marseilles

35 3 PAUCI PERFECTAE GRATIAE INTREPIDI AMATORES The Augustinians in Marseilles Alexander Y. Hwang In 426 Augustine received letters from two admirers in Marseilles, Prosper of Aquitaine and Hilary of Marseille.1 Both letters informed Augustine about the growing controversy over his latest teachings on grace—predestination in particular—among the doctores Gallicani in and around Marseilles.2 Prosper referred to the devotees of Augustine in Marseilles as a “few intrepid lovers of perfect grace.”3 This chapter will detail the origin and development 1. Prosper, Ep. 225 [among Augustine’s letters] (CSEL 57: 454–68) and Hilary, Ep. 226 [among Augustine’s letters] (CSEL 57: 468–81). Hilary is otherwise unknown and not to be confused with Hilary of Arles. For a study of Prosper, see Alexander Y. Hwang, Intrepid Lover of Perfect Grace: The Life and Thought of Prosper of Aquitaine (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009) and L. Valentin, Saint Prosper d’Aquitaine: Étude sur la littérature latine ecclésiastique au cinquième siècle en Gaule (Paris: Picard, 1900). 2. The doctores Gallicani held Augustine in high regard and were, like Augustine , opposed to the Pelagians. For the Gallic attitude toward Augustine, see Ralph Mathisen, Ecclesiastical Factionalism and Religious Controversy in Fifth-Century Gaul (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1989), 123–24. See the introduction to this volume for the discussion of the terms used to describe the controversy and its participants, including doctores Gallicani. 3. Prosper, Ep. 225.7 (CSEL 57: 464): “nec facile quisquam praeter paucos perfec- 36 ALEXANDER Y. HWANG of these “intrepid lovers” who were confident that Augustine’s doctrine of grace was the expression of “perfect grace.” Marseilles and its immediate surroundings was one of the reception centers for the displaced Gallo-Roman aristocrats in the wake of the political and social turmoil caused by the barbarian invasions and settlement of Gaul. During the first three decades of the fifth century, a number of these aristocrats became associated with the newly established monastic community on the island of Lérins and the slightly older community in Marseilles.4 Among the “foreigners” to arrive in Marseilles during this period were Prosper of Aquitaine and John Cassian. Cassian arrived in the city after the exile and death of his patron, John Chrysostom, and founded a monastic community. While Cassian became identified with the Lérins faction, little is known about Prosper’s initial situation in Marseilles.5 Although Prosper was an outsider, his earliest work, De providentia Dei (c. 416), reflects a theology of grace very much in keeping with the prevailing theological views of the doctores Gallicani.6 However, by the mid-420s, Prosper became an ardent follower of Augustine and his doctrine of grace, which was being developed in the context of the North African bishop’s campaign against the Pelagians. The doctores Gallicani were in agreement with Augustine in his opposition to the Pelagians, and, in fact, held the bishop of Hippo in generally high regard. It was Augustine’s innovative alternative to the Pelagian view of grace that the doctores Gallicani found disturbing, namely predestination. Meanwhile, Prosper came to tae gratiae intrepidos amatores tanto superiorum disputationibus ausus est contra ire.” 4. The monastic community in Marseilles was established by the city’s bishop, Proculus, and predated the island monastery on Lérins, which was founded by Honoratus (d. 429). See Mathisen, Ecclesiastical Factionalism, 122. 5. For a discussion on the close ties between Cassian and the Lérins faction, see Mathisen, Ecclesiastical Factionalism, esp. 122–23. 6. A critical edition and English translation in Miroslav Marcovich, De providentia Dei: Text, Translation and Commentary, Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 10 (New York: Brill, 1989). THE AUGUSTINIANS IN MARSEILLES 37 embrace Augustine in toto. The two contrasting opinions of Augustine soon turned into highly contentious debates between the Augustinians and the doctores Gallicani in and around Marseilles. The reason for the two different interpretations of Augustine’s authority and teachings had to do with their respective traditions. For the doctores Gallicani, Augustine was read in the context of an already well-established theological and ecclesiological tradition. This tradition allowed them to critically and judiciously evaluate Augustine’s teachings on grace. Augustine was certainly respected but held no special authority among the fiercely independent doctors of Gaul, who could appeal to a tradition that included the desert Fathers. From their perspective, Augustine...